Credit: Amazon prime<\/span><\/figcaption>Hundreds had auditioned for the unnamed new show thanks to carefully placed ads and flyers handed out all over London back in the early noughties. <\/p>\n
Many of those who made the cut claim they were led to believe it had been commissioned by Channel 4 and were convinced to take part for the chance of an \u201cadventure\u201d.<\/p>\n
Jane, from Manchester, believed going on the show would change her \u201clife forever\u201d after moving back home following university.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I\u2019d lifted 10ft off the floor, all of a sudden my dream is actually happening,\u201d she tells the documentary.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of a sudden my dream was happening, this was all coming true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane's dad was concerned that his daughter was being led up the garden path, but she insisted travelling to London to begin filming. <\/p>\n
After being chosen, each contestant was sent an email with a map and X marking the spot, and told all they needed was to bring their passport.<\/p>\n
But upon arrival at the secret start location, the 30 budding stars were left standing in the rain, stunned into silence. <\/p>\n
The glitzy launch was being filmed in a dismal, rain-soaked park in New Cross, south-east London, and it slowly dawned on them that nothing was going to be as expected. <\/p>\n
Divided into three teams, they were told that they had to make \u00a31million in a year without any starting cash.<\/p>\n
This would be paid into a bank account controlled by the enigmatic Nikita – described by one contestant as "a very handsome man who looked as if he belonged in Hollywood".<\/p>\n
In old footage, several of the contestants branded the situation \u201cridiculous\u201d as they realised they had no money to pay rent or buy food.<\/p>\n
Nikita also expected them to sign a bizarre ten-page contract which took away all their rights to any money they made if they left early.<\/p>\n
Turning the tables <\/h2>\n \n <\/p>\n
As the rain got harder, contestant Tim Eagle – who, in a sign of the disorder, was also a show cameraman – decided to invite members of the third group back to his east London flat while they decided what to do.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, another team discovered Nikita's job at Waterstones and realised he had none of the credentials they'd thought. <\/p>\n
Quickly, the first group dropped out completely, followed by the second.<\/p>\n
The plucky six who are featured in the documentary decided to see if they could make something of the experience. <\/p>\n
It resulted in them spending several nights sleeping on the floor in Tim's flat, armed with his video camera. <\/p>\n
Fellow group member John Comyn said: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t real. It was all smoke and mirrors, no Channel 4 commission. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe guy works in a bookshop, we\u2019re sleeping on the floor in Dalston. We realised we were being used as guinea pigs from day one.\u201d<\/p>\n
While plotting a plan of action, the group were shocked when Nikita himself turned up at the flat looking disheveled. He admitted he was \u201cas homeless as the rest of them\u201d.<\/p>\n
Furious, they decided to contact local media when Nikita briefly left the flat, cornering him upon his return until a TV news crew arrived.<\/p>\n
Grilling him, one contestant called him \u201csatanic\u201d and another accused him of \u201cf*cking with people's dreams\u201d. <\/p>\n
John, who had said he wanted to \u201ckill\u201d Nikita or \u201cstomp on his head\u201d, admitted \u201ca plan was hatched … probably to get revenge\u201d.<\/p>\n
Recalling their triumph, Tim said: \u201cWe stuck him in the corner and grilled him until this proper crew came. <\/p>\n
\u201cI love the multilayer madness of that \u2013 we managed to hoist him by his own petard and hang him out to dry on the medium he so wished to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n
The story made headlines across the UK and led to Nikita becoming recognised in the street \u2013 where he claimed was sleeping rough outside cinemas and in parks.<\/p>\n
Troubled times<\/h2>\n Over the next 20 years, Nikita disappeared off the radar, while the airing of the tale had lasting effects on the would-be reality stars. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to die inside,\u201d Jane recalled. \u201cI just felt so stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n
For months, Jane stayed with the friends she had made filming the fake show, as she couldn't face returning to her parents and admitting she had failed. <\/p>\n
But on her return, she was told by her family that they were proud and didn't blame her. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
John, the most outwardly hostile to Nikita, says it has had life-long effects. He claimed: \u201cIt has made me more risk-averse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the show, Tim had ended things with his girlfriend as he expected to be tied up for an entire year, but when he realised that wasn't the case, he asked her to come back. <\/p>\n
\u201cI asked my girlfriend to come back, and she said no,\u201d he said. \u201cWe split up and that knocked me for six. It was deeply embarrassing; a lot of us had had send-off parties \u2013 I\u2019d been thrown this huge surprise party. It floored me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many others were left with no income and, in some cases, nowhere to live.<\/p>\n
Fellow contestant Lucie Miller, who was in her 30s, had handed back the keys to her flat, as she believed the show would launch her career.<\/p>\n
She had left colleagues shocked when she handed in her notice as a carpet designer, and almost all presumed she'd got a place on Big Brother. Instead, she was left with nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Nikita] was encouraging people to give up their jobs, their relationships, their homes,\u201d Lucie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to overcome humiliation. I felt embarrassed to go home so soon with everything I had banking on it. Everything felt flat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Revenge plan<\/h2>\n Two decades later, the team behind the new documentary hired a detective to track Nikita down and discovered he was born Keith, and now goes by the name Nick Quentin Woolf. <\/p>\n
When asked about the chaos he had thrown 30 unwitting people into, he said: \u201cPeople seem to be cooking up that I did this for malicious motives, I was trying to make a TV show.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople sign up to eat kangaroo anuses on telly. People going off on a mission to try to make money didn't seem like a massive lift to me. I thought people signed up for absolutely anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fallout left Nikita struggling mentally, he claimed, especially when the tables were turned. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know if you've ever been held captive by a group of people, but I wouldn't recommend it as an experience,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was frightening. Mentally I was falling apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nikita, who is now an author and radio host, also claimed that he had never told anyone that the show had been commissioned by Channel 4.<\/p>\n
In one bizarre piece of old footage, he is seen walking up to the camera and making a gesture of his neck being slit.<\/p>\n
When asked if he felt guilty about what happened, he responded: \u201cI wanted my life to end. The most crushing thing was that I knew I had done wrong by these people. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the thing that really just destroyed me, was the knowledge that I had done terrible harm to these people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Final forgiveness<\/h2>\n Despite giving up everything to take part in a show that didn't really exist, a few of the former contestants are thankful for their experience. <\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve it or not, I would thank him because he turned my life around and changed it for the better,\u201d Jane claims. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I hadn\u2019t done it, I\u2019m not sure if I would be the person I am now.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what life has thrown at me since, you just pick yourself up and carry on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Summing up the experience, Daniel said: \u201cHe did a stupid thing. We allowed him to do a stupid thing. <\/p>\n
Read More on The Sun<\/h2>\n <\/picture>LUXE LIFE <\/span><\/p>\nMichelle Keegan stuns in see through skirt as she glams up for night out in Dubai<\/h3>\n <\/picture>painful end <\/span><\/p>\nStrictly's Annabel claims \u2018psychopath\u2019 nurse \u2018gloated\u2019 as her husband died<\/h3>\n \u201cWe're all culpable. We're all involved. I wish him all the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Greatest Show Never Made is\u00a0on Prime Video\u00a0from October 11.<\/strong><\/p>\nSource: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CURLED up in the corner of a crowded living room, a self-styled TV producer braced himself as a mob of wannabe reality stars threatened to punch his lights out. The year was 2002 and enigmatic Nikita Russian had brought a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
We signed up to be on \u2018TV\u2019s next Big Brother\u2019 but it turned into Fyre Festival-style disaster that cost us everything | The Sun - Newcelebworld.com<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n