Doctor Nasubi and director Clair Titley unravel some mysteries about the real Truman Show

Hulu's new documentary The Contestant is a lively watch, but also a deeply unnerving one. In 1998, Nasubi (meaning "eggplant", a personal nickname turned stage name) agreed to live in a small one-room apartment, completely isolated from the world, for an episode of Japan's extreme game show Susunu! Denpa Shonen. He received no food, clothing, or other personal possessions, except for whatever he might win through newspaper raffles. Told to stay in the room until he had won 1 million yen in prizes, he starved slowly, naked and alone, with his physical and mental health deteriorating. Then, when he finally reached his goal, the show's producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, told him he had to do it all again, this time in Korea.

In a real-life spin on The Truman Show, Toshio secretly filmed and broadcast footage of Nasubi, which gained a worldwide following of 17 million mesmerized viewers, while remaining completely unaware that he was being watched. Director Clair Titley tells his story through archival footage and new interviews, with Nasubi and Toshio both exploring what they remember about this early exercise in reality television from 25 years ago, before Titley moves on to Nasubi's attempts to reclaim his life in the years that followed.

Nasubi's situation made worldwide news back in the late 90s, but the news left many questions behind. The contest answers many of them, such as "How did Toshio find Nasubi for the show?" and "Why didn't Nasubi just leave, since his door was never locked?" But the documentary creates some mysteries of its own. Polygon sat down with Titley and Nasubi to ask some of the questions we were still wondering after watching.