‘Devil’ in the back of essentially the most horrific fact TV experiment ever: Producer locked a tender comic in a tiny condo with out meals and garments – and secretly broadcast the graphic pictures

Reality displays are, lately, an inescapable cornerstone of tv – with long-running displays like Big Brother, Love Island, and Survivor firmly ensconced in pop culture. 

And whilst they thought to be excessive, they have got not anything on Susunu! Denpa Shonen – the Japanese display that aired in 2002 and stays some of the drastic sequence to ever be produced. 

The global’s ‘sickest fact display’ remains to be remembered for its A Life In Prizes problem – and the younger comic who persisted 15 months in a tiny condo in Japan with just a skinny grimy pillow to hide his modesty and a handful of crackers to devour so he ‘did not die’. 

Tamaoki Hamatsu, then 22, was once challenged to go into mag and radio contests and reside off the winnings till he reached the purpose of constructing 1,000,000 yen. 

However, in a twist that sounds just like the plot of a Black Mirror episode, Hamatsu – higher recognized by means of his nickname ‘Nasubi’ – knew he was once being recorded, however had no thought the graphic pictures was once being broadcast to 17 million audience throughout Japan. 

Nor was once he conscious about the level to which he was once being manipulated by means of the display’s manufacturer – Toshio Tsuchiya, a person he idolised and appeared as much as as a ‘god’ prior to finding he was once the ‘satan’ in hide. 

Under his obsessive path, Nasubi was suicidal, emaciated, and so disconnected from fact that he, at one level, believed he have been ‘kidnapped by means of extraterrestrial beings’. 

Recalling the instant he first introduced Nasubi to the tiny condo that will transform his jail – even supposing the door was once by no means locked – Tsuchiya instructed the BBC Storyville documentary The Contestant: ‘I instructed him that the majority of it might by no means be aired. I used to be smiling while announcing it.’ 

Tamaoki Hamatsu, then 22, was once tasked with surviving only off his winnings from mag competitions whilst he was once positioned below the watch of a digicam – with out garments or meals 

However, in a twist that sounds just like the plot of a Black Mirror episode, Hamatsu – higher recognized by means of his nickname ‘Nasubi’ – had no thought the graphic pictures was once being broadcast to 17 million audience throughout Japan

These sadistic ways had been described – occasionally proudly – by means of Tsuchiya because the now-68-year-old appeared again on his maximum a hit – and harsh – challenge but. 

Tsuchiya oversaw a manufacturing that failed Nasubi on each degree – from the staff that ‘deserted’ him to the physician who gave him a blank invoice of well being, even supposing he was once it seems that struggling excessive mental misery and malnourished.

And Nasubi’s well-being was once a worth Tsuchiya, nonetheless an influential determine in Japan’s TV business, was once keen to pay as he was ‘ate up’ by means of the possibility of making an peculiar, unparalleled display that driven its contestants to the edge.  

Japan watched as Nasubi attempted to reside off the prizes from mag and radio contests, with the aspiring entertainer sending postcard after postcard till he reached the competition’s purpose of constructing 1,000,000 yen (or $8,000) in winnings. 

All he was once given to hide his modesty was once a skinny, grimy pillow whilst being filmed 24 hours an afternoon, seven days per week, for 335 days, as he attempted to hit his goal whilst additionally looking for the ‘enjoyment in each day’. 

‘Nasubi did not know that we had rented the room subsequent door,’ the display’s director, Harutaro Kagawa, printed. ‘To movie Nasubi waking up within the morning, the assistant needed to sneak into his room early to press report at the digicam.’ 

This pictures was once then whittled all the way down to a six-minute edit – a patchwork of Nasubi chatting with the digicam, consuming pet food, and dancing across the room bare – that needed to be licensed by means of Tsuchiya. 

The manufacturer made up our minds to make use of an eggplant cool animated film to hide Nasubi’s genitalia – for sure as a result of his nickname interprets to ‘aubergine’. 

Under Tsuchiya’s obsessive path, Nasubi was suicidal, emaciated, and so disconnected from fact that he, at one level, believed he have been ‘kidnapped by means of extraterrestrial beings’.

