The Reality TV Show That Wasn’t Out of This World

From Survivor to Love Island, reality TV shows have become a staple genre of primetime programming for decades. The term “reality” is typically loosely defined — couples who meet on The Bachelorette rarely remain together and even “roommates” on The Real World knew that their living arraignment was designed for conflict, not community. But the general idea behind these shows includes a meaningful dash of reality — the participants are real people (as in, non-actors, aspirations aside) and are put into real, albeit unusual, situations.

But not always. Sometimes, the reality show is a lie — and that’s the point. Meet Space Cadets, the TV show what didn’t actually send anyone into space.

In December 2005, a group of eager twentysomethings gathered on a remote airstrip in front of television cameras. They had spent five months auditioning for a reality show called “Thrill Seekers,” and now host Johnny Vaughan was about to reveal the premise., announcing that they were about to become the first-ever televised space tourists. The participants were, indeed, thrilled — they thought they were signing up for a reality show that would have them jump out of airplanes, walk through fire, and a lot of other dangerously stupid things. But instead, they were in for an experience that was literally out of this world.

Except, of course, they weren’t. As the Guardian reported, Space Cadets was one of television’s most elaborate pranks ever attempted — a £5 million ($6.7 million) experiment to see if producers could convince ordinary people they had blasted off into orbit when, in reality, they never left the ground. The contestants were told they were going to a “Russian space camp” to train for the trip to the great unknown, but their flight toward Moscow was just a four-hour loop around the UK in a blacked-out plane, which ultimately landed at an old Royal Air Force base still in England. And when those who “passed” training were sent into space, the “space shuttle” they were on was actually just a flight simulator in some warehouse somewhere.

And yet, the cast was easily confused — mostly due to the investment by the show’s producers. The attention to detail was staggering. A team of 400 people transformed the RAF base into a convincing Soviet facility, complete with Russian-branded groceries, Russian cigarettes (so any butts lying around would look authentic), Russian electrical outlets, and more. Russian-speaking actors played the cosmonauts and trainers. Nothing could be allowed to break the carefully constructed illusion.

Finding the right contestants required equally careful planning. Executive producer Ben Caudell told the Guardian that psychologists helped identify what they called “susceptible people” — not idiots, but intelligent, creative individuals who enjoyed going along with others. Over the course of a month-long immersion at the fake space camp, nine contestants were put through training that included lessons explaining why there would be no zero gravity on their mission: they were going to “near space,” not outer space. To be clear, that’s now how the science works — but the contestants accepted this fake science without much question.

When launch night arrived, everything rested on convincing the three finalists — Keri Hassett, Paul French, and Billy Jackson — that they had actually rocketed into orbit. There was a brief scare when the hydraulics failed and the shuttle didn’t move at first. But the actors playing pilots improvised, and the “launch” proceeded. The contestants, however, seemed underwhelmed. As IFL Science noted, they remarked that it felt “smooth” and “like we were just in a car.” One contestant put it more bluntly: “This is a spaceship. It’s not a caravan. Everything feels a bit caravan.”

The trio had their suspicions throughout the five-day “mission.” They questioned why they didn’t feel the intense G-forces they expected, and they found it odd when asked to hold a ceremony honoring a celebrity Russian dog named Mr. Bimby. According to BBC News, Paul mused to his fellow astronauts that “if we were going to space and they were weighing us for our health, they wouldn’t use scales like you get at home, would they?” But they never quite connected the dots — perhaps because, as strange as the experience was, the idea that someone would spend millions to trick them into thinking they went to space seemed even more implausible.

When the hoax was finally revealed while the contestants were still aboard the “spacecraft” that never left the ground, let alone England, reactions were mixed. Billy declared it “the biggest wind-up ever” and called it “wicked.” Paul had a different take: “We’re not astronauts. We’re just asses.” Keri, meanwhile, was “heartbroken” — she had been planning her triumphant return-to-Earth speech about fulfilling her childhood dream. And they weren’t alone in feeling underwhelmed — the show’s ambitious premise didn’t resonate with viewers, and rating slipped throughout the season.

The three contestants, though, didn’t walk away empty handed. They each received £25,000 ($44,000), and the whole group was later given a ride on the “vomit comet” to experience actual weightlessness. It wasn’t quite outer space, but at least it was real.

Bonus fact: If you ever wondered what would happen if TV producers didn’t try to create fake drama on “reality” shows, you’re not alone. Actor Tony Danza did the same thing in a 2010 show called “Teach: Tony Danza” where he tried to become a tenth-grade English teacher at a public high school in Philadelphia. As the show’s Wikipedia entry notes, “Production was halted at the end of the first semester after the producers felt that the existing footage was not dramatic enough, and after Danza refused to allow the producers to try to generate drama among his students.”

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