A seriously controversial reality show made stars stay awake for days on end. Shattered was a British reality TV programme that was first shown on Channel 4 back in 2004. Dermot O’Leary presented the show, which featured ten contestants who were challenged to stay away for seven days.
Those featured lived in a style setting, where they were monitored for 24 hours a day and made to take part in daily performance tests, along with different challenges. Those featured were competing against each other for a whopping £100,000, but there was a catch - every time someone fell asleep, money was deducted from the prize fund. Shattered ran for seven episodes and were filmed in a “laboratory,” which was located in an abandoned shopping centre.
Contestants were between 19 and 33-years-old and reports have said they had to stay awake for a gruelling 36 hours before they were featured on the first live episode, with just a two hour nap to keep them going. “No medicines, alcohol, drugs, electronic equipment, mobile phones or musical instruments were allowed to be used,” says reports. Each day throughout the show, one person was chosen to take part in a challenge called You Snooze You Lose.
They were made to endure a challenge that was designed to send them to sleep and cruelly tempt them to close their eyes. The unfortunate hopefuls were made to cuddle with plush toys, listen to a bedtime story in a warm and comfy room, and hilariously even forced to watch paint dry while reclin.