Great Reality TV Swindle
Encyclopedia
The Great Reality TV Swindle (also known as Project MS-2) was a con
perpetrated in 2002 by Nik Russian, a British man who, at the time, was working at an entry-level position in a branch of the UK book chain Waterstone's
. Russian placed advertisements in major publications that invited people to audition for a year-long reality television
programme where they could potentially win a prize of . After receiving hundreds of responses, he auditioned some of them on Raven's Ait
in London, then selected 30 successful auditionees to take part, without informing them that no actual programme had been commissioned
. Telling them that the show would last for an entire year, Russian instructed the participants to leave their homes, quit their jobs and then meet him in London on 10 June, where they would be divided into teams of ten and set their challenge for the next twelve months.
The challenge was to make £1 million in a single year. Realising that they would essentially be making their own prize money, most contestants quit the show within two days. One group stayed together for slightly longer: sleeping on the floor of their cameraman's flat, they attempted to create their own TV show about themselves. Having also given up his flat and job, Russian was also homeless, and was forced to stay with the contestants he had manipulated. After the programme failed, Russian went into hiding, and was unable to be contacted. He was eventually tracked down by one of his victims to an address in Richmond upon Thames
, where he was forced to apologise on camera. As he had not taken any money from his victims, a criminal case against Russian was not pursued—a civil case was also not pursued because of a lack of funds.
in 1977. Raised in Farnham
, he legally changed his name to Jack Lister in his early twenties, then changed it again to Nikita Russian. He studied English
at Goldsmiths, University of London, but dropped out before the exams. He had set up businesses and written unpublished novels before taking a job working at a branch of Waterstone's in London—he susequently decided that he wanted to produce his own reality television programme.
of the UK version of Big Brother
—which was showing while Russian's con took place—attracted audience figures of approximately 5.8 million. Most British reality TV programmes at the time centred on a team of people trying to accomplish a specific goal or target. For example, the 2000 series Jailbreak
challenged a group to escape from a mock prison, while the 2001 series The Mole
gave the contestants the task of discovering which of them was sabotaging their attempts to win money. Most reality TV shows offered a cash reward to successful participants—both Jailbreak and the first series
of The Mole offered a prize of £100,000.
Several reality TV contestants were able to become celebrities in their own right after raising their profiles on television. Craig Phillips
and Brian Dowling
, the winners of the first two series of Big Brother, both created successful media careers. Phillips had been featured as a DIY expert on programmes such as BBC
's Trading Up and ITV
's Renovation Street, while Dowling became the UK's first openly gay children's TV presenter when he hosted the Saturday morning programme SMTV Live
. Ben Fogle
, a contestant on the BBC reality series Castaway 2000
, went on to become a television presenter for several programmes, and hosted his own series called Extreme Dreams
.
and the Evening Standard
, which invited "characterful, resourceful and energetic" people to apply for the chance to "raise [their] profile" and potentially win £100,000. Russian was e-mailed more than a thousand applications and auditioned some of them on the Raven's Ait island in London. Some had applied simply for the prize money; others hoped that exposure from the programme could help them to achieve some of their dreams, such as working as a television presenter or launching a fashion label.
The auditionees were told that the show was being created by the production company
Nik Russian Productions (NRP). For the purposes of the auditions, Russian enlisted the help of his friends to take on roles such as psychoanalysts
and runners—his girlfriend, whom he had met on a university access course
, acted as a psychological assessor, while his friend Mike was a cameraman. The auditionees were then divided into small groups and given practical and psychological tests to complete, such as baking a cake in under an hour without a kitchen or ingredients. From these auditionees, 30 people were selected to star in Russian's programme, which he had dubbed "Project MS-2".
