In January 1998, 22-year-old Japanese comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu went to what he thought was a normal audition for a TV show. He was known by his stage name Nasubi, which means “eggplant” in Japanese, and he wanted this chance to help start his comedy career. But instead, he was taken to a small apartment, told to take off all his clothes, and told to survive only on prizes he could win from magazine contests until he got items worth 1 million yen, which was around $8,000.
What Nasubi did not know was that his whole time in the apartment was being shown on TV to the entire country. The show was called Susunu! Denpa Shonen, which means “Do Not Proceed! Crazy Youth.” It aired on Nippon Television from 1998 to 2002 and was made by Toshio Tsuchiya, who people saw as the king of Japanese reality TV at the time. The part with Nasubi was called “A Life in Prizes.”
