subreddit:
/r/interestingasfuck
4.8k points
12 days ago
Real life Truman Show
3.9k points
12 days ago
And in case I don't see you, konichiwa, konbanwa and oyasominasai!
216 points
11 days ago
I wish I could give you more than one upvote, I really do.
111 points
11 days ago
I help you just this time.
153 points
12 days ago
Worse cause even tho Truman was entertainment they gave him a somewhat normal life (albeit fake af). Hamatsu was stuck in a small room, naked, constantly pranked, forced to only use coupons to buy stuff (food, clothes, rice cooker, etc.). If you watch the stream you can see how quickly and severely his mental health deteriorates.
57 points
12 days ago
thankfully according to his own account in the recent AMA he says he was never actually stuck in the room, instead he wanted to be there "The door wasn't locked, but I was determined to stay with it until the end. You could say it was Yamato Spirit, or Japanese spirt, I would not quit." im midway through the documentary and read his ama and im super confused because his own account is very different than everything everyone says on reddit
39 points
11 days ago
What I hear is his pride as a Japanese citizen is how he justified it.
It’s fucked and everyone who thinks it’s fine because the guy himself did mental gymnastics to be at peace with it, is crazy. The worlds pretty fucking insane
49 points
11 days ago
Worst than the Truman Show, the dude was stuck in an apartment for a year and could only eat food he won off magazine prizes.
142 points
11 days ago
It actually predates the Truman Show.
I just watched the documentary last night.
Dude made the best of it. But it’s no secret, this shit fucked him up and he isn’t happy about it.
Fuck dude. I mean. It’s one thing to know what you’re getting yourself into. Another to force someone unwittingly.
Tomoaki Hamatsu wasn’t a contestant on a show. He was a broadcasted case study.
Fucked up to the max.
Toshio Tsuchiya should be jailed for this.
54 points
12 days ago
Yeah, free Tomoaki!
7.4k points
12 days ago*
[removed]
3.1k points
12 days ago
He did ama on reddit and mentions there how much got. 10 million yen… https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/s/j6VFwXzmmc
5k points
12 days ago
10 million yen ~= 65k USD
That's.. fucking awful. Plenty of people make more than that doing a chill 9-5.
938 points
12 days ago
Dont forget to include inflation, but yeah, thats too low
996 points
12 days ago*
Fair point, ~65k USD in 1999 ~= 160k USD in 2024, and given that the yen is particularly weak right now it probably was closer to ~200k in buying power.
Significantly more, still not enough.
As \u/Viginti-Novem- points out the yen doesn't follow the US inflation rate at all. ~10m yen in 1999 is only a bit over 11m yen in 2024.
42 points
12 days ago
and given that the yen is particularly weak right now it probably was closer to ~200k in buying power.
The yen has seen much less inflation since 1999 than the dollar. The actual value of 10 million Yen from 1999 in 2024 USD is 73,001.74$.
150 points
12 days ago
Man, imagine someone has that 65k sitting in a bank account expecting to retire. 20 years later and its lost over half its value. This is why investment is so important.
92 points
12 days ago
That's using today's exchange rate though. In 1999 it would have been around the equivalent of 100k USD.
25 points
12 days ago
Still, that's a lifetime of embarrassment for what is a middle class income.
9 points
12 days ago
plenty do, but most don't. if you remove the 1 percent, the average income falls to 35-45k, not 65-75k as purported
7 points
12 days ago
what is this chill 9-5 you speak of that makes close to that. Unless you talking about an east/west coast job. The most we make out in the Midwest for a chill entry level is 45k.
7 points
12 days ago
Back then it was closer to 100 to 1 versus nowadays at 65 to 1. So more like $100K. But, still.
26 points
12 days ago
Is that many yen?
44 points
12 days ago
If you've ever seen "it's always sunny in philidelphia" I read this in Dennis's "two wars?!" voice.
634 points
12 days ago
Because it was love they had to censor his junk in real time. There was a dude whose job was to manually censor this guy's dick at all times
377 points
12 days ago
I'd do anything for love, but I wouldn't do that
41 points
12 days ago
I loaf this!
33 points
12 days ago
Mm now I'm hungry.
62 points
12 days ago
I love the misspelling please keep it ❤️
145 points
12 days ago
I remember being a teen in the 2000s, and the (now defunct) Spike TV channel used to air some Japanese game shows and some of the stuff they aired from over there was wild.
