One of the wildest stories in reality television has been given the documentary treatment this year, thanks to director Clair Titley’s The Contestant. The documentary film dives into the harrowing story of Japanese reality contestant Tomoaki Hamatsu, better known as Nasubi, who appeared on controversial game show Susunu! Denpa Shōnen. The show had him living in an isolated apartment, cut off from all communication and without any resources, until he could win a certain amount of money through mail-in sweepstakes. While he believed the footage of him in the apartment would be cut into a TV show, it was all presented on a 24/7 stream in Japan, allowing people to watch every second of his difficult life inside the locked-down apartment.
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If this is the first you’re hearing about Nasubi’s story, you’re probably thinking it sounds a lot like The Truman Show. The beloved Jim Carrey film follows a man who believes he’s living a normal life, but everyone else knows he’s set up in a fake life so that his existence can be broadcast on television.
For The Contestant‘s recent streaming premiere on Hulu, ComicBook.com spoke to Hamatsu about his experience and the topic of The Truman Show came up. Through an interpreter, Nasubi explained that he feels a connection to Carrey’s character in the film, and that his experience has made him want to watch out for others in the reality TV space.
“I saw The Truman Show. When I saw it, even though it’s fiction, I felt like I’m the only one in the world that really truly understands the character’s feeling and what he went through,” he told us. “Nobody else but me, that’s how I felt. 25 years ago I was kind of a pioneer figure in the world of reality shows. Now, more reality show type of things have been coming around. So I feel very protective of them, even though in this era there is more protection for the people who participate in reality shows, than the time 25 years ago when I was there. However, there are still some people who get hurt in the programs, some even end up ending their lives, and so on.
“And what the audience wants, it will always reflect on the TV shows. So the more radical stuff, the more crazy stuff the audience wants to see, the demand is there and then there will be a reality show that will provide that. So my wish is that all those people will be protected and don’t get hurt that much and do not produce any more victims anymore.”
You can check out the official synopsis for The Contestant below.
“The Contestant is the incredible true story of a man who lived for 15 months trapped inside a small room, naked, starving and alone … and completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV in Japan, to over 15 million viewers a week.”
The Contestant is now streaming on Hulu.
