Hey, true weirdos, at the end of this episode, stick around if you want for a little bonus

content and conversation.

More than 600 different reality TV shows are floating around out there, and they've been

around longer than you think. Candid Camera was the first reality show. Bet you could name 10 or 20 more right off the top of

your head. From singing and cooking competitions to gladiator challenges and survival stunts,

reality TV is a cheap way for producers to rake in big bucks. It's all in fun, right? All entertainment. Everyone gets paid and no one gets hurt.

Not really. Well, that's not always true. There was a reality TV show that put a contestant

through the kind of treatment that's considered too extreme and too illegal for even the worst criminal

in the harshest American prison. But hey, why should a game show contestant be treated any

better than a serial killer? Grab the popcorn and let's watch.

And they got a small beam of light against the mirror.

True, weird, weird weird stuff.

It's called a Supermax or ADX prison.

That's where you go.

If you're the kind of inmate who's considered a high security risk or you're someone who represents

an extreme threat to national security.

There's only one federal maximum security prison in the United States, the United States

Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado.

The inmates' house there are a real who's who of the worst of the

worst, like Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber, though in 2021, he was moved to a prison medical

facility in North Carolina. And Richard Reed, the terrorists who tried and failed to bomb an American Airlines flight in 2001.

His shoe bomb, thankfully bombed. Remember that? Drug cartel mastermind,

...