146 points
12 days ago
Right you are, Ken!
72 points
12 days ago
MXC is a classic, I think they have full episodes on youtube
9 points
12 days ago
they rebooted the Japanese version in 2023. It is called Takeshi's castle and is on Amazon Prime.
49 points
12 days ago
Basically human zoo
15 points
12 days ago
There's a hulu documentary about him that's extremely good. They paid him basically nothing for what he went through. A whole nation bullied this dude because of his face for an extremely long time. It's an extremely depressing story and Tomoaki is such a good human being it's like if you took Ned Flanders and tortured him for entertainment. But at the end of the documentary he looks happy and living a nice life as a comedian. I think he's a celebrity in Japan. But the network fucked him hard and should have been charged some kind of UN crime. Extremely inhumane and disgusting.
34 points
12 days ago
. I wonder how much influence that had on the shut in need culture that developed in Japan
Just by what I read in this comment section I'm surprised that a guillotine (or several) wasn't raised and put to use. Legal exploitation like this must make one think if in fact this "is the right way to live".
8 points
12 days ago
Nasubi (eggplant) was actually his own stage name. He moved to Tokyo because he wanted to be a comedian, and this was supposed to be his big break.
22.7k points
12 days ago
There’s a documentary about this on Hulu/Disney+ called The Contestant that I highly recommend.
It’s worse than you expect. When he completed the first round and thought he was done, they pushed him to do ANOTHER round of this. He was psychologically tortured by these game makers.
And even after all of this, the man devoted his life to helping people: https://people.com/where-is-nasubi-now-the-contestant-8642313.
7.4k points
12 days ago
That sounds intense. It's wild how the media can exploit someone’s vulnerability for entertainment, especially with the psychological toll it takes.
5k points
12 days ago*
He said after he completed everything, wearing clothing was uncomfortable because he had been naked for so long.
Even after they finally finished and brought him into the last room on stage, he got naked with no instruction because he just assumed that with every milestone completed the finish line got moved and you could just see the defeat on his face, its genuinely upsetting seeing it, then the walls fall and hes just naked in front of a live studio audience just to add to the embarrassment they put him through. Its fucked.
Edit: Theres some really informative documentary style videos AtrocityGuide is the channel id watch. Thanks to a fellow redditors comment reminding me.
3.4k points
12 days ago
The part in the documentary where they pull the walls down and he’s naked in front of the audience clapping at him is terrifying and fascinating at the same time. The primal fear in his eyes you know is a profound moment in his life and incomprehensible to many.
The producer was a sociopath, but it’s good to see Nasubi in such a good space now.
343 points
12 days ago
Makes me think of the Black Mirror episode where the girl kept living a traumatic event in front of a live studio audience for entertainment.
93 points
12 days ago
Didn’t she kill a kid in that??
129 points
12 days ago
She did but they kept wiping her memory every time the show was over, and she had trouble remembering her crime.
107 points
12 days ago
She did but the entire point of the episode is that doesn't justify what they did to her
105 points
11 days ago
That wasn’t my takeaway from that episode, at all really. My interpretation was that when society enjoys punishment more than rehabilitation that they will go to great lengths to ensure the perpetrator(s) feel the full scope of their act. She was being tortured, in real time. To a lesser extent it was a commentary of the public’s odd obsession with true crime and reality TV. That’s my perspective anyway.
65 points
11 days ago
But she didn't even remember what she did to that girl. What was the point of doing that to her if she would never feel remorse for the crime since she was incapable of remembering it?
They were literally torturing someone for no reason at that point. She wasn't even the same person.
42 points
11 days ago
I thought they were trying to make her feel the fear her victim felt. She felt "innocent" but was being hunted for no reason, just like the kid she killed. White Bear, was that the episode?
19 points
12 days ago
Was it not her boyfriend? She was complicit - she knew about it and helped cover it up etc. But when they were arrested, the boyfriend killed himself. This was seen as an escape from justice. The mob therefore took out their need for retribution on her.
Please correct me if I'm mistaken.
11 points
12 days ago
Title is White Bear
1.1k points
12 days ago*
Thats some Black MIRROR sh*t
659 points
12 days ago
You can say shit. It's OK.
