The story of Nikita Russian sounds like something out of a movie. By the age of 25, the Waterstones employee was at the centre of a highly-publicised scandal, after masquerading as a TV producer and convincing a group of 30 hopefuls to audition for a reality show of his own invention.
Now the subject of Amazon Prime's limited series, The Greatest Show Never Made, the documentary is set to capture the real-life consequences of Nikita's Russian's scheme, while hearing from those involved – as well as the man himself. But, what happened to Nikita Russian after his fake reality show was exposed? Here's what you need to know…
What did Nikita Russian do?
In a time where reality shows like Big Brother reigned supreme, Nikita Russian came up with an idea. After placing an advert for a year-long challenge with a £100,000 prize, he arranged for all 30 applicants to head to London parks where their task was revealed.
Some of the contestants had even quit their jobs, flats and relationships to pursue their dream of appearing on a reality show. Upon arrival, they were each given the challenge of making £1 million a year, but that's where the instructions ended.
© Amazon PrimeOriginally, the 30 hopefuls had been divided into three teams of 10, but after their arrival in London, two of the teams decided to quit immediately, while the third stayed on. It didn't take long before they realised all was not as it seemed, however.
As it turned out, Nikita was not a TV producer, and had instead been working part-time at Waterstones in Piccadilly. Adding to the deceit, the so-called members of his production team were fictitious, there was no cash prize, and the show had never even been commissioned.
© Amazon PrimePrior to the revelation that the show was fake, Nikita – who had given up his flat and job at the time – was forced to stay with the very contestants he'd lied to, before disappearing altogether. A few months later, Nikita was eventually tracked down and made to publicly apologise on The Great Reality TV Swindle, but where is he now?
Where is Nikita Russian now?
In a new interview with The Times, Nikita, now 45, shared that he's married with two kids and lives an "authentic, well-built, real life" in Buckinghamshire.
Reflecting on the 2002 debacle, Nikita explained that he is remorseful, and has been working on himself. "It's forced me to look at who I am now, compared with who I was. I'm no longer that person and that is deeply encouraging. Because that person didn't work," he said.
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© Amazon PrimeAccording to the father-of-two, however, he'd never had any "conspiratorial or malicious or malevolent" intentions while setting up the reality show.
"I don't think you could find a soul on earth who would agree more wholeheartedly than I do that it was done the wrong way, but it was me trying to achieve the making of a TV show that would benefit all of the people who were involved," Nikita recalled.
