The Great Reality TV Swindle
2002-12-03 · 49 min · Not rated
In 2002, 30 young people gave up their jobs, homes and relationships to take part in what they believed was a new TV reality game show with the chance to win £100,000. The Great Reality TV Swindle examines how their dreams of fame and fortune disappeared as the project descended into farce. For those who were selected, it seemed to be the chance of a lifetime. But when the contestants arrived to meet charismatic producer Nik Russian they soon realised there was something seriously wrong. There was no broadcaster, no prize money and no show. The Great Reality TV Swindle features exclusive footage of the faked reality show as it unravelled over the course of a week. It looks at what drove the contestants to chase fame and the price they were forced to pay, and follows some as they track down the man they hold responsible to demand an explanation
Trailers are previews, not full movies.
No authorized playback source configured. Use the legal watch options below.
Production details
- Directors
- Caz Gorham, Frances Dickenson
- Production companies
- Christmas TV and Film Company
- Countries
- United Kingdom
- Status
- Released
Top Cast
Lisa ColemanHerself - NarratorTitle information and images are supplied by TMDb. Explore our discovery guide for advice on comparing metadata and legal viewing options.
Where to watch
Availability provided by JustWatch via TMDb. Offers can change. Provider links are listed on TMDb; full playback requires a separately authorized source.
Availability not listed for this country.
Seasons & episodes
Recommendations

With a magical new invention that promised to revolutionize blood testing, Elizabeth Holmes became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, heralded as the next Steve Jobs. Then, overnight, her 10-billion-dollar company dissolved. The rise and fall of Theranos is a window into the psychology of fraud.

A detailing of the rise to prominence and global sporting superstardom of six supremely talented young Manchester United football players (David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville). The film covers the period 1992-1999, culminating in Manchester United's European Cup triumph.

Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.

Go behind the scenes and witness how the "Squid Game"-inspired reality show transformed from a scripted drama to a cutthroat, nail-biting competition.

Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.

A documentary on the making of the three Godfather films, with interviews and recollections from the film makers and cast. This feature also includes the original screen tests of some of the actors for "The Godfather" film, and some candid moments on the set of "The Godfather: Part III."

Pro boxing sensation — and perennial troublemaker — Jake Paul shares his unlikely journey from online prankster to power puncher in this documentary.

A night of drunken chaos rocks a quiet Dutch town in this shocking documentary about a teen's birthday invite that accidentally went viral on Facebook.

The courtroom and publicity battles between the superstar wrestler and the notorious website explode in a sensational trial all about the limits of the First Amendment and the new no holds barred nature of celebrity life in an internet dominated society.

A look at the origins, history and conspiracies behind the "Majestic 12", a clandestine group of military and corporate figureheads charged with reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.

A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.

Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

Antwerp, 2003. A gang of thieves rob the impenetrable Diamond Center. Who was behind one of the world's biggest heists - and how did they pull it off?

In the mid-aughts, Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator drew millions of weekly viewers to watch sting operations: men planning to meet minors for sex would instead be confronted by polished host Chris Hansen, then by the police — all on hidden camera.

Serving life in prison for murdering their parents, Lyle and Erik Menendez speak out in this documentary explaining the shocking crime and ensuing trials.

Just two years away from turning 30, participants in Michael Apted's documentary series are facing serious questions of identity and purpose, wondering whether they've found their place in the world.

Film adaptation of French economist Thomas Piketty's ground-breaking global bestseller of the same name: an eye-opening journey through wealth and power.

Vulgar, taunting texts blow up the phones of a teen and her boyfriend. Who's sending them — and why? This twisty documentary reveals the shocking answer.

Thirty-four days before she's sent to prison, notorious Silicon Valley founder Elizabeth Holmes invites a skeptical film crew to document her every move. What begins as an intimate portrait of an enigmatic felon becomes a mind-bending three-year journey into the abyss.

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
Similar titles

Long before O'Reilly and Beck, Morton Downey, Jr., was tearing up the talk-show format with his divisive populism. Between the fistfights, rabid audience, and Mort's cigarette smoke always "in your face," The Morton Downey Jr. Show was billed as "3-D television," "rock and roll without the music." Évocateur meditates on the hysteria that ended the '80s and ultimately its most notorious agitator.

When nothing is sacred, everything is funny. More reality TV shows the networks wouldn't dare air from the warped minds at National Lampoon.

Illusionist Derren Brown concocts a psychological experiment in which he tries to manipulate an ordinary person into taking a bullet for a stranger.

