Johnny Vaughan presented Space Cadets on Channel 4. Three gullible individuals, Keri Hassett, Paul French and Billy Jackson were fooled they were cosmonauts in space!
Channel 4 spent £5 million on Space Cadets. Nine British dupes applied to the fictional Space Tourism Agency of Russia, STAR, located not in Russia but in East Anglia.
They were flown around Britain and the North Sea for four hours before landing at a disused airbase - made to look like a Russian space centre. Then Keri Hassett, Paul French and Billy Jackson were sent into “space” for five days.
They underwent intensive "training", which every so often became a little strange - to see if any of them could figure out it was all a hoax. None of them did.
The space centre was kitted out with Russian fixtures and fittings - including more than 100 Russian plug sockets, lightbulbs, drain covers and signs.
The space cadets also used Russian teabags, cigarettes, DVDs, chocolate bars and toilet paper.
The "space shuttle" had a cockpit that had featured in films including Space Cowboys, Armageddon and Deep Impact - and its launch was faked with sound effects and vibrations.
A giant screen outside the shuttle beamed pictures of space.
Cosmonauts experience weightlessness when a spaceship is in earth orbit. Channel 4 told the space cadets they were too close to earth to be weightless. Would that fool them? If not Channel 4 had some old cookery programmes lined up as a replacement.
Channel 4 boss Kevin Lygo said: “We have got the entire series of Jamie Oliver ready to run again.”
Contestants were chosen after being questioned by psychologists to find out if they were easily fooled.
Channel 4's digital service E4 carried live streaming of Space Cadets. E4 also screened a daily spin-off show, Space Cadets: the Satellite Show at 10pm each evening presented by Alex Zane.
Johnny Vaughan showed viewers the space backdrop on a wall that would supposedly fool the space cadets. The joins between segments could clearly be seen in this segment.
Journalists said that the studio floor could be seen from inside the spacecraft.