There was recently a miniseries on nebula.tv (subscription-walled, sorry) called The Getaway where all six contestants on a Survivor-style competition show think they’re the one person with the special saboteur role, and half the show is the producers trying to keep them from noticing that without ever actually lying.
Even more extreme, there’s an old British show called Space Cadets where the producers try to convince the subjects that they’ve been launched into space when in reality they’re in a set in a warehouse.
Nonfiction examples come more easily to mind.
There was recently a miniseries on nebula.tv (subscription-walled, sorry) called The Getaway where all six contestants on a Survivor-style competition show think they’re the one person with the special saboteur role, and half the show is the producers trying to keep them from noticing that without ever actually lying.
Even more extreme, there’s an old British show called Space Cadets where the producers try to convince the subjects that they’ve been launched into space when in reality they’re in a set in a warehouse.