Researchers have recently been interested in investigating academic dishonesty in higher education. There is however a dearth of research on academic dishonesty among gifted and talented undergraduates. In particular, academic dishonesty of talented undergraduates across-cultures, has been overlooked. This article reports an unintended finding of academic dishonesty in a study across academically talented undergraduate students in New Zealand and Bahrain. Participants were identified as those attaining an A average in their courses, in each location. Fourteen undergraduates, seven from each country, took part in phenomenological semi-structured interviews to determine their experiences as talented undergraduate students. Students' perceptions of academic dishonesty are compared across cultures through the lens of motivation theories. Findings show that culture has a strong impact on the degree to which such behaviour is accepted. This finding has implications in higher education institutions internationally.