I needed to die after starring on the world’s sickest actuality present – I spent 15 months in solitary confinement with out meals or garments whereas producers secretly broadcast me to hundreds of thousands

A 1998 reality show saw a young comedian left in solitary confinement without any clothes or food for 15 months, all while being broadcast to the world without his consent.

Tomoaki Hamatsu, better known as Nasubi, was the victim of A Life of Prizes, a hellish reality series that challenged the then 22-year-old to live solely off his winnings from magazine competitions in a tiny apartment in Japan.

Despite the seemingly sadistic nature, the show broke records by pulling in more than 30 million viewers a week in Japan – from a population of 126.4m – with his diaries from inside also becoming a best-seller. 

Nasubi tells his harrowing story in upcoming Hulu documentary, The Contestant, which is set to be released in cinemas this week, alongside show producer Toshio Tsuchiya.

Nasubi won a lottery-style draw to appear on a mystery show, before being stripped of all his belongings and clothes and left in a room, where he was told he would be released after a million yen – roughly $8,000 – of prizes.

Without ever signing a contract, he was left alone with nothing but stacks of magazines and postcards, as well as running water, electricity, and heating.

Nasubi ended up living in the room in total solitude for 337 days, while being filmed 24 hours a day on two cameras without his knowledge.

He survived on food won from the magazines, such as 5kg of uncooked rice, before he was forced to resort to eating wet dog food on Day 80.

The name Nasubi is Japanese for aubergine, with the producers using a cartoon image of the vegetable to cover up his genitalia, as he spent most of his time naked. 

Nasubi’s mental state got to the point that he admitted he wished for death and tried to stay sane by writing diaries, dancing and playing games.

In a recent interview with The Sun, he said: ‘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.

‘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.’ 

Nasubi admitted that he was ‘such emotional turmoil that I couldn’t sleep’ and at points even believed he’d been ‘abducted by aliens‘.

In his diaries he wrote: ‘I don’t have enough nutrition going to my brain. Being driven to the edge has brought out a madness in me.’

When he finally reached the number of winnings needed, Nasubi was eventually freed, but producers soon conned him into returning to the hellish experience. 

He was flown to what he thought was a celebratory trip to Korea, where the producers worked for three hours to convince him to go through the same process again, while he pleaded: ‘I thought my life was over. So many times I wanted to die.’

Nasubi ended up competing for several more weeks, taking him to 434 days in isolation.

He then returned to Japan, where he entered another apartment and stripped naked thinking he was about to be subjected to the same turmoil again.

However, the walls then collapsed to reveal a TV studio with a live audience of fans, with him becoming aware for the first time that his ordeal had been seen by millions.

He had become an icon over his long ordeal, with the Truman Show-esque programme poking fun at him with slapstick noises and suggestive censoring.

But Nasubi was not ready to meet his new fans, and reportedly needed six months to rehabilitate back into normal life, after the lack of interaction and food left his speech slow and body malnourished, while he struggled to make eye contact or talk to other people.

He admitted: ‘After A Life In Prizes, I lost my faith in humanity. 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.’

Fortunately, Nasubi has managed to turn the negatives of his time on the series into positives.

He completed his goal of climbing Mount Everest in 2016 saying that the resilience he gained from reality TV had come good for him in the climb.

And the fame he garnered as a result of the show has enabled him to get regular appearances as a guest on a range of less traumatic panel and game shows.

Taking part in a Reddit Ask Me Anything earlier this year, Nasubi answered questions from curious fans about his traumatic experience.

He explained that the door had been unlocked during his time in the apartment, but that his mental state ‘degraded’ to the point that he decided to stay.

He said: ‘I was not offered a contract, I won an audition, and wanted to participate and complete the challenge. The option was ‘do you want to do it,’ and I said yes. 

‘So I was not forced to do it, I was not kidnapped. I was taken to a secret location and blindfolded, but I wasn’t taken against my will, I decided to participate.’

