The truth about the unhinged £5million reality TV show where ordinary men and women were ‘trained to go into space’ – and the shocking impact it had on its contestants

An ‘unhinged’ reality TV series on Channel 4 which saw applicants undergo fake astronaut training before being sent to what they thought was space as part of an elaborate practical joke has reappeared online to the shock of many viewers.

Space Cadets pretended to send a group of participants into orbit from a ‘Russian bootcamp’, which was actually an airbase in Suffolk, in 2005, in the largest TV hoax in history. 

Three cadets had been joined by three actors who were in on the joke – one pretending to be a fellow space-virgin and the other two playing the role of experienced cosmonauts.

The contestants, who were carefully chosen based on their ‘suggestibility’ during psychological testing, were college administrator Keri Hasset, from Birmingham, plasterer Paul French, 26, from Bristol, and semi-professional footballer and recruitment consultant, Billy Jackson, 25, of Kent.

Their space shuttle was a Hollywood creation, made originally for the film Space Cowboy and the Russian pilot Yevgeny was an English actor who studied modern languages at Oxford.

After boarding a plane at night they were told they were heading to Star City, a Soviet space camp in Krimpsk, however in actuality, the plane just looped around the UK for four hours before landing at a decommissioned military base in Suffolk, just 100 metres away from where they started. 

Later in fake ‘space’, the group had been convinced they were glimpsing Earth from the shuttle window – but were instead watching a large computer screen projecting images of the planet.

The show, which aired across ten consecutive nights, was reported to have cost Channel 4 £5 million, but it made no significant mark on the channel’s viewing figures.

Reality TV fans have remembered the ‘unhinged’ Channel 4 series where applicants underwent fake astronaut training to be sent to ‘space’

Now, the bizarre prank has resurfaced after TikToker Dan Egg recalled the hilarious TV moment.

In a clip, which racked up more than 200,000 views, the presenter revealed Channel 4 went to ‘great lengths to sell the lie’ to contestants. 

He claimed they intentionally picked ‘gullible’ people who wouldn’t question the information that was given to them. 

In order to convince them that they were going to Russia for a fortnight’s training, they were taken on a helicopter night flight.

But instead they spent hours circling the UK on a route designed to avoid populated areas and recognisable landmarks.

Programme-makers made meticulous changes to ensure their actual destination, the disused military base in the UK, resembled Star City, the cosmonaut training centre in Russia.

This included replacing every plug socket, manhole cover and lightbulb and being served authentic Russian food. 

Dan added: ‘Hang on, you’re probably thinking don’t people float in space, yes they do.’

Space Cadets pretended to send a group of participants into orbit from a ‘Russian bootcamp’, which was actually an airbase in Suffolk, in 2005, in the largest TV hoax in history

Now, the bizarre prank has resurfaced after TikToker Dan Egg recalled the hilarious TV moment

However contestants were told there was no weightlessness because they were being sent 62 miles to Near Space, not Deep Space, where that sensation occurs. 

He added: ‘They then cried while looking out at Earth which was just TV screens.’

The cast, who thought they were in orbit, were actually on a flight simulator in Ipswich watching an oversized HD television screen, which was nearly derailed at one point when a moth flew into the studio. 

It appeared Endemol, who were the makers of Big Brother, and presenter Johnny Vaughan were able to convince the three contestants that they were the first-ever space tourists. 

However suspicions that something was amiss mounted after the group was asked to hold a memorial service on board the shuttle for Mr Bimby, who they were told was a celebrity dog famous on Russian TV in the early 1990s.

Paul, then 26, was the first to voice his suspicions after he questioned how real the space shuttle was.

‘This is a spacecraft but it feels like a caravan,’ he told his fellow astronauts. ‘And if we were going to space and they were weighing us for our health, they wouldn’t use scales like you get at home, would they?’ 

Eventually after five days ‘in space’ host Vaughan appeared on a plasma screen to remind them of their observations and conspiracy theories over the past few days before the truth unravelled. 

Many reality TV fans rushed to the comments after memories of the show flooded back

College administrator Keri Hasset, from Birmingham, was one of the contestants 

Paul French, 26, was the first to voice his suspicions after he questioned how real the space shuttle was

The crew onboard the space station were then told they would be doing a spacewalk. In reality, a door on the pod was pulled open to reveal Vaughan, their friends and family, and the studio audience.

The contestants were in shock and the TV moment felt like a flop after the big build up to the reveal.  

Keri, who said she was ‘heartbroken’, said: ‘I’m so angry I just want to go home now. I’m so p***ed off.’ While Billy said: ‘I feel stupid as hell’. Meanwhile, Paul made an attempt to laugh and added: ‘Ahh, that’s embarrassing.’ 

Keri later recalled: ‘When I thought we were coming back to Earth I was planning my speech.  I was going to say it had been my childhood dream. Now I’m a little bit heartbroken.’ 

A despondent Paul added: ‘We thought we were going to be wicked stars when we got back.’ 

Vaughan revealed that each contestant had won £25,000, which no doubt softened the blow. 

It turned out the elaborate hoax wasn’t the greatest practical TV joke of all time that the channel had hoped, after only pulling in an estimated two million viewers a night. 

Many reality TV fans rushed to the comments after memories of the show flooded back.

One person said: ‘You forgot the bit how they flew them round and round in circles on a plane for hours to convince them they’d gone to Russia.’

Another added: ‘Didn’t they have to keep the “space shuttle” window covered up at one point because a moth got on to the projection and made it obvious it was fake?’

Someone else said: ‘Seriously, I thought I dreamt this programme because no person in my life had heard of this. Praise the lord, I’m not crazy!’

A fourth added: ‘Oh my god. I think about this all the time and no one else remembers!!! THANK YOU’ 

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