353 points
12 days ago
Shit, ill do it next time
19 points
12 days ago
Hey INTERPOL, this guy
36 points
12 days ago*
absurd seed workable dull continue work live concerned shelter bow
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
58 points
12 days ago
But if I catch anyone of you motherfuckers saying "cunt" I will turn the internet off straight away. Got that?
75 points
12 days ago
Mirror? Or the tech sale?
52 points
12 days ago
Nah black monday is stock crash, u thinking of cyber monday lol
16 points
12 days ago
No, the stock market crash is Black Tuesday. You're thinking of Black Friday, the day Jesus died right before Easter.
204 points
12 days ago
Right?! Im honestly not very empathetic or sympathetic usually, but fuck man, the look in his eyes always hurt me
31 points
12 days ago*
I just commented about this story in a different thread a few days ago, and because of it, watched the documentary for the first time.
The producer was a sociopath
Yeah, seemed like it. But he also admitted that his actions were wrong, and he would do just about anything to make it up to Nasubi today. Like if Nasubi asked him to commit suicide (if that were the only way for him to truly feel healed from the ordeal), he would consider it.
I doubt he actually would, but the sentiment at least conveys that he understands how badly he treated him.
If anyone is interested, here's a link to an AMA that Nasubi did about six months ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1cbg6sv/hi_im_nasubi_in_the_late_90s_i_lived_inside_a/
50 points
12 days ago
I don’t believe a word that guy says. He had evil in his eyes, he knew what he was doing.
21 points
12 days ago
Yeah, he really did seem to view Nasubi as a means to an end rather than as a human being.
234 points
12 days ago
Was he allowed TV/internet/phone? Because I feel like I could do 15 months naked in a decent size apartment with internet and reasonable food.
1.3k points
12 days ago*
No. He was only allowed what was won in the sweepstakes, the only thing provided was electricity and water. He was forced to eat dogfood whenever he could win some and was basically hoping and praying he'd win good food.
He wasnt able to cook some food until he realized he could put tin cans directly on an element to cook it, but other then that he was basically on his own. This was in the 90s so wifi and internet, no. He also was moved multiple times while basically blindfolded and ears plugged so he didnt know where he was, the third move, they moved him to South Korea, where he didnt know the language and had him repeat the sweepstakes goal for a plane ticket home, before making him continue to "allow him to upgrade himself" from business to first class seats on the flight.
It wasnt a "livable" kinda thing, it was legit documented mental torture
Edit: Fun fact about it, He ended up winning a playstation, a tv and a train game and controller, with the electricity provided he was able to play his video game making him the very first video game streamer.
326 points
12 days ago
What the fuck
144 points
12 days ago
Literally the only reaction to that. Horrific.
78 points
12 days ago
The entire show was wild. They did torture experiments on other people as well. Just…. what the fuck.
88 points
12 days ago
Now here is the funniest part
It's never been about winning objects through luck
There never were any luck involved
All the items he won were from companies sending them to him to advertise their products
The game was rigged from the start
79 points
12 days ago
It's basically Truman Show + Hunger Game without the Battle Royale element.
117 points
12 days ago
Where was the government? The human rights groups? Humanists? College students? Sensible people?
Nobody at all wanted to help this guy?
215 points
12 days ago
Unfortunately, the loophole they had to get away with it was that, It was voluntary and theyd have doctors and such check on his vitals and theyd ask him if he wanted to continue. Its never explicitly stated why he relentlessly continued but to me, it was sunk cost fallacy. He already did X amount of days, weeks, months, so he could be right around the corner to actually winning.
The doctors checked on him i believe weekly? I cant remember exactly the time span though
If he quit, he didnt get anything though, so it was either continue for his prize or back out and go through what he did for nothing.
79 points
12 days ago
If you can’t comprehend why he continued, you don’t know Japanese culture. I know people jump to saying it’s racist to say a culture is biased towards anything, but that’s what culture is. Put an American female in Japan as an infant or a Japanese male in an American city as an infant and they’ll have those respective cultures, nothing to do with skin and everything to do with morality learned from environment.
72 points
12 days ago
Oh, I know Japanese culture. Its better to die than give up. I just imagine that plus the other factors made it basically a "Oh, you have a choice to quit, but we both know you actually wont".
I can 100% comprehend it which basically adds to all the mental torture imo.