Nasubi went on: ‘It’s hard to explain, but I think that the people who have experienced being locked in confinement, and felt what it’s like to be trapped in those walls, will understand why one chooses to stay instead of leave. 

‘My mental state was degrading… instead of changing the environment, it felt safer to stay in the same situation, even though it was uncomfortable.’

He added: ‘I didn’t think that the competition would last that long. 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.’

When asked if he had known he would be televised and what money he made from the show, Nasubi explained: ‘Of course I didn’t know it was being broadcasted. 

‘Back in the early days of reality TV in Japan, they didn’t give contracts to participants, it was an entirely new genre of TV. And my manager did not protect me in the same way that TV stars are protected now. 

‘For compensation, I made 10 million yen for 1 year and three months, and that includes the money from the sale of my diaries from the show.’

He added: ‘I didn’t receive any kindness or support from the crew. And since I didn’t know the show was being broadcast to an audience, I didn’t have any connection to the audience to receive that support.

‘After the show was over though, the two emcees that were on Denpa Shōnen, they encouraged me by saying that I did a good job, and I felt like they empathized with me and my situation on the show.’

Speaking about what life was like once he was released, he admitted: ‘For a while it was hard to interact with people. But I did realize that humans cannot live alone, so I did my best to reconnect with people.’

He also spoke about the parallels of his ordeal to the award-winning film The Truman Show, which was released the same year that A Life of Prizes aired.

He said: ‘Yes, I saw the film. The only person who really truly understands the feeling of what Truman went through is me. It felt like it was my story. 

‘His life was much easier than what I had, but it was a similar situation that everyone was watching both Truman and me, and we had no idea we were being observed.’

Nasubi added: ‘I am still recognized on the street, even 25 years later. I was even recognized in London and when I went to Stonehenge in 2018! 

‘There were a bunch of Japanese tourists who couldn’t believe I was there, I think they were more excited to take photos with me than Stonehenge.’

Despite his awful experience, Nasubi said he had no desire to take revenge or legal action and explained he is now working with charities to help others.

He wrote: ‘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.

‘Instead of revenge, I would like to use that energy for something more positive, like helping people.’

He went on: ‘I am working with charity organizations in Fukushima and across Japan. I enjoy connecting with people in person and helping bring smiles to those in Fukushima, and the northeast area of Japan.’

While he even shows leniency towards ‘the one who sent me to the hell that I experienced’, saying: ‘After a long time, Tsuchiya, the producer, apologized to me. 

‘He said he wanted to do something for me, and I think that his participation in the documentary shows he feels remorse.’

In an interview with the New York Times in May, Nasubi went further into detail about why he didn’t escape from the room, saying the isolation had sapped him of the ‘strength of my mind and my hear

He said: ‘It’s really difficult to explain that in just one word. But I was not normal mentally. When you are pushed into that kind of solitude, when you are in confined environments like that, it’s like a mental syndrome. 

‘You come to think it’s much safer to stay in the environment than it is to change the environment. So at that time I felt like it was more risky to change the environment and to get out. Also the strength of my mind and my heart were taken away. 

‘And this was something that I had decided to do, so I had to go through until the end. I had to persevere. I wanted to have mental fortitude. It was something like proving myself as well.’

While he got candid again about his feelings towards Tsuchiya, admitting he could not forgive the producer for tricking him into thinking he was only being filmed as an experimental pilot and never told that instead he would be broadcast to all of Japan.

But Nasubi went on to say he had made the inspiring choice to turn his ‘negative past into something positive’. 

He said: ‘It would be a lie if I said I’m not regretting, even though I learned to live with the past. Did I forgive Tsuchiya, the producer? To be honest, in my heart, there is still something that is hating the person.’

He explained: ‘But then in 2011, a big earthquake happened in Fukushima. I could really relate to the people who are struggling. 

‘So without my experience in the past, I might not have been able to resonate with people in the tough situation. That’s when I realized my past struggle could be something useful.

‘So I realized that instead of regretting my past, I have to learn to live with my past and turn this around to make my negative past into something positive.’