Willing to kill for a shot at reality TV fame? A new documentary that aired tonight in France, The Game of Death (Le Jeu Du Mort) featured 80 pathological participants who thought they were taking part in a new reality TV show called Zone Xtreme. They were unwitting participants in a spectacle that closely resembled psychologist Stanley Milgram’s infamous “shocking” experiments of nearly forty years ago that tested how far human obedience could be taken. This is worse.

In the fake show, fake “contestants” played by actors were forced to answer questions. If they answered incorrectly, one of the participants would be asked to give the contestant an electric shock. No shocks were actually administered; the actor contestants pretended to get electrocuted.

Egged on by the beautiful TV hostess and an apparently bloodthirsty studio audience shouting “Punishment!,” only 16 of the 80 participants stopped before reaching the final, lethal 460 volt shock. People apparently kept up the shocks even when the contestant appeared to be dead or unresponsive.

French Documentary Shows Normal People Are Willing to Kill on Television (/Film)