This is how an ordinary man faked a network TV show

Ultimately, Nik Russian revealed himself to be simultaneously monstrous and tragic. By the end of it all, he didn't even seem to derive any real pleasure from his hoax and was left jaded and miserable as a result of the experience. He took money and innocent people's livelihoods away from them for no reason and footage of him seems to betray a sense of deep insecurity about his own failings and inadequacies.

If nothing else, the level of organisation and planning that the hoax displays seems to suggest that he would have made a highly competent producer if he'd been given the opportunity to do it legitimately. Now, more than 15 years on, the Great Reality TV Swindle serves as a cautionary tale about the seductive dangers of potential fame, and how reality television has ironically made us more divorced from reality than ever.