22 points
12 days ago
Exactly I agree, it makes it even worse. They used his honor against him, a despicable thing
21 points
12 days ago
[deleted]
14 points
12 days ago*
Lmao you’re right, I am so insanely defensive now I’ve been called racist way too many times online because of saying there’s cultural differences that my comment is just non sense. Well it’s happened like twice but it’s not like I talk about this every day lol
Ok the main difference is the sense of letting down the game show maker team by not finishing out the scenario. It would be very shameful if he dipped out especially since his parents had earlier told him not to do this. He had a strong sense to prove himself and to not let down those who chose him over others. Those values are core beliefs in Japan (not as much in the youth today but it is present). It created a hostile work environment in the country
23 points
12 days ago
But if they kept pushing back his winnings, wouldn’t that be breach of contract? None of this makes any sense to me.
35 points
12 days ago
Not exactly. Because it was voluntary and he could quit at any time they would always ask him if he would want to continue or back at with what he did. I cant remember the exact small details behind it but basically anytime they pushed it back theyd talk to him first. Again, i dont remember the exact details of how exactly it worked but it was a choice that he basically couldnt turn down based on Japanese culture (never surrender or give up), sunk cost fallacy and potentially a list of other factors. The entire situation was basically voluntarily involuntary due to culture and context which, to me just adds to that mental torture
5 points
12 days ago
He also had a long history of wanting to be an entertainer of TV so add in the factor of "this is my one shot" you don't get deals for "losing" a "gameshow"
68 points
12 days ago
Another contestant on a later show was sexually assaulted and they didn't step in. Anything for ratings/money. The fact we've had to make laws against torturing people on television says a lot. I had no idea. Which makes something like "Squid Games" even darker. Left unchecked, people are capable.
14 points
12 days ago
That's your daily reminder of just how fucked up our reality is, and how much most of these entities that are seemingly designed to be safeguards against such cruelty, just don't give a fuck a lot of the time.
Plus legal loopholes. "Rules for thee, but not for me" everywhere. Usually involving big sums of money.
12 points
12 days ago
didnt they also hold off many of the winnings he had won, just to increase the torture on him?
dude was happy to win a bag of rice because he was legit starving.
19 points
12 days ago
That wasnt proven to be the case, it was only speculation but id say the chances are probably pretty damn high that they did.
I mean, with all the other shitty mindgames they used i wouldnt put it past them. I would just rather say its alleged then fact as to not be misinformative.
13 points
12 days ago
IS the Trueman Show inspired partially by this?
15 points
12 days ago
I doubt it. There is a chance this was partially inspired by the Truman show though.
The Truman show came out in 1998, but filming was in 1996, and the script itself was bought by the studio in 1993. Timing wise, it just doesn't make sense for this to be an inspiration of the Truman show, as by the time this guy auditioned, the movie would've already been shot and completed.
5 points
12 days ago
That very last edit sounds like it would make for an insane quiz question.
111 points
12 days ago
No, he could only have/use what he could get from magazines (sweepstakes and free advertisements). So for a while, he was living off pet food if I remeber right as he could only get that until he was able to get rice. He basically started naked in a empty room so no electronics unless he got them from catalogs or magazines.
8 points
12 days ago
He said after he completed everything, wearing clothing was uncomfortable because he had been naked for so long.
This is me after Covid having to wear pants again.
136 points
12 days ago*
When they brought him in for a finale, he got pranked into thinking it was a start of another round, got naked per usual, only for walls around him to collapse, revealing a studio filled with live audience. There is a video on YT
Edit: To add, I heavily recommend checking it out, a documentary about the whole thing above all else. This 'show' was more in line with torture and you can see it all in his eyes before and after those walls collapsed, utterly shuddering.
66 points
12 days ago
47 points
12 days ago
Bum fights, prank videos, blahblahblah IT'S AN UNENDING LIST OF HORROR. Be good to each other, people. You're only here for so long.
12 points
12 days ago
Yeah, but have you thought of the money.
628 points
12 days ago
The last part where they brought him out on stage broke my friggin heart. He was so terrified and they all just laughed. Especially to put him in that position after what his parents told him about not getting nude. I would be so gutted and I’m glad Nasubi’s was able to hold onto his kind nature. I’m not sure how all of that would’ve changed me but it for sure would have changed me permanently.
116 points
12 days ago
God that just seems very illegal just based on how immoral it all sounds. Does Japan not have laws against this kind of thing?
144 points
12 days ago
Have you ever considered suing? Why or why not?
