Michelle Homer and Lauren Talarico | KHOU-TV, Houston

KHOU

Courtesy of Jevh Maravilla

PEARLAND, Texas – The two friends who pulled off a viral prank at a local McDonald's are getting a little payback: $25,000 each.

Jevh Maravilla and Christian Toledo put up a fake marketing poster of themselves in the fast-food restaurant back in July and no one noticed. Ellen DeGeneres heard about the sneaky students and invited them to be on her show.

On Monday, she surprised the pair with $25,000, courtesy of the fast-food chain, for their appearance in an upcoming marketing campaign as part of McDonald's commitment to diversity. DeGeneres also gave them a painting of herself to "sneak" into McDonald's in the future.

The prank goes back to July when Maravilla and Toledo noticed something missing at their favorite fast-food spot. “We were eating McDonald’s one day and we looked around and saw there were posters around that didn’t have any Asians,” Maravilla said. “They had other races but no Asians so we felt like it was our duty to put ourselves up there.”

On July 13, with the help of some friends, the duo snuck the poster into the restaurant and tacked it up when no one was looking. Maravilla wore a McDonald's shirt to blend in.

Maravilla told DeGeneres his mom got a kick out of it when he confessed. "When I told her about it, when the poster came to my house, she couldn't help but laugh with my dad," he said.

These kids put up a poster of themselves in a McDonald’s, and nobody noticed for months. But I noticed. https://t.co/WAscG3bF0b — Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) September 17, 2018

After the poster stayed up unnoticed for more than a month, Maravilla tweeted about the prank and it quickly went viral. McDonald’s was a good sport and applauded the students for creativity.