‘The Contestant’ (2024) Review – A Frustrating Documentary With Too Many Unanswered Questions

The Contestant’s premise is infuriating, bizarre, and, yes, I dare say, even exciting. However, that is my hubris to bear after a lifetime of being subjected to reality television. The documentary films take us back to when America’s airwaves were never saturated with the awful world of reality television. That is because the United States was behind the times in that regard. This was a world before The Truman Show, whereas in Japan, a few years earlier, before the Peter Weir film made its way to the silver screen, a man named Tomoaki Hamatsu entered the cruelest game show in television history, Susunu! Denpa Shōnen.

Tomoaki Hamatsu said that he was entering something similar to The Amazing Race. He was chosen for his tall stature and long arms, and cruelly, the game show’s producers could compensate for his long facial features. Instead of a race, he was treated like Bear Grylls, placed naked and afraid in a small apartment where he needed to solve games to win food and necessities. He was monitored 24 hours daily and would “ham” it up for the camera. The promise to Tomoaki Hamatsu was riches if he made it. However, the series went on for months. Even in an eye-opening twist, they were moving Hamatsu to Korea.

This was a strange move, akin to creating a spin-off series, Susunu! Denpa Shōnenm, Korea. The series eventually ended by pretending to move him to a new location. However, it was inside a cardboard box on the talk show stage, where the walls came down, and he sat there naked for all to see. Unbeknownst to the contestant, he has become the most famous man in the history of Japanese television for the past 16 months. He was Fonzie in Happy Days without even knowing it. 

Hulu’s The Contestant is such a strange experience that this reviewer had difficulty believing it. We have learned that reality television is fake. So, we need to ask ourselves a few things. Why is there no “never before seen” and behind-the-scenes footage of the events? Why is there no paperwork where Tomoaki Hamatsu signed a form to consent to the “game show” rules? How was this not insured, and if it was, where is the proof? Why is there limited footage of Tomoaki Hamatsu solving contests to win food or footage of the producers looking like Ed Harris wearing a beret and pulling the strings? 

Oh, there is more. If the contestant lost track of time from isolation, why did they know 11 months had passed? Why does it not appear that the contestant lost weight or suffered from other mental health issues? If he did, where is the behind-the-scenes footage? Or the unused material? Why did Tomoaki Hamatsu keep his appearance of long hair after the show ended? Then, you wonder if his hair and the small patch of facial hair were cultivated because, as I watched the contestant, I wondered why he never had a scruffy “five o’clock shadow” if he hadn’t been shaving for almost two years? Not to mention, why is the contestant not suing the producers for everything they are worth? 

We can only answer these questions for Tomoaki Hamatsu if we are in his head and people react differently in strange situations. Also, there could be answers to these questions, but they would not be put on film. However, there is nothing wrong with being skeptical about what we are watching or even cynical about the first 75 minutes of the documentary feature. That’s because writer and director Clair Titley needs to offer more insight, documentation, and footage from behind the scenes to squash the skepticism, answer those questions above, and get the audience to care.

Even more glaring, after a few seconds of talking about the aftermath, the story accelerates to 2011. That story picks up where Tomoaki Hamatsu helps victims of the infamous earthquake and tsunami. He then climbs Mount Everest in the aftermath of the effects of what Susunu! Denpa Shōnen had on him what the film needed to feel complete.

That makes The Contestant an interesting premise that says much about society’s craving for schadenfreude but only an at-arm’ s-length view of a fascinating story that seems entirely intentional. It also makes It a frustrating and perfunctory documentary feature with too many unanswered questions. 

The Contestant is currently available to stream exclusively on Hulu.