For nearly a year, Tomoaki Hamatsu was isolated in a bare apartment with no windows, unaware that his every move was being watched by millions.
This story might have been well-known to many in the late 1990s, but Hamatsu’s experience remains a compelling tale even today.
In 1998, Hamatsu, an aspiring comedian, auditioned for a Japanese reality TV show without knowing much about it, including whether it would ever be aired.
Driven by ambitions of fame, he accepted the role.
Upon being cast, Hamatsu was blindfolded and taken to a tiny room where he was instructed to strip down. This marked the beginning of his bizarre journey.
Unbeknownst to him, while he believed the footage was for later use, his every action was being broadcast live to a massive audience.
He was left without food or companionship, though a camera was present which he had to use to document himself every few hours.
Inside the apartment, his survival depended on winning magazine and radio sweepstakes to secure enough prizes worth one million yen (equivalent to $6,501), which would also grant him the show’s prize money.
When his health began to decline due to starvation, producers temporarily provided bread and water, stopping once he won some edible prizes, though he lacked the means to cook them.
After finally amassing the required one million yen in prizes, Hamatsu was removed from the apartment for the first time in 335 days. He was given clothes and once again blindfolded, then transported by car.
He was taken to Korea and placed in another small room, tasked with winning enough to cover his flight back to Japan.
On the verge of quitting, a producer persuaded him to continue.
Four months passed before he returned to Japan, yet he faced one last blindfolded scenario.
In yet another confined space, he was told to undress. The walls then fell away, revealing a live audience and making him realize he had been on TV all along.
This incredible ordeal inspired a Hulu documentary, “The Contestant,” featuring interviews with Hamatsu and his family.
Reflecting on his experience, Hamatsu remarked, “Initially, of course, I was there as a performer, and I wanted to be a comedian. But somewhere in the middle, the whole business of staying alive became my full-time occupation.”
He has compared his experience to Jim Carrey’s film “The Truman Show,” saying, “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.”
In 2024, Hamatsu revealed to Decider that his involvement in the show earned him approximately 10 million yen (around $65,012 today).
In 2016, he realized his dream of climbing Mount Everest. Nowadays, he dedicates much of his time to activism, particularly raising awareness for his hometown of Fukushima, which suffered greatly from the catastrophic 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster.