The Contestant

Wow.

Wow.

I'm unable to fully articulate my thoughts. I'm stunned. We see how a collective can excuse, and even laugh at, a person being pushed to the edge. We see what people who have been broken can be capable of. We see humans, standing together, and being stronger together. This fascinating dive into a thought experiment gone too far will, by the end, inspire you to act and live.

I suffer from Crohn's Disease and Fibromyalgia. It began back in September of 2001. In my isolation, I learned the deep need for physical connection. How hard it is for an individual to survive alone. From that experience, I can see Nasubi's eyes and find solidarity. But seeing him step into helping others, rather than sinking into a cavern of hating the outside world, he still stepped out.

I watched this by myself and I was saying out loud "WOW", "I don't believe this", and many expletives.

It's a crazy ride. I'm not really an outwardly emotion person, but at certain points, I teared up - out of happiness, out of shock, out of just wrapping my head around.

It is much more than a voyeuristic experience of him endure, it really is a reflection of humanity; on one hand the cruelty that humans can afflict on another, and then it also showcases the compassion of humanity.

After watching, I am so surprised that here in the US I had never heard about this. It's really unbelievable.

I am typing this right after watching and my head is still wrapping my head around what I just saw.

I noticed this documentary, half intrigued but horrified by the premise, I'm about 3/4 into the documentary and feel like punching the producer of Denpa Shonen Toshio Tsuchiya who is still pleased with what he did, and doesn't seem to know empathy.

With what I know from the afterlife, he will (like everyone) get to feel all the pain inflicted on other living beings, and feel exactly what they went through.

This all just makes me feel sad. Some of the things that happened in there will be amongst the worst nightmare people can imagine.

The documentary itself deserves an 8, I would probably not rate the original show that high.

All I could think while watching this is that in America this kind of TV star never actually gets rich. They might get their foot in the door, or get a lump sum of money they might be able to apply to other endeavors, but you don't necessarily become a millionaire set for life just from being on a TV show - even if people loved that show. That kind of thing really mostly applies to big Hollywood actors. And what this man endured was absolutely traumatic abuse.

The absolute gall of that producer calling himself the devil, and saying he didn't know "at the time" how far was too far. Really? You were an adult with a career not a twelve year old kid, what do you mean you didn't know at the time how far was too far.

Really intriguing to watch, and I am glad Nasubi was able to use his fame to move forward and help people in Fukushima. It may have even given him the tenacity required to survive Mt. Everest if you really think about it...but still.

Crazy documentary. Not in the "haha" funny kind of way. More in a "the producer and pretty much every decision maker involved should be tried in the Hague and imprisoned for a decade" kind of way... Anything less than them personally paying an above average wage to this man for the rest of his life is grave injustice.

This show is what happens when capitalism is not held accountable. It was pure, unbridled exploitation, kidnapping, and psychological trauma for profit. Anyone justifying otherwise is an absolute psychopath. The producer tries to make it seem as though he was conflicted, but he's very obviously a raging narcissist.

Nasubi has the heart of a lion. 99% of humanity would not be able to ensure what he went through. I wish him the best.