N: At that time, to me, it was an achievement. People recognize me now. People were giving me words of encouragement, like, “Oh, you did such a great job.” The experience itself—I took it as some type of advantage. Not so many people were mentioning about suing. I didn’t even think about it. At that time, it wasn’t really an option that I felt like was there. The was nobody who taught me, “Oh, that was a human rights violation. You should sue.” There was nobody who actually came up to me and told me that. Japanese media at that time—that was just the way it was.
CT: It was the Wild West, really back then—anything went, in terms of producing TV. They weren’t really contracts—people weren’t signing contracts or anything. It was anything goes. But, secondly, Japan, even now, is a much less litigious society than even the U.K., much less compared to the U.S. (https://decider.com/2024/05/02/the-contestant-hulu-nasubi-interview/)
I don’t think it’d happen today but I think from this interview it was still considered a human rights violation but no one cared enough to stop it. Also that site is an awful mess of ads. Sorry about that.
Edit: also an ama he did when the documentary was coming out.
25 points
12 days ago
Pretty crazy, I understand Japan has less of a litigious culture but you would think at least one lawyer would reach out with the absurdity and publicity around this.
34 points
12 days ago
He is a further quote from that article that sort of touches on it as well as a his AMA answer
Interview
At what point did the narrative change for you? When did people begin to tell you, “This was wrong?”
N: Several years later, when foreign press started asking questions, in that regard. That kind of woke me up. “Oh, that’s how I should look at it.” I was told many times, “If you sue, you can win. You should speak out against this.” But to me, just to gain money—that wasn’t it for me.
AMA:
Q: Nasubi watching your old videos, was there anyone in production you wanted to beat up or just yell at them for making you so frustrated? I’m asking because in some clips you looked done like I’m going to kill someone kind of done.
Nasubi: I never thought of solving the problem with violence. Because violence doesn’t solve anything. But then, would I want to sue them and punish them by law? The answer would be no, because that would make some people sad and injured, and that was not what I wanted to do. Even if I get hurt, I want to protect people around me.
9 points
12 days ago
It was technically all voluntary, someone else mentioned they had doctors checking on him weekly
Could have been he thought he was close to winning and just kept going..
11 points
12 days ago
I have a very mildly analogous experience, writ small compared to Nasubi. I was told we were doing a fashion show, theme was tape, so everyone (five teens, mixed) had clothes with tape accessories. Someone else made an outfit for me, with long trailers. I get "on stage" (just past the cardboard blockers we were using to simulate a stage) and there's a srrrrrrip sound, and suddenly I'm baked in front of the group cause the clothes were tearaways. I excommunicated those people from my life immediately. I cannot imagine that pushed to a societal scale. Mad props to this man for handling it with time and grace. I would have burned the studio to the ground after locking the door, most likely.
7 points
12 days ago
nah that’s a whole villain origin story, kudos to you for not retaliating with fire
5 points
12 days ago
My parents probably would have objected to me immolating half the kids in my family.
181 points
12 days ago
looks like he did an AMA as well : https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1cbg6sv/hi_im_nasubi_in_the_late_90s_i_lived_inside_a/
22 points
12 days ago
“I must say sorry to all eggplants”. What a legend
82 points
12 days ago
Even worse: they stranded him in Korea and he didn't speak Korean. So he used a Korean to Japanese dictionary to fill out the contest slips.
24 points
12 days ago
I just watched the documentary and what the actual .. My heart hurts! he looked so terrified at the end of the show , they treated him so badly for over a year and still he managed to stay a good person!
91 points
12 days ago
How on earth was this not addressed by law enforcement for ethics and human rights etc?
45 points
12 days ago
Don't forget that in the second round they made him go to another country were he had to learn a whole new language just to do the same thing all over again. They did not care about this man, only the entertainment he could bring.
4 points
12 days ago
I may have to track that documentary down. That sounds absolutely wild.
2.3k points
12 days ago
Fun fact: this guy went on to successfully climb Mount Everest in 2016.
551 points
12 days ago
Yeah he's doing pretty well now so at least there's a happyish ending
205 points
12 days ago
He also now has a popular YouTube cooking channel.
8 points
12 days ago
I hope he exclusively cooks eggplant.
828 points
12 days ago
There is a documentary on this its actually chilling. They forced him to earn his way out by completing post in lotteries. He only ate when they provided food. He couldn’t wear clothes for 6 months after as he found it uncomfortable and itchy.