The winning candidates were informed of their success in an e-mail from NRP and were also sent various contracts to sign and return. They were told that the project would last for a year, so most of them gave up their flats
and jobs. The contracts stated that their food, accommodation and leisure money would be provided, and that they were to meet in London on 10 June 2002 for the programme to begin filming. Each contestant was also told to set up a new bank account to which Russian could have access and to arrive without money or credit cards on the launch day.
his show. Teams 1 and 3 disbanded within two days.
Team 2 remained together for slightly longer—sleeping on the floor of the flat in Dalston
that belonged to their cameraman Tim Eagle, they decided to film their own reality TV programme about themselves, and set up a "diary room" to discuss their thoughts about Russian and his show. Having also given up his home and job, Russian had nowhere to stay either, and he too was forced to sleep on Eagle's floor with Team 2. On 12 June, Eagle contacted the local news station, London Tonight
, and the group locked Russian in the flat, forcing him to speak with the journalists once they had arrived. After their story made the local news, Team 2 stayed together until 14 June before they also split up and went their separate ways.
in December 2002.
Some participants tried to track Russian down to have their questions answered. One contestant, Louise Miles, discovered that Russian's production company, NRP, did not actually exist and that the woman who had been answering their phone calls was really Russian's mother, Margaret. Another participant, Daniel Pope, managed to track Russian down to an address in Richmond upon Thames
and convinced him to be interviewed by Christmas TV and apologise on camera. As Russian had not actually taken money from his victims, he had not committed a crime, and a civil case was not pursued due to a lack of funds.
, Peter Paterson contrasted Russian with Humphry Berkeley
, a British politician who committed a similar con in 1948 under the pseudonym H. Rochester Sneath
. Paterson observed that, while Berkeley had derived "considerable fun" from his con, Russian had conversely been in a "deep gloom" following his. Similarly, Rupert Smith of The Guardian
described Russian as a "tragic figure".
Some critics placed blame on the contestants' overly trusting nature and desire for fame, calling them gullible wannabes. Others noted the irony in how the con had, ultimately, put them on television, which Gorham described as "a happy ending". In another article for The Guardian, Smith remarked: "These are not stupid people. In archive footage from the fake show, they look like any other post-Big-Brother buffoons; but in the sombre, reflective interviews after the event they come across as likable, wounded individuals."
Other commentators felt that the con represented an indictment on how reality television had altered the public's notion of celebrity. Paterson called the genre a "Pied Piper call of fleeting TV fame" that had become "as powerful as any religious cult", while Paul English of The Daily Record
noted that the swindle reflected a "fascination with reality TV – and how the draw of being on telly can turn us into gullible fools". Both of Christmas TV's producers agreed. Gorham called the con "a fantastic wake-up call for reality TV"; Dickenson remarked: "I hope [the swindle] shows those who may be interested in these programmes that they should be careful."
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
perpetrated in 2002 by Nik Russian, a British man who, at the time, was working at an entry-level position in a branch of the UK book chain Waterstone's
Waterstone's
Waterstone's is a British book specialist established in 1982 by Tim Waterstone that employs around 4,500 staff throughout the United Kingdom and Europe....
. Russian placed advertisements in major publications that invited people to audition for a year-long reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
programme where they could potentially win a prize of . After receiving hundreds of responses, he auditioned some of them on Raven's Ait
Raven's Ait
Raven's Ait is an ait in the Thames at Surbiton, in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, London, England, in the reach above Teddington Lock. It is situated upstream of Queen's Promenade where it departs from the river, and opposite Thames Sailing Club, home of the Thames A Class Raters...
in London, then selected 30 successful auditionees to take part, without informing them that no actual programme had been commissioned
Commission (remuneration)
The payment of commission as remuneration for services rendered or products sold is a common way to reward sales people. Payments often will be calculated on the basis of a percentage of the goods sold...
. Telling them that the show would last for an entire year, Russian instructed the participants to leave their homes, quit their jobs and then meet him in London on 10 June, where they would be divided into teams of ten and set their challenge for the next twelve months.