The Contestant unearths how Tsuchiya, now 68, oversaw a manufacturing that failed Nasubi on each degree – from the staff ‘deserted’ that deserted him to the physician, who gave Nasubi a blank invoice of well being – even supposing he was once it seems that struggling excessive mental misery and malnourished

By day 10, Nasubi had submitted a complete of 963 packages with out profitable the rest – that means he hadn’t eaten the rest excluding the crackers the manufacturing crew provided him with intermittently as a result of ‘we could not let him die’. 

While Nasubi was once rising extra frail as the times went by means of, the manufacturing crew – indubitably on Tsuchiya’s directions – was once superimposing light-hearted captions, slapstick noises, and suggestive censoring onto pictures he did not know was once being aired each evening. 

His circle of relatives, to the contrary, was once painfully conscious about what was once going down as his sister, Ikuyo, recalled their surprise at seeing Nasubi bare on nationwide TV. 

‘When I noticed it, I believed, “What are you doing? You’re joking!” I felt each indignant and unhappy, in addition to embarrassed. A grown guy bare on TV, along with his privates airbrushed. 

‘And it was once my little brother.’ 

Watching Nasubi on TV, she realised how ‘merciless and terrible’ Denpa Shonen – described within the documentary because the ‘naughty boy’ within the ‘faculty backyard’ of Japanese TV. 

‘Denpa Shonen is straightforward to snicker at if you are an out of doors but when it is you, or any individual you are with regards to, you spot that what is going down is in reality merciless and terrible.’ 

Clips of Nasubi ‘farting’, preserving up ladies’s lacy undies, and dancing across the room after profitable bottles of sake, had been all integrated within the ultimate edits. 

All Tsuchiya gave Nasubi to hide his modesty was once a skinny, grimy pillow as Nasubi was once filmed 24 hours an afternoon, seven days per week, for 335 days, as he attempted to hit his goal of 1,000,000 yen in prizes gained whilst additionally looking for the ‘enjoyment in each day’

The manufacturer callously made up our minds to make use of an eggplant cool animated film to hide Nasubi’s genitalia – for sure as a result of his nickname interprets to ‘aubergine’

After Nasubi hit his purpose of incomes 1,000,000 yen in prizes from more than a few contests – a feat that supposed he spent 335 days bare and by myself within the tiny room that noticed him transform more and more indifferent from actual lifestyles – Tsuchiya picked a specifically painful method to wreck the scoop to him

During the documentary, Nasubi printed nobody from the staff would discuss to him as he was more and more bring to a halt from the remainder of the sector.

At this level, Tsuchiya added: ‘But I instructed them to by no means interact with him, since the problem was once about being by myself.’ 

Nasubi felt his intentions had been extra sinister than that, including: ‘He concept that holding me remoted would make the challenge extra fascinating.’ 

Buoyed by means of the luck of his display, which predated Big Brother by means of a few years, and to end up to his detractors that the movie was once no longer scripted, Tsuchiya made the verdict to reside flow pictures from ‘Nasubi’s room’ for web customers all over the world. 

‘Not simply each week, however each day, minute, and 2d, this craziness completely ate up me, questioning what I may do subsequent.’ 

After Nasubi hit his purpose of incomes 1,000,000 yen in prizes from more than a few contests – a feat that supposed he spent 335 days bare and by myself within the tiny room that noticed him transform more and more indifferent from actual lifestyles – Tsuchiya picked a specifically painful method to wreck the scoop to him. 

He woke Nasubi up at midnight by means of bursting celebration poppers  – whilst shining a brilliant gentle – on his face, because the worried 22-year previous was once crouched in concern with streamers all over the place his frame. 

But he wasn’t completed but. Tsuchoiya made up our minds to fly Nasubi to South Korea for what the frail comic believed was once a ‘celebratory’ travel – best to push him into repeating A Life In Prizes for a world adaptation. 

While Nasubi was once rising extra frail as the times went by means of, the manufacturing crew – indubitably on Tsuchiya’s directions – was once superimposing light-hearted captions, slapstick noises, and suggestive censoring onto pictures he did not know was once being aired each evening

‘After elevating him up, we dropped him proper again to all-time low,’ he mentioned. ‘When you drop any individual, they really feel a surprise, proper? I believed I may seize that second. 

