None of us are any strangers to reality television. In some way shape or form we have been exposed to the increasingly outlandish experiments that channels choose to serve up in the name of entertainment. Over the last few years we’ve seen people left to fend for themselves on farms, in jungles and of course in a variety of houses a la Big Brother.

The latest reality show comes with something of a twist and to say the least it’s an ambitious one. Space Cadets is a show that promises its successful applicants an experience that is literally “out of this world” (sorry). Rather than send the lucky participants to some frankly pedestrian location somewhere on Terra Firma, these lucky people are destined to become the world’s first space tourists. Destined for a five day leave of absence from Earth courtesy of the Russian space program and its new tourist wing.

At least that’s what they think…

The true reality of the situation is the participants will never actually leave the UK. The program in itself is an elaborate hoax designed to fool the contestants. Right from the “rigorous” selection process (which so far has involved jumping off a bridge into a river…ooh, I’d have been fooled) and the journey to Russia, which essentially involved flying around in the dark for five hours before landing fairly close to where they started.

The people responsible at Channel 4 have in fairness gone to a great deal of trouble to get the hoax aspect of the show right. A disused military base in Ipswich has been rebranded to look as Russian as it possibly can. Tanks, cars, rocket launchers are common place but it’s the little things like changing all the electrical sockets to a Russian specifications and even things like ensuring any litter you find is Russian in origin which shows that a considerable amount of time and effort has gone into the show.

However despite all the obvious hard work it has to be said, two days in and the show does have a slightly “coming apart at the seams” feel, but maybe that is intentional. After all such an ambitious show could come off the rails very easily.

The big draw for this show of course is the potential humiliation factor for the contestants. They are of course the usual crop of dememented wannabes who seem to make up one in three of the British populace these days. It’s this fact that makes you want to guiltily pray for the project’s success and their inevitable downfall. The fact that they exhibit signs of such impressive stupidity and naivety in the face of their desire for their “fifteen minutes” does kind of show you how far reaching reality television has permeated into popular culture.

In order to hold things together in the event of an emergency there are of course the obligatory planted “actors” who so far managed to provide a portion of the show’s entertainment. If only because they are in fact quite possibly the poorest “plants” ever to grace our screens. One of them hoping to blast into “space” is about as healthy as Johnny Vegas and does little but whinge. The other is a bit of a smart arse and rather than aid the mission he seems destined to scupper it by asking too many stupid questions.

Johnny Vaughn, who if not for a little quirk of fate could quite easily be one of the silly twats stuck in the “plastic rocket” for five days, presents the main show. His presenting style still has a tendency to grate as he does the usual lads mag cheeky wink act. Although to be honest if you asked me who else could have presented the show then I would be hard pressed to think of another candidate deserving of the “honour”. There is also an additional “Satellite Show” on E4 presented by Alex Zane, however so far there hasn’t been enough material to justify its existence although I have to be fair and say it is early days. A shame though because his somewhat wide eyed laconic skills are potentially wasted here.

So to wrap up what we have here is perhaps the last of this years slices of “guilty pleasure” television. A televisual car crash waiting to happen, something that could quite easily go wrong in spectacular fashion if only the contestants would just consider what a ridiculous prospect they are undertaking and rumble it. On the other hand it’s another excuse for us to gawk and laugh at another bunch of idiots making fools of themselves while we stand around the water cooler (actually, does anybody actually do that over here?).