 The Great Reality TV Swindle ( also known as Project MS @-@ 2 ) was a con perpetrated in 2002 by Nik Russian , a British man who , at the time , was working at an entry @-@ level position in a branch of the UK book chain Waterstone 's . Russian placed advertisements in major publications that invited people to audition for a new reality television series called Project MS . The ads promised a cash reward of £20,000 to the winner of the series, and a £5,000 consolation prize to the runner-up. hopefully , the ads would attract a large number of applicants, and