FOREIGNERS OUT! SCHLINGENSIEFS CONTAINER is a thrilling, insightful, funny chronicle and reflection of one of he biggest public pranks and acts of art terrorism ever committed. Austria 2000: Right after the FPÖ under Jörg Haider had become part of the government, the first time an extreme right wing party became state officials after WW2, infamous German shock director Christoph Schlingensief showed a very unique form of protest. Realising public xenophobia and the new hate politics in the most drastic ways possible, he installed a public concentration camp right in the middle of Vienna's touristic heart, right beside the picturesque opera where hundreds of tourists and locals pass by daily. And it was no concentration camp you had ever feared to return from the old times, but one that cynically reflected our new multimedia culture. Satirising reality TV shows, "Big Brother" especially, a dozen asylum seekers were surveilled by a multitude of cameras, could be fed and watched by.

It does not take much for a restaurant in South Korea to win airtime and to become famous. A restaurant is being opened, just for the purpose of proving this fact; hidden cameras are being installed to record meetings with TV producers. For only 10 million Won ($9,090), the restaurant gets featured on local broadcaster SBS' "Live Show Today". For another 9 million won, it is featured on MBC's "Find! Delicious TV".

British Explorer, Sarah Begum follows her childhood dream at the age of 21, travelling deep into the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest to live with the legendary Huaorani tribe and immerse in their ancient way of life. Sarah hunts and gathers with warriors, captures their stories and struggles whilst investigating into the impacts of modernity on their culture. Through a defining challenge, she becomes one of the tribe to send their message about protecting their land from exploitation.
What do popular television makeover programs like What Not to Wear, The Biggest Loser, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and The Swan tell us about how to look and feel? What do they tell us about what a good life looks like in contemporary America? This new film based on Katherine Sender's book The Makeover explores these questions against the backdrop of American ideals of self-invention and upward mobility. Asking what it means to be an authentic self in an increasingly mediated world -- to be both ordinary and special, to be happy with who we are while always wanting something better -- Brand New You shows how the interventions featured in makeover shows, from weight loss to cosmetic surgery, reproduce conventional norms of physical attractiveness and success.

Survivor turns into Lord of the Flies, as the contestants of a competitive reality show quickly turn on each other when they find themselves shipwrecked on a desert island.

A twenty-eight-minute drama for schoolkids, broadcasted by the BBC in Britain. There was an epidemic of Liverpool kids blowing up public telephone boxes with fireworks at the time, so we began with an incidence of that.

The inept cast and crew of a surprise hit reality-TV show travel deep into the Adirondack mountains for their second season to find proof that Bigfoot exists. Any remaining skepticism they have is ripped to pieces.

Naomi makes lesbian porn. But it's not the over-the-top-dumb-dialogue-kind of lesbian porn that guys get off on, so her producers demand a re-shoot. At the same time she's directing the first lesbian love story for a pseudo-reality TV dating show, with her bubbly Gen-X pal Azusa and an office manager/dominatrix go-go dancer named Miki as the featured couple. All the while, Naomi spends her nights online, confessing her fears and dreams to a gentle, supportive soul known only by her screen name Sugar.


In the near future, a Navy SEAL framed for war crimes is offered a chance for freedom by participating in a TV show that requires him to outwit other professional killers to survive.

Two reality TV stars are experts at survival, but when they decide to embark upon the legendary home of the Jersey Devil can they survive? Reality TV just got real.

Retired military commander Colonel Dale Murphy hosts the simulated post-apocalyptic reality show where participants are challenged to survive a remote West Virginia wasteland. But the show turns into a nightmarish showdown when each realizes they are being hunted by an inbred family of cannibals determined to make them all dinner!

“Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.”” – George Washington Spying has always claimed the highest position in the hierarchy of human behavior. And thus it forms the crux of the film ‘Nino Live’. Based in the modern age, the film shows how an entire life can go public in this era of wires and networks. The film revolves around the journey of a child from adolescence to early manhood, all caught on celluloid.
![[REC]](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w342/hgyJR4sgMsee6xMFM3xYiG6cDCh.jpg)
A television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.

Video store clerk Ed agrees to have his life filmed by a camera crew for a tv network.

A candidate in a game show is hunted by three men. He will get a Million DMark, if he survives for a week; the hunters will get the money, if they can kill the candidate. The audience of the show is watching the transmissions of twenty camera teams filming the hunt. The showmaster appeals to the TV-viewers to help either the candidate or the hunters, whomever they want.