The challenge was to make £1 million in a single year. Realising that they would essentially be making their own prize money, most contestants quit the show within two days. One group stayed together for slightly longer: sleeping on the floor of their cameraman's flat, they attempted to create their own TV show about themselves. Having also given up his flat and job, Russian was also homeless, and was forced to stay with the contestants he had manipulated. After the programme failed, Russian went into hiding, and was unable to be contacted. He was eventually tracked down by one of his victims to an address in Richmond upon Thames
Richmond upon Thames
Richmond is a town in southwest London, England and is part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is located west-southwest of Charing Cross....
, where he was forced to apologise on camera. As he had not taken any money from his victims, a criminal case against Russian was not pursued—a civil case was also not pursued because of a lack of funds.
Nik Russian
Nikita "Nik" Russian was born Keith Anthony Gillard in SurreySurrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
in 1977. Raised in Farnham
Farnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
, he legally changed his name to Jack Lister in his early twenties, then changed it again to Nikita Russian. He studied English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
at Goldsmiths, University of London, but dropped out before the exams. He had set up businesses and written unpublished novels before taking a job working at a branch of Waterstone's in London—he susequently decided that he wanted to produce his own reality television programme.
Reality television
Reality TV was a popular genre of television programming in the UK in 2002. The third seriesBig Brother 2002 (UK)
Big Brother 3 was the third series of Big Brother UK. The series started on 24 May 2002, ending on 26 July 2002 and the final of this series drew 10.0 million viewers. Votes in the final week totalled 8.6 million...
of the UK version of Big Brother
Big Brother (UK)
Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
—which was showing while Russian's con took place—attracted audience figures of approximately 5.8 million. Most British reality TV programmes at the time centred on a team of people trying to accomplish a specific goal or target. For example, the 2000 series Jailbreak
Jailbreak (TV series)
Jailbreak was a reality television game show. It was hosted by Craig Charles, and co-presented by Charlie Stayt and Ruth England. It was shown in 2000 by Five in the UK. Original host Ulrika Jonsson had to pull out of the project due to health concerns over her newborn child.Contestants in...
challenged a group to escape from a mock prison, while the 2001 series The Mole
The Mole (UK TV series)
The Mole was a 2001 reality television series in the UK which was broadcast on Channel 5. Part of The Mole television series franchise it was hosted by Glenn Hugill.-Series 1:...
gave the contestants the task of discovering which of them was sabotaging their attempts to win money. Most reality TV shows offered a cash reward to successful participants—both Jailbreak and the first series
The Mole (series 1)
Series 1 took place in Jersey and France and was hosted by Glenn Hugill.-Contestants:-Execution Chart:Tandem Skydive: The ten contestants were placed into 2 separate planes with half in each . The played to jump from 10,000 feet tandem and land on a beach in Jersey. If any one did not jump, the...
of The Mole offered a prize of £100,000.
Several reality TV contestants were able to become celebrities in their own right after raising their profiles on television. Craig Phillips
Craig Phillips
Craig Phillips is an English builder, DIY expert, television personality and presenter, best known for winning the first series of the British reality television show Big Brother...
and Brian Dowling
Brian Dowling
Brian Patrick Robert Dowling is an Irish television presenter who rose to fame after being crowned the winner of the second series of UK reality television show Big Brother in 2001. He also won Ultimate Big Brother in 2010, making him the ultimate Big Brother housemate...
, the winners of the first two series of Big Brother, both created successful media careers. Phillips had been featured as a DIY expert on programmes such as BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Trading Up and ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's Renovation Street, while Dowling became the UK's first openly gay children's TV presenter when he hosted the Saturday morning programme SMTV Live
SMTV Live
SMTV Live , also written SM:TV Live and in early promotional material SMTV://live, was a British Saturday morning children's television programme, first broadcast on ITV on 29 August 1998 and last broadcast on 27 December 2003.On the surface, the programme did not seem to stray away from the format...
