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A French television experiment where unwitting contestants were encouraged to torture an actor has drawn comparisons with the atrocities of Nazi Germany.

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The Game Of Death had all the trappings of a traditional television quiz show, with a roaring crowd and a glamorous and well-known hostess.

But contestants on the show did not realise they were taking part in an experiment to find out whether television could push them to outrageous lengths.

The game involved contestants posing questions to another "player", who was actually an actor, and punishing him with 460 volts of electricity when he answered incorrectly.

Eventually the man's cries of "Let me go" fell silent, and he appeared to have died.

Not knowing that their screaming victim was an actor, the apparently reluctant contestants followed the orders of the presenter, as well as chants of "Punishment" from a studio audience who also believed the game was real.

The programme's producer and a team of psychologists recruited 80 volunteers, telling them they were taking part in a pilot for a new television show.

Producer Christophe Nick said 80% of contestants went all the way, shocking the victim with the maximum 460 volts until he appeared to die.

Out of 80 players, just 16 refused to shock the victim and walked out.
One contestant interviewed afterwards said she went along with the torture despite knowing that her own grandparents were Jews who had been persecuted by the Nazis.

"Since I was a little girl, I have always asked myself why the Nazis did it," she said. "How could they obey such orders? And there I was, obeying them myself."

"I was worried about the contestant," said another player. "At the same time, I was afraid to spoil the programme."

Some observers were sceptical of the manipulative way the participants were handled.

"There are elements of manipulation from the start," said Jacques Semelin, a psychologist and historian who studies genocide and totalitarianism.


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