I was put in solitary, stripped naked & had to eat dog food in front of millions on world’s most extreme reality TV show
HAVING been stripped, forced to eat dog food to prevent starvation and deprived of human contact for hundreds of days, Nasubi wished for death instead of another 24 hours in his hellish prison.
But he was no inmate trapped in an Alcatraz-style lock-up, nor a soldier captured by an enemy.
Nasubi was the victim of reality TV show A Life In Prizes, which at its 1998 peak pulled in more than 30million viewers a week in Japan.
Now a new movie documentary tells how the 22-year-old was placed into a studio flat without any personal possessions and challenged to live off whatever he could win from writing into magazine contests.
He would only be released after earning one million yen of prizes — just over £5,000 based on 1998 prices — and firing off tens of thousands of entries.
Aspiring comedian Nasubi had been unaware of what he was agreeing to and only surrendered his clothing under the assurance that the show would never make it to air.
Instead, show producer Toshio Tsuchiya, who described himself as “not a god, more like . . . the devil”, had tricked him — and millions watched the star in the buff.
Nasubi’s 15 months in isolation won him a Guinness World Record.
Now, 25 years on from the end of his stint in A Life In Prizes, and ahead of documentary The Contestant hitting cinemas next week, the star tells The Sun: “The loneliness affected me much more than not being able to eat or not having clothes.
“There were so many moments where I thought it probably would be better to die now than keep going.
“Before I started winning food, I was given crackers — but only the bare minimum amount that I could survive on. I only went two or three days without eating.
‘He would have died if he hadn’t won rice’
“I would say I never got to the stage of being famished completely but in terms of mental strength I was being weakened day by day.
“The toughest moment was when the rice ran out and I needed to face up to eating dog food.
“I didn’t want to eat it but there was no alternative.”
Born Tomoaki Hamatsu in rural Fukushima, Nasubi longed to be a comedian from the age of six.
His yearning for fame stemmed from realising making people laugh could protect him against bullies.
Nasubi says: “Kids would say the new kid’s got a weird face, it’s gross. That’s why I became known as Nasubi (meaning aubergine). Because I had a long face, bullies beat me up.
“When I was six or seven I noticed that by making people laugh I could change my situation — that’s when I realised my face could be a strength.”
When Nasubi left for Tokyo as an adult, his mother warned: “Whatever you do, don’t get naked.”
That rule was flouted minutes into a segment on the show Susunu! Denpa Shonen, which translates as “Do Not Proceed! Crazy Youth”.
The concept was devised by crackpot producer Tsuchiya, whose reputation was so legendary that Darth Vader-style music played whenever he appeared on screen.
He admitted having “gone a little bit crazy” when devising the show concept.
Juliet Hindell, a former BBC Tokyo correspondent, says Susunu! Denpa Shonen was “a star machine” where unknown people could “become celebrities practically overnight”.
That promise lured Nasubi and 20 others to an audition in 1998 for a new mystery show.
After winning a lottery-style draw to appear, he proclaimed: “I feel like I’ve used up a lifetime of luck.”
Blindfolded, Nasubi was taken to a studio flat where he ended up living in solitude for 337 days.
Once inside, the producers revealed the game and told him he would be freed after reaching one million yen.
Nasubi never signed a contract and reluctantly agreed to strip.
Tsuchiya assured him the recording was for a pitch that “would never be aired”.
I survived on will-power for the first few weeks. I was surprisingly positive. I was kind of waiting for them to say, ‘stop’
Nasubi
He was filmed 24 hours a day on two cameras, and hundreds of hours of footage was edited into six-minute segments for A Life In Prizes.
Inside his flat was just a stash of magazines, countless postcards and pens to apply for competitions, a diary and an emergency telephone.
To keep himself sane, Nasubi danced and performed headstands — his genitalia covered on TV by an aubergine emoji in reference to his nickname — and wrote a journal.
It took around a week and 963 applications before his first win — a 12-pack of gelatine desserts
Up until then, he had lived on crackers given to him by producers.
