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On Tuesday 17 June 2025, BBC Four broadcasts Storyville!

Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Storyville” on BBC Four promises to be a gripping exploration of a unique and shocking true story. Titled “The Contestant,” this episode focuses on Tomoaki Hamatsu, a man who became known as Nasubi. In 1998, Nasubi thought he was attending an audition, but instead, he found himself in an unimaginable situation.

For 15 months, Nasubi was trapped in a small room, completely unaware that his life was being broadcast to millions of viewers. The show he was part of was a reality challenge, but the conditions he faced were extreme. He lived without clothes, struggled with hunger, and experienced isolation, all while cameras captured his every moment.

This episode will delve into the psychological and emotional impact of Nasubi’s ordeal. It will explore how he coped with the challenges of being alone and the surreal experience of being...

“Storyville” is set to air an intriguing episode that dives into the unbelievable true story of Tomoaki Hamatsu, better known as Nasubi. This episode will explore a unique and shocking experience that took place in 1998. Nasubi, an aspiring comedian, thought he was simply attending an audition when he was unexpectedly thrust into a bizarre challenge by a Japanese TV producer.

For 15 long months, Nasubi found himself trapped in a small room, completely naked, starving, and utterly alone. Unbeknownst to him, his every struggle and moment of despair was being broadcast to over 17 million viewers in Japan. The show will take a deep look at the psychological and emotional toll this experience took on him, as well as the ethical implications of reality television.

Viewers can expect a mix of humor and heartache as Nasubi navigates his surreal situation. “Storyville” promises to be a compelling watch, shedding light on the extremes...

Nasubi in The Contestant

Just over a year ago, at the Toronto International Film Festival, a documentary emerged which, even though much of the footage it contained had already been seen by millions, left audiences stunned. Going on to screen at Doc NYC, the Glasgow Film Festival and Doc/Fest, Clair Titley’s The Contestant told the story of Tomoaki Hamatsu, better known as Nasubi. He was the star of Denpa Shōnen, or A Life In Prizes, a game show which saw him stripped naked, shut in a room and given nothing to eat or wear or occupy himself with beyond what he could win by entering competitions in magazines. Although he could theoretically leave at any time, the psychological pressure on him to remain was intense, and as his physical and mental health deteriorated, everything he did was broadcast live.

Since the end of his ordeal, which went on for.

Tomoaki Hamatsu was a sensation over the year he stayed alone in a single room amusing the camera, but this documentary is not as charming as it thinks

There’s an extraordinary story that could be told here about the birth of reality television in all its cruelty and superficiality. In 1998, a Japanese TV light-entertainment show called Susunu! Denpa Shōnen (“Caution! Crazy Youth”) persuaded an excitable young man, desperate for fame, to live for over a year in a single room, at first in Japan and then Korea, apparently with no human contact and no clothes, kept on starvation rations of crackers and told to do nothing but fill in entry postcards for magazine competitions – mail-in sweepstakes, with the winning card randomly picked. He was told that on winning a million yen’s worth of goods his mission would be complete; moreover he was allowed to eat and drink whatever...

On Saturday, June 1, CBS Mornings welcomes singer-songwriter Rett Madison, chef Zach Engel, and Tomoaki Hamatsu, the subject of the Hulu documentary “The Contestant.” Rett Madison, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles, will perform and discuss her new album, “One for Jackie.” Madison has been featured in publications like Billboard, American Songwriter, and […]

CBS Mornings: Rett Madison, Zach Engel, Tomoaki Hamatsu...

Controversial Japanese reality show trapped a man for 15 months with no outside contact until he won money through mail-in competitions. Documentary "The Contestant" explores the impact of reality TV on contestant Nasubi, comparing his experience to The Truman Show's Truman Burbank. Nasubi reflects on the psychological effects of isolation on reality show contestants, calling for better protection of participants.

