Alone and naked, Tomoaki Hamatsu sat in shock as the walls around him came crashing down, revealing 1,000 people staring and laughing at him.
Just moments before, Tomoaki, who is commonly known as Nasubi, had been locked in an 11 square metre, wooden crate.
Nasubi had no idea what was happening, fearing he may have been smuggled into North Korea as part of some sick, twisted television prank.
In reality, he had been blindfolded and secretly wheeled in front of a studio audience to be publicly humiliated while the cameras recorded his every move.
The year was 1998 and this great reveal was the grand finale of a highly popular reality television show, Susunu! Denpa Shonen.
But for Nasubi, it was the end of a torturous 18 months, spent mostly exposed and alone, at the whims of television producers who exploited a man desperate for fame.
It also destroyed his sense of trust in people, something he continues to struggle with more than 25 years later.
"I was pushed to the very depths of hell," he explained.
But rather than let anxiety consume him, Nasubi has turned his hellish experience into something positive, using comedy and joy to help victims of earthquakes suffering from loneliness and isolation.
And while Nasubi's story may seem extreme, from the days when reality television was in its lawless infancy, it continues to serve as a cautionary tale about the pursuit of celebrity status, and the power of manipulation.
It all started with one word: 'winner'
For as long as he can remember, Nasubi had been teased over his looks. He picked the name Nasubi, which means "eggplant", because of his long face.
"I was bullied a lot because of my long face," he recalls.
"Every time I changed schools, I would always become the target of bullying due to my funny face.
"But I turned that weakness into a strength by using it to make people laugh. The bullying gradually stopped, and I made more friends."
This passion to make people laugh continued into his 20s, and Nasubi decided to pursue a career in comedy.
He attended auditions to be part of the smash television show Susunu! Denpa Shonen, which had filmed young comedians doing "crazy, fun" projects, such as hiking across Europe and the US.
Nasubi had no idea what to expect but hoped for a similar experience.
He stood alongside 20 other budding comedians, and in a lucky dip, picked a card with the word "winner" written on it.
His nightmare was about to begin.
"I was put in a car with a blindfold and headphones on, without being told anything at all," he said.
"Then I was taken to a room, and I was made to strip completely naked because they wanted me to start from scratch. So, they took all my clothes away.
"It was at that moment that I realised for the first time that I was going to have to do the project while being locked up alone."
Weight loss, isolation and 'silent pressure'
Nasubi's tasks were mundane yet cruel.
Provided with nothing more than hard biscuits and water, the budding comedian would need to win prizes, like food and clothing, through magazine sweepstakes.
He was also given things he didn't need, such as a discount coupon to the Spice Girl's movie and car manufacturing manuals.
Every day, production staff would collect the video tapes, before leaving Nasubi alone again.
After two weeks, Nasubi finally won some jelly to enjoy in addition to his hard biscuits. But his loss of weight forced producers to intervene more frequently with food.
Nasubi assumed the best footage would be compiled later to feature in a fun television show.
But he struggled to comprehend how the show he was filming could be popular.
As the weeks rolled by, doubt about his shot at stardom crept in, along with severe loneliness.
He could leave at any time and the door to the apartment was left unlocked. But he feared doing so would cost him his career.
"I was feeling silent pressure," he said.
"The person I was talking to was a very famous TV producer, so I thought it would be better for my future in the entertainment industry to not go against him.
"I was trying to make a name for myself."
It took Nasubi almost a year to win 1 million yen in sweepstake money, which is about $10,000 by today's money, before he was finally rewarded with a celebratory trip to South Korea.
At first, his overseas trip was how he imagined the show was meant to be — a trip to a carnival, and some Korean barbecue.
But not long after, he was asked to go back in another room, again, naked.
Nasubi's humiliating ordeal was filmed in front of an audience
Nasubi recalls being surprised by the request for him to go back to what he was doing before.
"When the producer said that, I really thought to myself, 'What is this person thinking? This person is not a human being at all, he's a demon,'" he said.
