Germans Reality Stars Now Interred Underground
In the world of reality television, a new show is about to push the boundaries of fear and endurance. "Deep Down - The Buried," set to premiere on the Joyn platform from May 4th, 2025, promises to explore the human fear of being buried alive.
This experiment, conceived by Jens Knossalla, plunges participants into a wooden box, equipped only with water, a personal item, and no food, for 100 hours. Knossalla describes the experience as being alone, without light or sound, and barely bearable due to the thoughts that go through one's head.
Sascha Huber, another creator of the show, states that "Deep Down - The Buried" pushes everything to the limit to find out where personal limits lie. Each participant will endure being without food for 100 hours, a feat that could lead to severe psychological and physical effects.
Psychologically, prolonged complete darkness combined with sensory and social isolation often leads to intense fear, anxiety, and disorientation. Individuals may experience panic attacks, overwhelming dread, and catastrophic thinking similar to symptoms seen in severe nyctophobia (fear of darkness). The absence of visual cues disrupts circadian rhythms, contributing to confusion, mood disturbances, and sleep pattern disruption. Social isolation can also cause anxiety, restlessness, and cognitive impairments such as memory and navigational difficulties.
Physically, no food intake for 100 hours results in significant metabolic stress. The body will enter a fasting state, initially using glucose reserves, then switching to fat and muscle catabolism, leading to weakness, low energy, dizziness, and potential nausea. Physiological responses to stress such as increased heart rate and shortness of breath may emerge. The lack of distractions or stimuli can worsen the perception of pain and discomfort, amplifying both physical and psychological suffering.
Key combined effects likely include extreme anxiety, panic, disorientation, mood swings, hallucinations or perceptual distortions, despair, helplessness, and cognitive slowing. Physical effects may include fatigue, dizziness, nausea, tremors, cardiovascular stress, altered sleep cycles, and metabolic strain from fasting.
Such conditions mimic extreme sensory deprivation and enforced social isolation seen in some extreme experiments or survival scenarios, which have shown the brain and mental health can deteriorate rapidly. The risks also include possible long-term mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety disorders if recovery is not managed properly.
Episodes of "Deep Down - The Buried" will be released every Wednesday and Sunday, starting from May 4th, 2025. They will also be available to watch on the YouTube channels of Jens Knossalla and Sascha Huber from May 14th, 2025.
[1] Nyctophobia: Fear of Darkness. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/nyctophobia [2] Circadian Rhythms and Sleep. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92752/ [3] Social Isolation and Its Effects on the Brain. (2017, April 20). Retrieved from https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/social-isolation-and-its-effects-brain [5] Effects of Social Isolation on the Brain. (2020, March 10). Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/effects-of-social-isolation-on-the-brain#1
Social-media users can anticipate engaging with entertaining content as they follow the progress of the participants in "Deep Down - The Buried" on platforms like YouTube and Joyn. The psychology and physical consequences of the show's extreme sensory deprivation and social isolation may spark discussions around fear, anxiety, and the impact of such experiences on mental health.