One real person, living inside a world created entirely for television, cameras forever rolling, constantly being streamed 24/7 on Live TV. While that may sound like the plot of the 1998 Jim Carrey classic, The Truman Show, it was also the concept for a controversial Japanese reality show. Titled, Susunu! Denpa Shnen (Do not proceed! Crazy youth), the series put one man alone in an apartment, with no connection to the outside world and no resources, until he won a certain amount of money through mail-in competitions. The show first aired in...

May is here, and with it the beginning of summer and — most crucially — more time to watch movies. But while the multiplex is sure to deliver some great thrills, spills and chills this month, if you’re looking to stay in for a night we’ve got a bevy of streaming recommendations to throw your way. Indeed, a number of exciting new movies are streaming in May, from an Anne Hathaway-led romcom to a truly bonkers Jerry Seinfeld movie to a much-maligned Marvel film that may be good for some unintentional laughs.

Below we’ve put together a curated list of the best new movies streaming in May on Netflix, Prime Video, Max, Disney+, Hulu and more. So heat up some popcorn, grab your favorite blanket and settle in.

“Turtles All the Way Down” Isabela Merced in “Turtles All the Way Down” (Max)

Max – May 2

Based on the bestselling...

May has only just arrived, and it’s already heating up at Hulu! Dozens of new titles have moved in for the new month, with some of streamer’s biggest hits landing on the platform during its first weekend, including Season 3 of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s “Welcome to Wrexham” and Season 5 of “The Kardashians,” but Hulu will be adding major titles all month long, from the premiere of the coming-of-age comedy film “Prom Dates” to the streaming debut of last year’s psychological thriller “Eileen.”

Ready to watch? Check out The Streamable’s top picks for this month at Hulu and find out everything coming to the streamer in May!

30-Day Free Trial $7.99+ / month hulu.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Hulu in May 2024? “The Contestant” Premiere | Thursday, May 2

The new documentary turns the lens on “our culture of oversharing” and tells the true...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill)

You can’t always get what you want, unless you are a Rolling Stones fan hungering for documentary deep-dives into the band’s storied history. Indeed, it is spectacularly serendipitous that Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg arrives just a few months after The Stones and Brian Jones. The latter doc, from Nick Broomfield, centered on Jones, the band’s founder and leader until Mick Jagger and Keith Richards snatched that mantle. Catching Fire and The Stones and Brian Jones cover much of the same ground, use some of the same archival footage, and even feature the same anecdotes from delightful Tin Drum director Volker Schlöndorff. The films are...

Hulu might be the most underrated streaming service. With plenty of quality TV shows and movies, it stacks up against the most popular services, such as Netflix and Prime Video. While it has become common practice for streaming platforms to license movies and series from distributors, producing original content is also something Hulu excels in.

In that regard, Hulu is particularly remarkable, as it established its reputation as a creator of one-of-a-kind movies and TV shows by broadening its content across various genres. Since its inception in 2008, the streamer has expanded substantially, producing anime, K-dramas, reality TV shows, comedies, and dramas on a monthly basis. In May 2024, Hulu has prepared a roster of original movies and TV series for its users, which you may be interested in.

Shardlake Streaming May 1 Your browser does not support the video tag.

Shardlake is a new historical drama series based on C. J. Sansom...

Japanese game shows have long had a reputation for going to extremes, but nothing has quite equalled the scandal surrounding 1998’s Susunu! Denpa Shōnen. Featuring just one contestant, then 23-year-old Tomoaki Hamatsu (now better known as Nasubi), it saw him stripped naked, locked in a room, given a large supply of pens and magazines, and encouraged to enter as many of the competitions in those magazines as possible. He was supplied with water, heating and basic sanitation, but if he wanted to eat, wear clothes, or have anything with which to distract himself from his complete isolation, he had to win it.

Why would anyone agree to this? Nasubi has always wanted to be a star and thought this was his big break, so he was under a lot of pressure. What’s more, he didn’t really take it seriously. And what people who have never seriously been deprived of food,...

