Biggest (Confirmed) Hoax in History?

Undercoverguy · 01-12-2005 01:40AM #1

SPACECADETS

A new reality TV show like no other, its been in top secret production since March - that will trick nine clueless victims into thinking they've travelled into space. It'll be filmed live starting in December.
Issues that will be explained to them include the fact they will not be weightless in near space and that, like Sir Richard Branson's space-tourist shuttles, their craft will take off horizontally rather than vertically. A Russian fitness trainer will also take them through their physical paces.

The shuttle itself has been built using a set from the film Space Cowboys, starring Clint Eastwood, which was made from a Nasa blueprint. It consists of three sections - a cockpit, a mid-deck where they will they eat and sleep, and a laboratory, where the team will carry out experiments - some of them authentic, others slightly more wacky.

The cockpit has four windows, which are in reality giant digital screens using graphics three times the resolution of high definition television and better than the visual effects used in The Matrix, capable of recreating hurricanes over Mexico.

What you guys think? Personally i think it's gonna be excellent!

monkeyfudge · 01-12-2005 01:43AM

They'd have to be like... REALLY stupid...

Americans right?

Mossy Monk · 01-12-2005 01:43AM

i am wondering what kind of gullible idiots are going to think they are actually going to space

missingtime · 01-12-2005 01:43AM

Aww man that would be so depressing when the people find out.

breadmonkey · 01-12-2005 01:45AM

Come on now, space = no gravity. What is this "near space" nonsense?

MrJoeSoap · 01-12-2005 01:45AM

Undercoverguy wrote:

It'll be filmed live starting in December.

As opposed to?

Personally, I think "reality" TV is getting further and further from actual reality.

Laguna · 01-12-2005 01:46AM

I can't get over the fact they'll believe they've been able to break the pull of the Earth's gravity by taking off horizontally..

plonk · 01-12-2005 01:48AM

I think its an english program they pretended to fly them to russia for it but just flew them to a disused airbase in england. I dont know mabye near space has no gravitational affects not sure never been to near space

monkeyfudge · 01-12-2005 01:59AM

Actually seeing as it hasn't been filmed yet... isn't the whole thing ruined now?

kaimera · 01-12-2005 02:00AM

monkeyfudge wrote:

They'd have to be like... REALLY stupid...

Americans right?

like no other nationality would fall for it of course. :rolleyes:

plonk · 01-12-2005 02:02AM

I heard it was filmed and im 99% sure their english it on c4

Undercoverguy · 01-12-2005 02:19AM

The constants are currently in "hiding" and have NO contact with the outside world. It's being filmed by Endomal - Same people who make Big Brother. It starts next wed on channel 4...... It runs for 10 nights and the whole thing is LIVE!

Here's some better details on how its gonna work. It it goes off without a hitch it will be the coolest show in ever in my books. Channel 4 Bosses have admitted that the whole thing can blow up in their faces at any moment so they have other "normal" shows to stand-in.... Just in case!

Trailer: http://www.channel4.com/spacecadets

Details on Show: http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/entertainment/filmandtv/tv/s/182/182204_space_cadets_prepare_for_tv_hoax_blastoff.html

DonkeyStyle \o/ · 01-12-2005 04:04AM

Lies made baby Jesus cry

Goodshape · 01-12-2005 04:35AM

I usually hate these sort of things but honestly, this sounds pretty cool. Must be the geek in me -- fooling someone into thinking they're in space : that's gotta be worth seeing.

Adam · 01-12-2005 05:12AM

It is gonna be such a disappointment though when you think about it... i mean imagine older contestants, with kids and family, gettin all excited, tellin them they're goin into space, gonna be on tv etc. etc., and then havin to face them afterwards knowin you've just been made a fool of on national tv!!

odds on that the creators are gonna have some "near devastating technical failure" during "take off" just to try and scare them into it right from the off!

Goodshape · 01-12-2005 05:16AM

fade_to_grey wrote:

It is gonna be such a disappointment though when you think about it... i mean imagine older contestants, with kids and family, gettin all excited, tellin them they're goin into space, gonna be on tv etc. etc., and then havin to face them afterwards knowin you've just been made a fool of on national tv!!

I'm guessing they'll have a nice wad of cash in hand to cheer them up a notch.

Adam · 01-12-2005 05:33AM

The final contestants were chosen because they tended not to ask questions, and showed the psychological trait of “suggestibility” during psychological testing.

Is this a nice way of calling them stupid?

also @ Laguna

The cadets will lift off horizontally as on some other space tourist missions.

DonkeyStyle \o/ · 01-12-2005 05:49AM

They'll never trust anyone again, ever.
Either that, or they're just going to be actors pretending to believe they're in space :rolleyes:
Wouldn't surprise me, and I don't think I could watch it with that thought in my head... what if the hoax is really on us?

Adam · 01-12-2005 05:52AM

Apparently there is going to be 3 actors planted to help the others along, so i imagine with the great lengths they're going to to try and pull this off its not a hoax on us! i mean i for one couldnt care less, im not gonna give a crap either way but if it works it should be a larf!

AARRRGH · 01-12-2005 06:09AM

Biggest hoaxes?

Jesus

Crucifix · 01-12-2005 08:25AM

The legality of this must be crazy.

whiskeyman · 01-12-2005 11:58AM

Crucifix wrote:

The legality of this must be crazy.

No doubt they signed the dotted lines before entering the "space camp".
This could be the best "reality" show ever.... almost a real-life Truman show, or it will be utter cringeworth sh*te.