‘That’s one of these merciless factor to do, is not it,’ Tsuchiya persevered. 

This was once the instant Nasubi realised the manufacturer was once the ‘satan’ as he instructed British filmmaker Clair Titley: ‘At the audition, a 12 months previous, Tsuchiya was once like a god to me. 

‘But from that time on, in a flash, he was the satan.’ 

Nasubi ended up competing for a number of extra weeks, taking him to 434 days in isolation.

He then returned to Japan, the place he entered some other condo and stripped bare considering he was once about to be subjected to the similar turmoil once more.

However, the partitions then collapsed to expose a TV studio with a reside target market of fanatics, with him turning into conscious for the primary time that his ordeal have been observed by means of hundreds of thousands.

‘That other folks may push others to such limits, plunge them into depression, it is the identical with bullying.’

Buoyed by means of the luck of his display, which predated Big Brother by means of a few years, and to end up to his detractors that the movie was once no longer scripted, Tsuchiya made the verdict to reside flow pictures from ‘Nasubi’s room’ for web customers all over the world

‘I realised how merciless other folks may well be,’ Nasubi mentioned. 

Today, Tsuchiya continues to paintings within the leisure business, with The Cinemaholic reporting he has served because the owner-operator of TV manufacturing company Gontents LLC since 2022. 

He was once up to now appointed Senior Creator in addition to President of the Research and Development Lab at Nippon Television Network Corporation, the organisation that produced Susunu! Denpa Shonen. 

Does he really feel any regret for the best way he handled Nasubi? 

Cryptically, the manufacturer mentioned: ‘What we captured in the ones 15 months was once peculiar. I believed it was once extra fascinating the extra I driven other folks. 

‘If the individual at the receiving finish have been driven too a long way, and did not need to reside, I’d have long gone too a long way. 

‘But it is onerous to understand on the time.’ 

He conceded, then again, that Nasubi have been instrumental to his luck, admitting ‘I’d do the rest’ to assist the comedian-turned-activist get better from the trauma he inflicted all the ones years in the past. 

Nasubi in a nonetheless from The Contestant 

‘Even if he requested me to position my lifestyles at the line… I would possibly even imagine that,’ he persevered. ‘If he mentioned, “I need you to die to get closure.’ I would seriously think about it.”

Fortunately, Nasubi has managed to turn the negatives of his time on the series into positives.

He completed his goal of climbing Mount Everest in 2016 saying that the resilience he gained from reality TV had come good for him in the climb.

Tsuchiya helped him fundraise for the expedition as part of his redemption but Nasubi shared he could not forgive the producer for tricking him into thinking he was only being filmed as an experimental pilot and never told that instead he would be broadcast to all of Japan.

During an Ask Me Anything on Reddit last May, ahead of the release of The Contestant, he confessed: ‘It would be a lie if I said I’m not regretting, even though I learned to live with the past. 

‘Did I forgive Tsuchiya, the producer? To be honest, in my heart, there is still something that is hating the person.’

He explained: ‘But then in 2011, a big earthquake happened in Fukushima. I could really relate to the people who are struggling.

‘So without my experience in the past, I might not have been able to resonate with people in the tough situation. That’s when I realised my past struggle could be something useful.

Fortunately, Nasubi has managed to turn the negatives of his time on the series into positives.

He completed his goal of climbing Mount Everest in 2016 saying that the resilience he gained from reality TV had come good for him in the climb

‘So I realised that instead of regretting my past, I have to learn to live with my past and turn this around to make my negative past into something positive.’

Nasubi’s Everest expedition was a bid to raise awareness about the Fukushima disaster and, when he contacted Tsuchiya about his fundraising bid, the producer reportedly apologised for his past actions.

‘I didn’t have contact with him for more than 10 years and, during that time, he was a symbol of hate for me, someone I really despised,’ Nasubi told TIME. 

‘But when I decided to climb Everest, I contacted him for the first time and he said, ‘I would do anything to help you,’ and apologized for all of the awful things he put me through.’ 

In addition to his work in the TV industry, Tsuchiya is a part-time lecturer at the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Tokyo. 

He is also the author of three books, including his most recent work – We Love Television – published in 2017. 

Storyville: The Contestant airs on BBC One this night at 10pm