His name is Nasubi. He sits alone and naked in a small apartment for months on end, trying to win food and clothing as mail-in sweepstakes prizes. He doesn’t quite know it, but his strange predicament is being broadcast to 17 million people. It sounds like a work of fiction about a torturous psychopath — something out of a “Saw” film — but in 1998, it was the premise of a Japanese reality TV show, and is now now the subject of documentary Clair Titley’s wildly intriguing (if often imbalanced) “The Contestant.”

The British documentary, now available on Hulu, chronicles the inception of this cruel and unusual game through the eyes of not only its subject — wannabe comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, a.k.a. Nasubi — as well as TV super-producer Toshio Tsuchiya, who created the bizarre challenge for comedy/prank reality series “Susunu! Denpa Shōnen.” Starting with six-minute segments of Nasubi’s life,...

Japanese reality shows like Susunu! Denpa Shonen showcase extreme torment for entertainment, influencing popular culture worldwide. Nasubi's harrowing experience on the show highlights the dark side of reality TV, causing mental, emotional, and physical trauma. It's now documented in the Hulu film, The Contestant. The popularity of torturous reality shows reflects a disturbing fascination with human suffering and exploitation in television entertainment.

The history behind torturous Japanese reality shows is astonishing, to say the least. They have given Asia a reputation for televised cruelty and influenced everyone from The Simpsons episode Thirty Minutes over Tokyo and Netflixs most streamed show to date, Squid Game, to ABCs series I Survived a Japanese Game Show and its international formats. Far from the weird game shows like Candy Or Not Candy, in which contestants must bite into random household objects to reveal whether it is chocolate or not, some messed up TV shows...

Hulu‘s latest documentary is a downright doozy that is both hilarious and horrifying at the exact same time. The Contestant, which is available to stream as of Thursday, centers on the very wild story of Tomoaki Hamatsu aka Nasubi, a Japanese man who was recruited by a respected producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, to star in a nebulous show and subsequently ended up living more than a year of his life in solitude, surviving on sweepstakes prizes, and showing off his slide into insanity to millions of rapt viewers. Called Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes, the show launched in 1998 as Nasubi was dropped off in a small barren apartment with a camera, stripped of everything he owned (including every stitch of his clothes), and left to apply for sweepstakes and learn to survive on the winnings. As The Contestant details, Nasubi was challenged to collect ¥1 million worth of prizes during his adventure,...

A man walks into a room. He’s just picked a winning ticket in a lottery, been blindfolded, and led through the snow. Now, inside a windowless and mostly bare apartment, he’s being asked to disrobe. I have to take off everything, the man asks? Everything. The fact that a TV producer is telling him this is cause for concern. Besides, isn’t this supposed to be some sort of televised contest? Why is he being left au naturel? Don’t worry, the producer says. Most of this won’t be aired.

The tagline of Clair Titley’s The Contestant is “The naked truth about the world’s first reality star.” The show referred to is Susunu! Denpa Shōnen, which aired in Japan from January 1998 to March 2002, and which saw participants––usually young people eager for fame––complete grueling challenges, such as hitch-hiking from South Africa to Norway or traveling from India to Indonesia by peddle boat. The star is Tomoaki Hamatsu, better known as “Nasubi”, who appeared on Denpa Shōnen’s now infamous program A Life in Prizes. The question that the show posed was simple: how long could someone survive on competition prizes alone?

To answer it, the show’s producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, had Nasubi blindfolded and taken to a secret location––a dreary one-room apartment somewhere in Tokyo––where he was asked to strip naked and was instructed to use a selection of magazines and a large stack of...

When Tomoaki Hamatsu aka Nasubi first auditioned for a game show run by famed Japanese producer Toshio Tsuchiya, he wanted to be a comedian. What he didn’t know is that people would be laughing at him for all the wrong reasons — and he wouldn’t even know it. Now, Hulu’s riveting documentary The Contestant aims to show the horror behind all of the humor. In 1998, Nasubi’s name was randomly chosen during the audition, and he was whisked away to a small, empty apartment and instructed to take all of his clothes off. He would then spend the next year and three months in that condition, surviving only off of the prizes he received from mail-order contests until he won ¥1 million worth of prizes. Though he knew there was a camera in the room, he didn’t know it was feeding a daily broadcast of Denpa Shonen: A...

