Viewers were surprised to learn the specifics of a one-time reality series that saw its star locked up alone in a room for a year.
In 1998, promising comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu auditioned for the Japanese reality programme Susunu!Denpa Shonen, which translates to “Do not proceed, Crazy Youth.”
The aim was to temporarily cut himself off from the outer world and spend all of his time entering mail-in contests to win ¥1 million (approximately £6,000).
Although he was given the choice of leaving at any time, he chose to stay for months, determined to fulfil the work at hand, even if it meant doing it fully nude.
For over a year, Hamatsu survived only on magazine competition victories, needing to acquire necessities such as food, clothes, and toilet paper.
Despite believing that his activities would be shown at a later date, it found out that the TV network was displaying the film live to around 17 million viewers every week in a programme called A Life in Prizes.
This reality was disclosed to him after being shocked by an excited studio audience at the end of the performance when he was led into what he thought was another flat, with the walls crumbling around him.
He also earned the nickname Nasubi, which he still uses today, because his genitals were covered with an aubergine (Nasubi in Japanese) during the act.
The shocking story is the focus of the recently released documentary The Contestant, which describes what happened at the time while also looking into ‘the ethical concerns of reality television in the twenty-first century’.
However, after tuning in, people have made it clear what happened at the time was truly ‘evil’.
‘Watched The Contestant and can’t believe something this deceptive and cruel was allowed. He was completely humiliated for trash reality TV,’ user sneeeerr posted on X.
‘I’m horrified by all of this… this isn’t fun or funny…,’ Deja shared.
‘That producer is evil,’ June added.
Another said the show was ‘absurdly cruel’, while others said they’d been left ‘in tears’.
Speaking to Time recently, Nasubi said 25 years after the experience, he is trying to move forward despite still holding ‘hatred’ towards the producer who led the show.
‘I’ve realised that I cannot change the past but by changing how I think about who I am today I can always change the future,’ he said.
‘When you put energy into other people rather than just focusing on yourself you become stronger than you could ever imagine.’
The Contestant is streaming on in the United States.
