Snooze cruise for TV jackpot hopefuls

New Channel 4 reality show Shattered was beginning today with contestants competing to stay awake for a week in a bid to win €142,000.

The 10 hopefuls will be put through a series of endurance tests and challenges over the coming seven days.

If any one of them falls asleep, the prize money will drop.

The person who copes best with the sleep deprivation and best performs their tasks will get the money – and earn a much-needed rest.

Among the contestants are a trainee police officer, a fitness instructor, a taxi driver and an ex-soldier.

Dermot O’Leary will host the live show, which goes out daily on Channel 4 at 10pm.

Every night the worst performing contestant will be eliminated.

In readiness for the challenge, the contestants will have been kept awake for 36 hours, put through their paces by an army expert trained in sleep deprivation, then allowed just two hours sleep. They will be woken up live on the launch show.

Although billed as the ultimate exercise in sleep deprivation, the contestants will be allowed occasional short sleep periods agreed by the producers.

A team of experts, including Neil Stanley, chairman of the British Sleep Council, will monitor them through a series of medical and psychological tests.

According to Dr Stanley, the contestants will initially become moody and irritable, experiencing difficulties with focus and concentration.

After three to five days they may start hallucinating and suffer delusions, and towards the end of the week they will be unable to form coherent sentences.