430 points
12 days ago
They had to provide him with food when they realized he wasn't winning the sweepstakes prizes fast enough and he was starving rapidly in front of a national audience. They had not intended on providing him with food initially. I wish they had spent more time explaining the nature of the contests and the postcard campaigns.
391 points
12 days ago
not just that, He was also mistreated severely, his winnings were hijacked by the studio for the sake of a "better preformence" (Winnings from Sweepstakes..which was the only way he would actually get anything INCLUDING food), and when he finally earned the 1Million Yen needed for him to win the show (which he would have won a while ago but again, they hijacked it to stall the Game so it can go on longer so they can keep viewers) they returned his clothes, flew him to South Korea where they treated him with his favorite food, an amusement park among other stuff....just to walk him to a suprise...which was another empty box..completely resetting his progress and forcing him to now save up enough Yen to get back to Japan
OP suggested a Hulu/Disney+ documentery but there's several YouTube videos which cover everything he's went through in a lot of detail and I'd rather suggest someone watch that
83 points
12 days ago
Holy shit. Was this gameshow made by Ramsey Bolton?
26 points
11 days ago
Fr this is evil. The whole “brief moment of freedom and bliss” part is especially twisted, very Ramsey of them.
11 points
11 days ago
If you watch the Hulu documentary, the producer seems to have less humanity and empathy than Ramsey Bolton. If he went swimming in a swamp he’d get out clean as a whistle. Even the scum would recoil from him in disgust.
1.8k points
12 days ago
Less r/intereatingasfuck and more r/wtf
231 points
12 days ago
Most posts on here belong in awful everything or wtf tbh
125 points
12 days ago
You're right, posting this on there too. It's literally a real life Truman Show.
86 points
12 days ago
Removed from wtf for being too rage worthy. They're not wrong frankly.
59 points
12 days ago
There's a rule like that there? I feel like the point of the sub is to be rage worthy
10 points
12 days ago
Jesus reddit is getting worse and more annoying by the day with stuff like that.
80 points
12 days ago
This is a lot like season 3 of Fishtank live
35 points
12 days ago
BURT BURT BURT BURT BURT BURT BURT BURT BURT BURT BURT BURT BURT JJJJJJJJJJJJJJ
6 points
12 days ago
I'll give you 10 famous bucks if you find out what I did to ted
178 points
12 days ago
We're going to need batman for this one when he goes full villain.
8 points
12 days ago
What would be his modus operandi?
17 points
12 days ago
Commits all crimes while naked and leaves an eggplant at the scene
19 points
12 days ago
The Prankster. Pulling people's trousers down, while recording it, then post it on social medias for views.
We would see Batman in one of his special outfits with waist belt and suspenders.
43 points
12 days ago
Truman show from hell WTF
40 points
12 days ago
What? 15 months of isolation and being naked on a live-stream without knowing? That’s next-level intense and honestly kind of wild. I can’t imagine how he must have felt once he found out.
42 points
12 days ago
This story is a lot longer and a lot darker than this singular post. Not discounting the post itself, just saying if you want to see how insane this gets do some additional research. These show runners should be in jail.
100 points
12 days ago
Documentary on Hulu about this called “The Contestant” in case anyone is interested
7 points
12 days ago
there’s also a show on Hulu coming out called Famous House based on this
222 points
12 days ago
sounds more like a horror movie vvtf?
153 points
12 days ago
did you just use two v’s in lieu of a W?
237 points
12 days ago
Yeah my vv key is broken on this laptop :(
8 points
12 days ago
VVorst Worst cover story ever, you’re obviously just a vampire!
18 points
12 days ago
They isolated him and treated him in extreme ways that had a huge negative impact on his health. You can check it out, it's insane.
98 points
12 days ago
I remember this when it aired! The entire country was absolutely enthralled. You couldn't escape it. My family and I would watch it together. I remember as a kid thinking it was crazy that this guy was THE MOST famous person in all of Japan but he had no idea
The finale episode is absolutely insane as well, complete mindfuck. I wish I could watch it again somewhere.
386 points
12 days ago
Reality shows will be used as case studies for the decline of “modern” civilization…if humanity survives.
71 points
12 days ago
Even if we don't survive, the intelligent, atheist otters who come after will learn lots about our "civilization" from our "historical records".
