I remember watching this show back in the day, in which they tried to select the dumbest participants and fool them into thinking they were going to space.
And still, after all these years, I wonder if they were actually fooled. Is it really possible to be so gullible?
I watched a video about this not too long ago. Absolutely fascinating stuff. IIRC the show edited out bits where at least one or two of the participants had basically figured it out but was going along with it.
I remember watching this at the time of broadcast. I think my interest was mainly piqued because it was filmed a few miles away from my house. It boggled the mind how gullible the final few people were who got selected by the producers to go into ‘space’, but then there had been a pretty comprehensive exercise beforehand to whittle the contestants down to those most susceptible. I thought one of the most interesting things was that the actor who was a plant actually considered at one point that the whole thing may have been an even more elaborate double bluff at his expense, and that he was actually being sent into space for real. I’m sure he soon realised that was a silly thought. The ‘experiments’ with the balloon animals were probably the most ridiculous thing they did. Anyone fooling for that deserved everything that came to them!
The actor was in an advert for blood donors IIRC, and that advert ran several times during the show. Yet people still thought it was real.