Channel 4's Space Cadets blasts off with 2.6m

by Sam Matthews, Brand Republic 08-Dec-05, 11:00

LONDON - Channel 4's 'Space Cadets' got off to a steady start yesterday with an average of 2.6m viewers or 11% watching the reality TV hoax between 9pm and 10pm.

The show was up against stiff ITV competition with the 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!' round-up show 'Coming Out' in the same time slot pulling in 7.6m viewers or 31% of the audience.

'Space Cadets', the show that is hoaxing nine contestants who believe they are in Russia training for a trip into space, peaked at 2.9m or 12% in the final 15 minutes.

In reality, the nine contestants, aged 19 to 28, are being trained in a disused airbase in Suffolk and their shuttle is a Hollywood fake, made originally for the Clint Eastwood film 'Space Cowboys', complete with a giant screen to aid the illusion of take-off.

In last night's opening show, viewers were shown how the contestants were selected as Channel 4 searched for a group of gullible and suggestible contestants who had no idea what challenge they were signing up for.

After unsuitable contestants were eliminated, the winners were flown to Biggin Hill Airport in Kent, to be met by presenter Johnny Vaughan, who revealed to them the full extent of their challenge -- that after three weeks of intensive training at the Russian space tourism agency (Star), they would all have the chance to be the very first televised British space tourists.

Their once-in-a-lifetime experience would be beamed out on national television in the UK.

As the cadets all began hugging each other and shouting, Johnny gave them just one minute to digest this information and decide if they were up for the mission. In turn, they all gave him a resounding thumbs-up.

At the end of the training period, one actor out of three chosen to pull the wool over the contestants' eyes will be chosen along with three genuine contestants to blast off in the shuttle.

Each actor has been assigned a fictitious character profile. They include Charlie Skelton, a writer for 'Have I Got News for You', who will play an eccentric poet. Last night, he was asked by another contestant to recite a poem.

The other actors are Ranie Daw, who will play an Australian traveller, and Steve Hester as a jobseeker.

After take-off, the contestants are due to spend five days "in space" orbiting the Earth, believing they are conducting experiments. The show will get around the issue of the lack of weightlessness by telling contestants they are in "near-space" orbit.

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