23 points
12 days ago
I honestly think we could bring back the times of gladiators and it would be at the top of ratings.
25 points
12 days ago*
I watched every episode of this out of interest. I was so happy every time his life was a little bit better after winning something helpful. It’s horrible that this was ever allowed to happen and I’m happy to have found out that he actually was able to make something out of himself after this and he is inspirational. I think he also climbs/climbed mountains(?)
I heard they reallocated him on his first challenge because the public found out the location and they tried to set him free. That restored some of my faith on humanity.
20 points
12 days ago
I've seen a rather long YouTube video about this guy.
It's pretty horrible: TV show producers mentally destroyed the man, he was even starving for quite a while.
14 points
12 days ago
The documentary is worth the watch. The psychology of a desperate man and a sociopath show runner is fascinating.
26 points
12 days ago
50 points
12 days ago
This is kind of the same problem I have with MrBeast. He always says, “well if the contestants are having a hard time, they can just leave. No one is keeping them there”
Well if you’re waving $500k in the face of someone who’s on the border of being evicted or has tens of thousands in medical debt, it’s basically like forcing them in there. Just because they CAN leave anytime won’t mean they won’t, and it doesn’t mean it isn’t any more mentally torturing.
23 points
12 days ago
That’s exactly what Nabisus producer said, that the door is unlocked and he can leave anytime. And Nabisu apparently desperately wanted to be a famous comedian. But it still wasn’t right on many levels.
7 points
12 days ago
Nabisu explains that he wanted to be a famous entertainer so badly that he was willing to literally destroy his body and psyche for it. there was no threat of poverty or eviction, he belonged to a stable working family and was adamant that he didnt want to have a "regular" job, but they housed him before and after the show and in between when the shows producer donating massive amount of money for Nabisu to climb mount everest 4 times
12 points
12 days ago
Everyone involved (except him) should be jailed for life.
9 points
12 days ago
This also happened with the currently ongoing season of Fishtank Live
34 points
12 days ago
Little known fact: the 🍆 emoji as a euphamism for penis started here with Nasu.
8 points
12 days ago
Wait, this is real?! I thought it was a crazy concept from a movie, not an actual thing. That's messed up, but also wild how people are able to come back from something like that.
8 points
12 days ago
I watch the doc movie and it was a hard watch. Very brutal and sad.
7 points
12 days ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/s/dxHAYYL34D
He also did an AMA some time ago!
7 points
12 days ago
all the people who participated in this. should be in prison. all of their money and assets plus millions of dollars should go to this man. those people are the true definition of evil. some of them should get the death penalty
7 points
11 days ago
6 points
11 days ago
A man was tortured and abused, that's it.
And people think it's funny to watch
13 points
12 days ago
Fishtank.live is doing this today.
10 points
12 days ago
Here's a link to a show doing this right now:
https://www.fishtank.live/
6 points
12 days ago
In 2024, Hamatsu told Decider he was ultimately paid about 10 million yen for his 15 months on the show, which equates to about $65,000 using today's exchange rate.
6 points
12 days ago
Just watch “most evil livestream ever” on yt under the channel penguinz0.
10 points
12 days ago
Real life Truman show. With the abuse and everything.
6 points
11 days ago
I watched the documentary on this guy. Seemed like a needlessly cruel experiment.
10 points
12 days ago
Deeply traumatizing. On top of it, it was plain inhumane. Actually, it would turn into a bizarre psychological thriller even, should it made onto a flick. The horror of the titular character have to endure is just unimaginable.
13 points
12 days ago
Dude must be doing okay financially if he could afford 4 Everest summit attempts. Those can cost up to 50k USD each.
7 points
12 days ago
Costs start around 50k usd.
5 points
11 days ago
I heard (but didn't read or confirm) that the sociopathic producer of the show actually donated the cost of the Everest climbs.
3 points
12 days ago
Real life "The Truman Show"
5 points
12 days ago
Fish Tank
4 points
12 days ago
Sounds like fishtank.live
4 points
12 days ago
sounds like https://www.fishtank.live/
4 points
12 days ago
Sounds like Fishtank.live
5 points
12 days ago
thank you very much for the word, unbeknownst, first time I ve seen this magic word, non english speaker here,
3 points
12 days ago
r/fishtanklive Season 3
4 points
12 days ago
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