It’s easy to joke about wild reality TV moments — contestants eating bugs, absurd costumes, and over-the-top challenges.
But every now and then, a documentary comes along that makes you stop and seriously ask: How far is too far?
BBC4’s Storyville recently aired The Contestant, a jaw-dropping look at Japan’s most infamous game show stunt — one that wasn’t just bizarre, but genuinely disturbing.
And it’s left viewers questioning how such extreme human experiments ever made it to air.
Back When TV Didn’t Know Its Limits
Back in the late ’80s and ’90s, British audiences were captivated by quirky foreign game shows.
One of the strangest? A Japanese show called Endurance, where men lined up to be willingly tortured — all for laughs.
Think being pelted with cannonballs or freezing in ice baths while eating spaghetti.
The more painful, the funnier it was meant to be.
Even kids got involved — with Dutch children launching wooden clogs at grown men tied to crosses.
Looking back, it feels unthinkable. At the time, it aired on British TV via Clive James On TV, and people couldn’t get enough of it.
Enter Toshio Tsuchiya, The “Satan” of Japanese Game Shows
But Endurance was just the beginning. Behind the scenes, a producer named Toshio Tsuchiya, who openly likens himself to the devil, took things to a whole new level in 1997.
He masterminded a twisted show called A Life in Prizes — and the world would never look at reality TV the same again.
His idea? Take a young, eager comedian named Tomoaki Hamatsu and lock him in a bare apartment.
No clothes. No bed. Just some crackers and water.
If he wanted anything — food, clothes, or even toilet paper — he had to win it through magazine competitions.
Meet Nasubi, the Naked Contestant with an Eggplant for Modesty
Tomoaki’s long face earned him the nickname “Nasubi,” meaning “aubergine” in Japanese.
That name stuck — and became a darkly iconic image.
To preserve his modesty during broadcasts, producers used a cartoon aubergine to censor his naked body.
The kicker? Nasubi had no idea that his entire ordeal was being broadcast weekly to millions.
Soon, he became a sensation, and his suffering was streamed 24/7 online.
The young man, unaware of his fame, continued to wither away in isolation — surviving on rice or, at one point, even dog food.
From Comedian to Unwilling National Star
This wasn’t just a game show — it was a psychological experiment gone rogue.
Nasubi’s mental and physical health deteriorated as he stayed locked in for a shocking 15 months.
That’s over a year of solitary confinement, hunger, and utter confusion.
The moment he was finally released? It was made into a spectacle.
A live studio audience cheered wildly as he emerged into the world — disoriented, humiliated, and deeply changed.
The BBC’s Tokyo correspondent, Juliet Hindell, was there to witness it.
But instead of feeling triumphant, it was heartbreaking.
A Win for Ratings, A Loss for Humanity
Tsuchiya claimed this was a landmark moment in TV history. And technically, he’s right. But it’s also a cautionary tale about the moral failures of entertainment.
The fact that this was all allowed to happen — and celebrated — says something unsettling about the thirst for voyeurism.
While British TV eventually distanced itself from these extremes, Japan doubled down.
The torments got crueler, the ratings soared, and the line between entertainment and exploitation completely vanished.
The Lasting Impact of Nasubi’s Ordeal
Even years later, Nasubi’s story lingers as one of the darkest chapters in reality television.
It wasn’t just a show gone too far — it was a social experiment in plain sight. And the world watched without blinking.
What makes The Contestant such essential viewing is its ability to confront these uncomfortable truths.
It’s not just about Nasubi’s suffering — it’s about our collective willingness to consume pain as entertainment.
Reality TV’s Mirror to Society
If you think modern reality TV is wild, The Contestant reminds us that it’s been far worse before.
In the pursuit of ratings, television has repeatedly crossed lines no one thought possible — often at the expense of real people’s dignity.
So maybe next time we cringe at a reality show meltdown or laugh at someone’s public humiliation, we should ask: is this entertainment… or exploitation?