Nasubi says: “I survived on will- power for the first few weeks. I was surprisingly positive. I was kind of waiting for them to say, ‘stop’.
“I was just about not dying but that’s when the real hell started.”
Soon Nasubi won 5kg of rice — but had no saucepan to cook it in.
He tried soaking the grains in water overnight without joy and eventually heated them in a metal-lined cup.
One showrunner admitted: “If he hadn’t won rice, he would have died.”
Nasubi’s mental state drastically declined, worsened by degrading wins including wet dog food, which he was forced to eat due to hunger on Day 80, and later dry kibble too.
Soon he imitated a canine, barking while running on his hands and feet.
Nasubi says he was in “such emotional turmoil that I couldn’t sleep”.
At one point he even believed he had “been abducted by aliens”.
And during another desperate moment, Nasubi reflected: “I don’t have enough nutrition going to my brain. Being driven to the edge has brought out a madness in me.”
Luckily, his stash of prizes was increasing thanks to him writing up to 400 competition postcards a day.
Alongside essential supplies, Nasubi amassed a Spice Girls CD, a cuddly toy seal, golf balls and four car tyres.
Nasubi adds: “I could have escaped if I really wanted to. The door wasn’t locked.
“It’s a strange psychological state — you lose the will to escape.”
Early on Day 335, Nasubi woke to the sound of party poppers exploding around him.
He had finally surpassed his one million yen target.
Nasubi says: “I thought, finally, it’s all over. I was at my happiest.”
In celebration, he was taken to Korea to enjoy a feast of BBQ meat, an amusement park trip and a jar of kimchi.
But there was a twist. Nasubi was led blindfolded to a “hotel room” that was actually a studio flat.
“You have to do it again,” Tsuchiya told him.
It took three hours to convince Nasubi, who pleaded: “I thought my life was over. So many times I wanted to die.”
This time it was in Korea, meaning he would have to apply to competitions in a language he didn’t understand, with only two translation dictionaries to help.
Ultimate betrayal
He needed to earn 46,900 yen — the price of an plane ticket — before producers changed it to a first-class ticket costing 81,600 yen.
The task took him several weeks to complete, taking him to 434 days in isolation and breaking the world record for the longest time spent surviving on competition winnings.
Bizarrely, Nasubi agreed to be taken back to Japan blindfolded and found himself in yet another apartment.
He stripped, sat at a table and braced himself — only for the walls of the room to fall around him, revealing a cheering studio audience.
Nasubi recalls: “I was stunned.
Covering his groin with a pillow, Nasubi appeared happy the ordeal was over but also furious.
Tsuchiya’s ultimate betrayal was revealed.
Nasubi says: “I was devastated. Millions of people had seen me naked.
“I’d only agreed to take off my clothes because Tsuchiya said he didn’t think it would be broadcast.”
The show had broken numerous TV viewing records and Nasubi was a viral sensation — even his diaries have become bestselling books.
But having spent so long in isolation, the comic “couldn’t remember how to talk to people” and struggled to make eye contact.
He said: “After A Life In Prizes, I lost my faith in humanity.”
But Tsuchiya remains proud of his “extraordinary” TV achievements with A Life In Prizes while conceding he “pushed too far” — especially as it led its unwitting star to consider suicide.
And Nasubi is unlikely to forgive the twisted producer any time soon.
He tells us: “I held the grudge because he was the one who sent me to the hell that I experienced.”
But Nasubi has found peace through helping others, including rescuing victims of the earthquake that caused a major nuclear accident at Fukushima in 2011, and climbing Mount Everest in 2016 for charity.
He said: “I had a void in my heart, like a black hole. My loneliness could only be filled by those around me.
“It was their support and affection that filled that void. A human’s love or that kind of spirit of helping each other — that’s what it’s all about.”
- The Contestant (12A) will be previewing in cinemas from November 27 before hitting cinemas nationwide on November 29. Find out more at thecontestantmovie.co.uk.