. Ben Fogle
Ben Fogle
Ben Fogle is an English television presenter, adventurer and writer.-Early life:Fogle is the son of actress Julia Foster and broadcasting veterinary surgeon Bruce Fogle...
, a contestant on the BBC reality series Castaway 2000
Castaway 2000
Castaway 2000 was a reality TV programme commissioned by the BBC in 2000.-The Concept:Castaway 2000 is a successful British television show that, because it was aired in the same year that Survivor first aired in the United States and Big Brother first aired in Great Britain, is often regarded as a...
, went on to become a television presenter for several programmes, and hosted his own series called Extreme Dreams
Extreme Dreams With Ben Fogle
Extreme Dreams is a reality TV progamme made by the independent British production company Ricochet and hosted by Ben Fogle...
.
Auditions
In early 2002, Nik Russian placed advertisements for a year-long television programme in publications such as The StageThe Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
and the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
, which invited "characterful, resourceful and energetic" people to apply for the chance to "raise [their] profile" and potentially win £100,000. Russian was e-mailed more than a thousand applications and auditioned some of them on the Raven's Ait island in London. Some had applied simply for the prize money; others hoped that exposure from the programme could help them to achieve some of their dreams, such as working as a television presenter or launching a fashion label.
The auditionees were told that the show was being created by the production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
Nik Russian Productions (NRP). For the purposes of the auditions, Russian enlisted the help of his friends to take on roles such as psychoanalysts
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
and runners—his girlfriend, whom he had met on a university access course
Access course
The Access to Higher Education Diploma is a qualification which prepares students - usually mature students, although the minimum age to be able to study for an access diploma is actually nineteen - for study as an undergraduate at university...
, acted as a psychological assessor, while his friend Mike was a cameraman. The auditionees were then divided into small groups and given practical and psychological tests to complete, such as baking a cake in under an hour without a kitchen or ingredients. From these auditionees, 30 people were selected to star in Russian's programme, which he had dubbed "Project MS-2".
The winning candidates were informed of their success in an e-mail from NRP and were also sent various contracts to sign and return. They were told that the project would last for a year, so most of them gave up their flats
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
and jobs. The contracts stated that their food, accommodation and leisure money would be provided, and that they were to meet in London on 10 June 2002 for the programme to begin filming. Each contestant was also told to set up a new bank account to which Russian could have access and to arrive without money or credit cards on the launch day.
Launch day
The 30 contestants were divided into three teams of ten named Team 1, Team 2 and Team 3, and each group met in a different London location on 10 June, the day of the programme's launch. To record what each team did, Russian also hired unpaid trainee cameramen. Once the teams were assembled, they were given their challenge: in a year, they had to make £1 million. Their first task was to find accommodation for themselves for free for a week. The contestants slowly realised that, despite what their contracts had claimed, they would have to find their own food and accommodation, and would essentially be making their own prize money. Some contestants demanded to meet with Russian, who eventually revealed to them that no television channel had actually commissionedCommission (remuneration)
The payment of commission as remuneration for services rendered or products sold is a common way to reward sales people. Payments often will be calculated on the basis of a percentage of the goods sold...
his show. Teams 1 and 3 disbanded within two days.
Team 2 remained together for slightly longer—sleeping on the floor of the flat in Dalston
Dalston
Dalston is a district of north-east London, England, located in the London Borough of Hackney. It is situated northeast of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
that belonged to their cameraman Tim Eagle, they decided to film their own reality TV programme about themselves, and set up a "diary room" to discuss their thoughts about Russian and his show. Having also given up his home and job, Russian had nowhere to stay either, and he too was forced to sleep on Eagle's floor with Team 2. On 12 June, Eagle contacted the local news station, London Tonight
London Tonight
London Tonight is a regional news programme broadcast on ITV London . Produced by ITN, the programme is broadcast at 6pm every weeknight, also including local sports news and local features of interest.Like all regional news programmes on ITV in England and Wales and Channel Television, it uses...
