: The "surprise" is almost always staged for the camera. Both performers are professional actors following a script intended to satisfy a viewer's interest in the tension between social norms and personal desire.
The phrase you're asking about typically refers to a specific trope in adult entertainment involving transgender women of color (often referred to by the fetishized term "ebony") who engage in sexual encounters where their gender identity is initially a "surprise" to their male partner.
: Transgender performers of color often navigate a market that demands these specific tropes, which can be both a source of income and a source of pigeonholing within the industry. Cultural Context
: Activists and scholars argue that this framing is harmful because it reinforces the "trans-panic" defense—a legal strategy once used to justify violence against trans people by claiming the "surprise" caused a temporary loss of control. Fetishization and "Chasers"