It all depends on the gags they play.
I'm hoping they have the cadets on the spaceship looking out the window, and then they see earth explode / meteor hitting us.
That reaction would be worth watching...

danniemcq · 01-12-2005 12:13PM

a bit of the hoax topic but about "reality" tv, does anyone remember few years back the one the had in the US where an woman who was adopted had to live with 10 men, one of whom was her father and at the end she had to guess which one it was and if she was right they got a million if wrong then the one she chose gets it. nasty sh!t

Bluehair · 01-12-2005 12:28PM

It'll be a bit of a stretch tbh, I mean no weightlessness?? I suppose the candidates will be carefully selected for this though...

Scenario brings plenty of 'fun' messing with their heads options if they're prepared to go that far.

1./Decompression with air shooting out of the 'station'

2./One of the actors involved in an acident and getting somehow 'sucked' out into space!

3./Huge political problems being reported back on earth and then having them watch a nuke go off below them! :eek:

4./Periodic ufo sightings outside (maybe restricted to only one or two of the 'crew' to freak everyone else out!).

I know, I know.... evil....

dr zoidberg · 01-12-2005 12:51PM

^^^^^^^

If the ratings start to fall they will.

The contestants must be idiots though, how could you possibly believe that there was gravity in space? Morons.

joe_chicken · 01-12-2005 01:09PM

This is the best hoax ever!
War of the Worlds

J.R.HARTLEY · 01-12-2005 01:23PM

they were talking on rossie on friday about the psychological effects it will have on them when it's revealed. just having help available to them afterwards isn't good enough, one or more might not be able to take it. people are strange creatures.
ever hear of ira hayes, native american soldier in ww2, was one of the men who raised the flag on iwo jima, anyway the administration made a cult of him when he came home, he couldn't handle it, poor man drank himself to death, a guy who survived a war!

funny when i read the thread name i was reminded of a movie i saw once called never forget, where a brave survivor of the holocaust took on the lie totting american neo nazis and beat them in court in a case that confirms the holocaust did happen, the scum neo nazis were saying it was a hoax. jesus, what some people will try will amaze anyone. scumbags.
anyway sorry, i'd watch anything if it keeps big brother and the osbournes off tv

Firewalkwithme · 01-12-2005 01:26PM

From The Guardian:

Channel 4 launches reality TV space hoax

Jason Deans and Owen Gibson
Wednesday November 16, 2005

Channel 4 is pulling an elaborate hoax with a new reality TV show in which a group of people believe they are in Russia training for a space mission - but are in fact having their every move filmed at a disused airbase in Britain.
Space Cadets, which launches on December 7 and is hosted by Johnny Vaughan, will follow a group of contestants who have applied to the fictional Space Tourism Agency.

They believe they are in Russia, undergoing intensive training to be blasted 100km into space, but in reality are at a former American airbase in the UK.
Starting with 100 applicants, the contestants will be whittled down to just four for the fictional mission - but one will be an actor.

They undergo intensive training, which every so often will get a little strange - a test of whether any of the participants have worked out it is all a hoax.

"We've taken a big risk with Space Cadets and we don't know who will have the last laugh - but we're hoping it's going to be a really entertaining and unique event in the schedule - a real treat in the run-up to Christmas," said Angela Jain, the Channel 4 commissioning editor for factual entertainment.

The Space Cadets set features a space shuttle, with a cockpit that has featured in films including Space Cowboys, Armageddon and Deep Impact.

There is also a mission control, an operations centre where the space cadets will be trained, barracks and a recreation room.

To keep up the illusion that the contestants are in Russia, the site has been kitted out with Russian fixtures and fittings - including more than 100 plug sockets, lightbulbs, drain covers and signs.

The space cadets will also use Russian teabags, cigarettes, DVDs, chocolate bars - and toilet paper.

Channel 4 and Space Cadets producer Zeppotron, a subsidiary of Endemol, the company behind Big Brother, have kept the project under wraps so as not to give away the hoax to the contestants.

Space Cadets has taken eight months to develop and has a production staff of more than 150. Thirty-four cameras will film the contestants 24 hours a day.

Space Cadets is to run on Channel 4 at 9pm every night from Wednesday December 7, for 10 days, with a live 60-minute show each night hosted by Vaughan.

Channel 4's digital service E4 will carry round the clock live streaming of the space cadets from December 11.

E4 is also to broadcast a daily spin-off show, Space Cadets: the Satellite Show, nightly at 10pm, presented by Alex Zane.

Space Cadets fans can follow the show via Channel 4's website and news stories and video highlights will also be available on mobile phones.

feckidyparp · 06-12-2005 05:41PM

Biggest (Confirmed) Hoax in History?!?!?!?!?!?

Surely it takes more than tricking 9 people to be the biggest hoax in the world. I mean come on. I did that down the pub on friday when i said "it wasn't me" when actually it was.:D

*Oul_Doll_Cork* · 06-12-2005 06:00PM

I am totally against this!!!!

When I was 5 my neighbour convinced me she was an alien (She had her space ship hidden under a tree in my back garden!!)
I still get a slagging over that 15 years later, so I know how it feels!!!

hehe:p Nah I think it's hilarious! Should be good fun to watch!

I bet someone will sue them in the end though!!! (Like what happened with "Something about Mirium")

Vokes · 06-12-2005 06:05PM

Apparently the contestants' friends/relatives had to vouch that the contestants have a sense of humour, would see the funny side of things afterwards and not go completely cuckoo and/or kill themselves

Biggest (Confirmed) Hoax in History?

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