"This person has no idea of the hardships I've been through."
Nasubi only has vague memories about how he was sent back to Japan.
He remembers being blindfolded and made to wear noise-cancelling headphones while being driven in a car.
He can't remember going through customs or boarding a return flight.
Nasubi feared he was being sent to North Korea. Instead, he was actually being prepared for the show's grand finale.
Placed in a box of only 11 square metres, Nasubi undressed, as he had done plenty of times before, and waited.
The walls came down and a large studio audience was revealed.
Nasubi's utter confusion, embarrassment, and vulnerability was recorded and broadcast for the world to see.
But he didn't know that at the time.
Nasubi believed the footage would be compiled into a television show, which would be aired at a later date.
Instead it was actually being broadcast every week, creating a social phenomenon unbeknown to him.
This partially explains why he was so shocked at the grand reveal.
In a documentary about Nasubi's experience, titled The Contestant, the show's creator and producer Toshio Tsuchiya admitted to telling Nasubi most of the vision would never be aired.
"If there is a god of television, I am the devil," he gloats on The Contestant.
An overnight celebrity
When Nasubi finally finished filming, he had been on the program for an astonishing 18 months.
Susunu! Denpa Shonen was a cultural phenomenon, attracting millions of viewers each week.
In many ways, Nasubi's experience became the real Truman Show of Japan.
After emerging from isolation, Nasubi entered the world again and struggled to get his bearings.
He could not comprehend why the show was so popular, and that he was now a major celebrity.
"From about halfway through, the idea of doing something funny as a comedian had disappeared. I was just really struggling to survive," Nasubi explained.
He said fans of the show were "brainwashed" into believing he was having fun.
"My distrust of people grew," he said.
"Everyone who was watching me was laughing. I felt that the fact that they had been laughing at me without knowing how hard I was finding it a bit scary.
"I felt a kind of fear, a fear of people."
In the decades since, Nasubi has attempted to put the ordeal behind him and built a successful career in television and radio in his home prefecture of Fukushima.
He also scaled Mount Everet in 2016, after three previous aborted attempts.
But one of the accomplishments he is most proud of is supporting earthquake victims.
Nasubi's home prefecture of Fukushima was utterly devastated during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster, which killed more than 20,000 people, and led to the crippling of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which continues to undergo a massive clean-up operation.
Last year, Nasubi volunteered after the Noto earthquake, in western Japan, which left more than 500 people dead.
He ensured those who lost their homes and livelihoods did not feel alone and abandoned.
"I'm more aware than anyone else that people can't survive alone," he said.
"When people are affected by disasters or other calamities, they inevitably feel lonely and helpless.
"I can't save everyone, but I think it's my own personal mission to keep doing what I can to help."
'TV has become a little too harsh'
In the era of social media and reality television, Nasubi understands the lure and pitfalls of pursing fame.
Reality television contestants across the world have complained their lives have been ruined after being typecast as some sort of villain.
In one infamous case in Japan, reality television star Hana Kimura took her own life after she was portrayed as a villain on a Big Brother-style show and suffered relentless bullying online.
"It feels like reality TV has become a little too harsh, and that it has become more extreme, almost like people are laughing at the intimate matters and the misfortunes of others," Nasubi said.
"Both the producers and the viewers need to be careful not to go too far, and to use their imagination to think about what the people involved are feeling and what they are going through."
Nasubi fully appreciates why people do crazy things for a chance of fame but he urges those seeking stardom to do so with a clear sense of purpose and awareness.
"If you only pursue what the world wants from you, you end up becoming a really empty person," he said.
To this day, people sneer at Nasubi for being that "naked guy" on television.
Rather than be consumed by negative emotions, he takes a philosophical look at his time on the show and has forgiven those who he feels have wronged him, including the show's producer.
"I am who I am thanks to the hardships I went through back then," he said.
"Continuing to hold on to that anger and other negative feelings was becoming a burden for me.
"I am definitely happy."
And what does he want next in life?
"World peace," he laughed.
