World’s Strangest Gameshow: Nasubi

In Neatorama’s recent post The Sweepstakes Winner, there is a little gem of an anonymous tip about Nasubi.

Wikipedia explains what happened to poor ol’ Nasubi [wiki]:

Nasubi (born August 3, 1975) is a Japanese comedian who was locked up in an apartment for "Susunu! Denpa Shonen" (January 1998—March 2002), a Japanese reality television show on Nippon Television after winning a lottery for a "show business related job". He was forced to enter mail-in sweepstakes until he won ¥1 million (about $10,000 USD). During this time, he was made to wear no clothes, was cut off from outside communication and broadcasting, and had nothing to keep him company except magazines.

Nasubi lived in front of the camera, with only the possessions he won via the sweepstakes, and the stacks of postcards for entering the sweepstakes. Due to his nudity, an eggplant cartoon graphic was strategically utilized when Nasubi was standing on camera. Nasu is the Japanese word for eggplant. He was called as such due to his bony face which slanted like an eggplant.

Upon reaching his goal, he was clothed and blindfolded to be taken to a surprise location. Nasubi happily went along believing he was going to get a special treat for his hard work. After they unblindfolded him, he found himself in Korea where he was shown around the town and taken to an apartment. They once again stripped of his clothes and forced to do the same thing again there to win enough money to get back home. His entire ordeal lasted some 15 months, during which time his diaries on his experience of being locked away from the outside world became a best seller in Japan.

You can read the long version here (quite funny): Link – Thanks anon, whoever you are!