CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- "Consider yourself Punk'd. Ashton duped you into believing Punk'd was done, but he's coming back April 25 with a whole new season. Ha."

So reads MTV's official web site for the Ashton Kutcher-hosted series (click here), which revealed today it will return next month for a third season.

The news comes three months after Kutcher's December announcement that the series would in fact not return for a third season (read the story). "We have had an incredible time doing the show and have decided to stick with the old adage of 'leave 'em wanting more,"' Kutcher said at the time in a joint statement with co-producer Jason Goldberg.

Nevertheless, both industry insiders and the general public were skeptical about news from the moment the announcement was made. The former because of MTV's hefty 20-episode/two season pick-up back in June (read the story) and the latter because of Kutcher's well-publicized troubles of "punk"-ing celebrities as the show's popularity grew. With the show "canceled," Kutcher and his crew could once again - in theory - operate under the radar.

In any case, the third season of "Punk'd" is set to kick off Sunday, April 25 at 10:00/9:00c, once again as the lead-in to the network's "Sunday Stew" lineup. Also returning that date are "Viva La Bam" (9:00/8:00c) and "Wildboyz" (10:30/9:30c), as well as fresh episodes of current series "Pimp My Ride" (9:30/8:30c).

This article was updated on Friday, April 2 with additional information.