The Contestant

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1:37

The Contestant

2023

1h 30m

Documentary

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

92%

Tomatometer

51 Reviews

81%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

The incredible true story of a man who lived for 15 months trapped inside a small room, naked, starving and alone... and completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV to over 17 million viewers a week.

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Critics Consensus

A transfixing depiction of abject cruelty, The Contestant raises a series of thought-provoking questions about human behavior, even if it leaves most of them largely unexplored.

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James Jackson

The Times (UK)

The Contestant, Clair Titley’s thoughtful, troubling film shown in the Storyville strand, took us back to the mad world of 1990s Tokyo TV, except this time you won’t have laughed once unless you really are a sadist.

Rated: 3/5

Jun 17, 2025

Full Review

Barney Nuttall

Little White Lies

Any wider commentary on reality television or stardom, not that much is attempted, is subsumed by the brutality of Asubi’s nightmare, leaving the viewer to shoulder his burden with no sign of reprieve.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 11, 2024

Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

The film tries to make this a heartwarming Hollywood redemption, but it’s not particularly compelling or convincing, and there’s no real discussion of this pop-culture Stanford Experiment.

Rated: 2/5

Nov 26, 2024

Full Review

Rebecca Sayce

FILMHOUNDS Magazine

The film feels almost too bizarre to believe, and yet entirely in the realm of possibility in a world where so much of our lives, willingly or not, is broadcast to others.

Rated: 4/5

Jul 24, 2025

Full Review

Stephen A. Russell

Orion's Shoulder (Substack)

Disturbing stuff, there’s hope, still, in his spirited recovery.

Dec 31, 2024

Full Review

Josh Saunders

The Sun (UK)

EVER felt sorry for the fame-hungry stars of Love Island, Big Brother or I’m A Celebrity? Well, that feeling will be banished forever after watching documentary The Contestant...

Rated: 4/5

Dec 3, 2024

Full Review

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Audience Member

A disquieting and immersive reflection on one of the most extreme social experiments ever to take place, where one man’s hardship and isolation is contrived ad nauseam to push the limits of TV sans regard for the inhumanity it took, ultimately accenting the star-turned-victim’s superhuman endurance in defiance of his fellow man’s equal capacity for cruelty & compassion.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/24/24

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Lars N

More a horror film than anything else. Every time the audience laughs it send shivers down my spine. Sure it's a fascinating story but it lacks severely in any kind of hard question aimed at the people who tormented this guy for no apparent reason.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/22/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Absolutely insane what this guy did, and he still wasn't a multi-millionaire. In America, if someone did this he would have sued the living heck out of the show. Or he would have won a million dollars each time he stayed in the room and completed each task. But I get it, this was way before The Real World, and this was the first reality TV game show in history. And it was in Japan, where they do this kind of crazy stuff all the time.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

08/31/24

Full Review

Brad O

A fascinating look into how low and how high a human can go.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

07/16/24

Full Review

Audience Member

A fantastic documentary showing the limits of physiological torment a person can go through. An Absolute MUST SEE film, Nasubi is an inspiration!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/11/24

Full Review

Gareth D

A really fascinating look at both how exploitative the reality TV genre is (with this being one of the first of it's type) and how resilient humans are.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/02/24

Full Review

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Clair Titley

Director

Fred Armisen

Narrator

Takehiro Hira

Narrator

Tomoaki Hamatsu

Self

Toshio Tsuchiya

Self

Clair Titley

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The Contestant: Trailer

1:37

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Synopsis

The incredible true story of a man who lived for 15 months trapped inside a small room, naked, starving and alone... and completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV to over 17 million viewers a week.

Director: Clair Titley
Producer: Andee Ryder, Ian Bonhôte, Megumi Inman
Screenwriter: Clair Titley
Distributor: Hulu
Production Co: Misfits Entertainment
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): May 2, 2024
Runtime: 1h 30m

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