Naked, alone and living on dog food – all for a TV show that captivated an entire nation
3 hours ago
By: Steven McIntosh, Entertainment Reporter
HuluIn 1998 , a Japanese man was stripped naked and left alone in an almost empty apartment as part of a challenge for a reality TV show.
Tomoaki Hamatsu, known under the name Nasubi, All that remained was a pen, a few blank postcards, a telephone and a display full of magazines
But he didn't. was not there to read. The concept of the show was to see if a human being could survive on the competition prizes alone.
In order to win the challenge, the The value of the prizes he won had to reach a certain financial threshold - 1 million yen, or around £6,000 at the time.
He didn't will not emerge before 15 months, following a gradual descent into depression and mania, driven by hunger and isolation. Nearly three decades later, his ordeal is revisited in a new film which has just been screened at the Sheffield Documentary Festival.
"I am I came across his story when I was working on another project and got lost in one of those Internet rabbit holes," recalls Clair Titley, director of The Contestant.
"But I found that a lot of what I encountered was almost derogatory. Nothing really spoke to Nasubi's story in depth. [I had] all these questions like: why is he stayed there and what effect it had on him with this premise, that I wanted to make a film about his experience="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/fc56/live. /4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk /news/320/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg. webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co. uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp 640w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0 -2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp 1024w ,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co .uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Hulu Film still from The Contestant" class="sc-13b8515c-0 hbOWRP"/>Hulu
Nasubi, who was randomly selected in an open audition, knew he was being filmed, but the explanation was given about where the images would end up was vague and left him with the impression that they would probably not be broadcast.
In reality, the young man 22 year old gradually became one of the bi...
3 hours ago
By: Steven McIntosh, Entertainment Reporter
HuluIn 1998 , a Japanese man was stripped naked and left alone in an almost empty apartment as part of a challenge for a reality TV show.
Tomoaki Hamatsu, known under the name Nasubi, All that remained was a pen, a few blank postcards, a telephone and a display full of magazines
But he didn't. was not there to read. The concept of the show was to see if a human being could survive on the competition prizes alone.
In order to win the challenge, the The value of the prizes he won had to reach a certain financial threshold - 1 million yen, or around £6,000 at the time.
He didn't will not emerge before 15 months, following a gradual descent into depression and mania, driven by hunger and isolation. Nearly three decades later, his ordeal is revisited in a new film which has just been screened at the Sheffield Documentary Festival.
"I am I came across his story when I was working on another project and got lost in one of those Internet rabbit holes," recalls Clair Titley, director of The Contestant.
"But I found that a lot of what I encountered was almost derogatory. Nothing really spoke to Nasubi's story in depth. [I had] all these questions like: why is he stayed there and what effect it had on him with this premise, that I wanted to make a film about his experience="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/fc56/live. /4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk /news/320/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg. webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co. uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp 640w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0 -2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp 1024w ,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co .uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fc56/live/4b6101c0-2288-11ef-a248-13d66dddaaef.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Hulu Film still from The Contestant" class="sc-13b8515c-0 hbOWRP"/>Hulu
Nasubi, who was randomly selected in an open audition, knew he was being filmed, but the explanation was given about where the images would end up was vague and left him with the impression that they would probably not be broadcast.
In reality, the young man 22 year old gradually became one of the bi...
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