, and the group locked Russian in the flat, forcing him to speak with the journalists once they had arrived. After their story made the local news, Team 2 stayed together until 14 June before they also split up and went their separate ways.
Aftermath
Having believed that they would be participating in Russian's television programme for an entire year, most contestants had given up their homes, jobs and partners—most had to find new employment and some were forced to move in with their parents. Russian went into hiding and was unable to be reached by his victims. On 13 June 2002, Debbie Leigh Driver, one of Russian's contestants, contacted Caz Gorham and Frances Dickenson of the independent production company Christmas TV & Film and told them about the hoax. Gorham and Dickenson produced a genuine TV programme to document the story of the con and how the participants were now trying to get their lives back together, which was shown on Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
in December 2002.
Some participants tried to track Russian down to have their questions answered. One contestant, Louise Miles, discovered that Russian's production company, NRP, did not actually exist and that the woman who had been answering their phone calls was really Russian's mother, Margaret. Another participant, Daniel Pope, managed to track Russian down to an address in Richmond upon Thames
Richmond upon Thames
Richmond is a town in southwest London, England and is part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is located west-southwest of Charing Cross....
and convinced him to be interviewed by Christmas TV and apologise on camera. As Russian had not actually taken money from his victims, he had not committed a crime, and a civil case was not pursued due to a lack of funds.
Media reaction
Much of the mainstream media's reaction to the con was published in December 2002, around the time that Christmas TV's documentary was shown on Channel 4. Although most commentators placed the blame for the swindle on Russian himself by denouncing him as a manipulative con man, others were more sympathetic. Writing for The Daily MailDaily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, Peter Paterson contrasted Russian with Humphry Berkeley
Humphry Berkeley
Humphry John Berkeley was a British politician noted for his many changes of parties and his efforts to effect homosexual law reform, and both oppose, and then seem to abet, grand apartheid....
, a British politician who committed a similar con in 1948 under the pseudonym H. Rochester Sneath
H. Rochester Sneath
H. Rochester Sneath MA L-ès-L was the nonexistent headmaster of the also nonexistent Selhurst School who wrote many bizarre letters to public figures in 1948. Selhurst supposedly had 175 male students....
. Paterson observed that, while Berkeley had derived "considerable fun" from his con, Russian had conversely been in a "deep gloom" following his. Similarly, Rupert Smith of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
described Russian as a "tragic figure".
Some critics placed blame on the contestants' overly trusting nature and desire for fame, calling them gullible wannabes. Others noted the irony in how the con had, ultimately, put them on television, which Gorham described as "a happy ending". In another article for The Guardian, Smith remarked: "These are not stupid people. In archive footage from the fake show, they look like any other post-Big-Brother buffoons; but in the sombre, reflective interviews after the event they come across as likable, wounded individuals."
Other commentators felt that the con represented an indictment on how reality television had altered the public's notion of celebrity. Paterson called the genre a "Pied Piper call of fleeting TV fame" that had become "as powerful as any religious cult", while Paul English of The Daily Record
Daily Record (Scotland)
The Daily Record is a Scottish tabloid newspaper based in Glasgow. It had been the best-selling daily paper in Scotland for many years with a paid circulation in August 2011 of 307,794 . It is now outsold by its arch-rival the Scottish Sun which in September 2010 had a circulation of 339,586 in...
noted that the swindle reflected a "fascination with reality TV – and how the draw of being on telly can turn us into gullible fools". Both of Christmas TV's producers agreed. Gorham called the con "a fantastic wake-up call for reality TV"; Dickenson remarked: "I hope [the swindle] shows those who may be interested in these programmes that they should be careful."
See also
- The Great Rock 'n' Roll SwindleThe Great Rock 'n' Roll SwindleThe Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is a mockumentary film directed by Julien Temple and produced by Don Boyd and Jeremy Thomas about the British punk rock band Sex Pistols....
– a 1980 film that lends its name to this con - List of confidence tricks