The Contestant is the incredible true story of a man who lived for 15 months trapped inside a small room, naked, starving and alone.

But he was completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV in Japan, to over 15 million viewers a week. Before Big Brother, before The Truman Show, there was the shocking story of Nasubi.

In 1998 a new Japanese show ‘Susunu! Denpa Shōnen’, persuaded a young upcoming comedian to live in a single room for one year with no clothes, little contact with other people and limited food.

His mission was to win prizes from the magazine competitions he entered each week. 

Tomoaki Hamatsu, however, had no idea that he was being shown bare to millions of people in Japan while in the room.

Using archival footage and interviews with Tomoaki, his friends and family and even some of the TV crew on the show, The Contestant tries to explore and perhaps make some sense of this odd moment in global TV history. 

There will be a 20 min, pre-recorded exclusive Q&A with Nasubi hosted by Empire Magazine’s Chris Hewitt during this screening.