A month so staggering in quality new releases that a new Mad Max film from George Miller barely cracked the top five, May kicks off the summer movie season with a bang. From the best American film of the year to a long-awaited U.S. release from the director who topped last month’s list, and much more, check out my picks of the best movies arriving this month below.

17. Aggro DR1FT (Harmony Korine; May 10-16 in theaters)

Though a film I almost actively hated in the moment, reflecting back on Harmony Korine’s Aggro DR1FT, it’s certainly a nightmare that has stayed with me. Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Is it possible to leave your enfance without losing your terrible? The one-and-only Harmony Korine, now 50 years young, returns with Aggro Dr1ft, a premiere out-of-competition at the Venice Film Festival this week and, by my count, the only...

Tomoaki “Nasubi” Hamatsu in The Contestant Image: Disney During its run from 1998 to 2002, Susunu! Denpa Shōnen (translated: Do Not Proceed! Crazy Youth) became the biggest thing on Japanese television. The travel-focused variety show, cited by many as the foundation for reality TV as we know it, saw contestants tossed into survival scenarios,...

Tomoaki “Nasubi” Hamatsu in The ContestantImage: Disney

During its run from 1998 to 2002, Susunu! Denpa Shōnen (translated: Do Not Proceed! Crazy Youth) became the biggest thing on Japanese television. The travel-focused variety show, cited by many as the foundation for reality TV as we know it, saw contestants tossed into survival scenarios,...

The summer season is upon us and, per each year, we’ve dug beyond studio offerings to present an in-depth look at what should be on your radar. From festival winners of the past year to selections coming straight from Cannes to genre delights to, yes, a few blockbuster spectacles, there’s more than enough to anticipate.

Check out our picks below and return for monthly updates as more is sure to be added to the calendar. Release dates are for theatrical openings unless otherwise noted.

The Contestant (Clair Titley; May 2 on Hulu)

If some of today’s reality shows can feel out-of-hand for what they put their contestants through, nothing compares to one of the first to ever hit the air. In 1988, aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu (aka Nasubi) got the “opportunity” to take part in a game show without knowing any of the parameters, resulting in him being placed...

"For months, my life has just been a struggle between sanity and madness." Hulu has revealed an official trailer for a documentary film titled The Contestant, a fascinating, unbelievable true story about a game show contestant in Japan in the 1990s known as "Nasubi". It's a bizarre cross between The Truman Show and Oldboy (and predates both of these films), but it actually really happened. This true story of a Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food & clothing, prompts innumerable questions about our culture of oversharing. Before the reality TV craze, there was this ominous harbinger in Japan of what was to come in oversharing-obsessed culture. The Contestant traces the experience of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who unwittingly became an extreme case study. The doc film brings a revelatory depth of insight by interviewing Nasubi and others,...

Hulu has revealed the trailer and key art for its original documentary, The Contestant, which will premiere on Thursday, May 2, 2024.

This true story of a Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing, prompts innumerable questions about our culture of oversharing.

Before the onslaught of reality television in the West, there was an ominous harbinger in Japan of what was to come in our oversharing-obsessed culture. The Contestant traces the experience of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who unwittingly became an extreme case study.

In 1998, Nasubi thought he was attending an audition when a successful Japanese TV producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, enlisted him to take part in a challenge. Tsuchiya led Nasubi into a room, ordered him to strip naked, and left him with a stack of magazines.

Nasubi’s task was to...

Hulu has announced the premiere dates for limited series Under the Bridge and the two docs The Contestant and the film Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told.

Under the Bridge is a limited series with eight episodes that’s based on Rebecca Godfrey’s book about the 1997 true story of fourteen-year old Reena Virk who went to join friends at a party and never returned home. The Hulu limited series that stars Lily Gladstone, Archie Panjabi and Riley Keough premieres April 17.

The series was adapted for screen by Quinn Shephard and is executive produced by Samir Mehta, Liz Tigelaar and Stacey Silverman (Best Day Ever), Shephard, Godfrey and Tara Duncan. Keough will executive produce with Gina Gammell (Felix Culpa). Geeta Patel will direct the pilot and EP the episode. The series is produced by ABC Signature.

Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told bows March 21 on Hulu in the U.S.

Clair Titley’s true story follows bizarre story of aspiring Japanese comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu.

Hulu has acquired MRC and Misfits Entertainment’s TIFF world premiere and Doc NYC opening night selection The Contestant and will debut the acclaimed documentary on its platform in 2024.

Clair Titley’s film follows aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who found fame in 1998 when he starred in extreme reality competition series Denpa Shonen: A Life In Prizes.

The show’s premise left Nasubi naked in a room for more than a year and tasked him with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food. He had...

Hulu has acquired the rights to The Contestant, the documentary feature from MRC and Misfits Entertainment that had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.

The Contestant is the true story of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, whose fame kicked off in 1998 when he starred in reality competition series “Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes.” The show’s premise left Nasubi naked in a room for more than a year and tasked him with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food, but he had no idea he was becoming the most famous TV star in Japan as the series broadcast to more than 15 million people..

The film explores one of the first extreme reality shows that pushed boundaries and gave rise to an explosion of the genre worldwide. The feature documentary reveals the true...

Hulu has acquired rights to “The Contestant,” a documentary about an aspiring comedian who unknowingly becomes the most famous TV star in Japan.

Clair Titley directed the movie, which premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. “The Contestant” will launch on Hulu in 2024.

The documentary tells the stranger-than-fiction story of Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who auditioned for a TV show in 1998. The premise of “Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes,” the series that eventually made him a household name in Japan, left Nasubi naked in an empty room for more than a year and tasked him with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food, clothes and other necessities. But he had no idea he was becoming wildly famous in Japan as the series was broadcast to more than 15 million people.

“The Contestant” explores one of the first extreme reality shows that pushed boundaries and paved way for others like it.

Long before Bethenny Frankel began fighting for reality stars’ rights, there was “Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes,” a Japanese reality show that began airing in 1998.

The show starred aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi. In a room by himself and naked, Nasubi had to fill out contest coupons in order to win what he needed to survive. What Nasubi didn’t realize was that his experiences were being broadcast to more than 15 million people.

The true story of the show and Nasubi’s unwitting involvement are explored in Clair Titley’s “The Contestant.” The docu, which made its world premiere at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival earlier this month, recently screened at the 19th edition of the Camden Intl. Film Festival.

“Camden feels like such filmmaker’s film festival,” Titley says. “It’s wonderful when people love your film, but when your peers love your film and people in...

The story at the center of Clair Titley’s documentary The Contestant is astonishing and infuriating, almost guaranteed to cause viewers a level of tangible discomfort, a measure of personal introspection and some amount of judgment when it comes to the world of unscripted TV and perhaps the world at large.

It’s an astonishing story and Titley tells the core of it well. If all you’re coming to The Contestant for is a recounting of a bizarre circumstance in Japanese culture from 1998, you’ll be properly aghast.

However — and not everybody will demand this — The Contestant ought to have the advantage of 25 years of distance for a healthy dose of introspection and cultural context. At the very least, it ought to have the advantage of a decade-plus of introspection and cultural context, since it was the basis for a 2014 This American Life episode. In this respect, The Contestant is a missed opportunity.

Every film festival with a robust documentary section will have its share of Wtf movies, but “The Contestant” could well be the Wtf-iest at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Premiering on Friday in the TIFF Docs section, director Clair Titley’s film starts with a ridiculous but true premise and piles on more and more ridiculousness until the whole thing makes no sense at all. Except that it happened.

Your jaw may drop, your head may shake and you may well end up hating at least one character, but it’s hard to take your eyes off the damn thing — and especially hard to take your eyes off Tomoaki Hamatsu, aka Nabusi, the poor guy at the center of it.

It started in 1998 with the Japanese reality TV show “Denpa Shonen,” which was originally dedicated to putting young people through endurance tests. Two years before “Survivor” premiered and helped kick off the U.