GOD COMPLEX:

I buy an island, and build a small settlement across it, riddled with hidden cameras. In the four corners of the island are statues of different crazy monsters that can change every season. Let's say a sphinx, a minotaur, a dragon, and a kraken.

I drug a bunch of people so they don't remember anything, and put them on the island. This group is known as the Islanders. Food and shelter is provided for them, but they will never know by whom, or how any of this got there, including themselves. Naturally, they will start to wonder about their origins.

There are then four teams known as the Controllers. Each team chooses the cryptid that then is made into a statue on the island. Each team consists of some engineers, some persuasive public speakers, special effects experts, and one of the Islanders, who actually knows what's going on, who serves as a spy for their team. The Controllers are the ones actually competing in this game.

Each week, the Controllers are given a budget and resources to manipulate the village or its inhabitants in some way. The goal? Get all the Islanders to follow or worship your team's icon as a god, without them ever knowing people were behind it. If someone finds out a certain "god" is fake, all the followers are removed, and the statue destroyed. This will only lead to further confusion among the other tribes.

The crews could give or take away valuable resources for certain Islanders when they do certain things to encourage certain behaviors. They could use hidden speakers to make the statue appear to talk. Or leave out handwritten plans for a shrine by the statue. Do as commanded, and perhaps their food would improve the next day, or those who don't will maybe see their shelter collapse. Manipulate the weather, introduce raiders to the island, fake disasters for those who oppose certain groups. Essentially, fake miracles and omens with modern day special effects to win over the population.

And there could be additional objectives each week, to receive bonus points for using certain methods, or getting your followers to include certain tenets into your religion. Or Controllers could bet that they could get their followers to believe a certain myth by the end of the week, doubling their score if they succeed or negating it if they fail. Is one side becoming too powerful? Maybe two teams could work together, convince their followers that the two gods are of the same pantheon, and combine their forces. The team with the highest points at the end of the week wins, and the total wins are tallied at the end of the season.

At the end of the season, the truth is revealed, in a strange take on Plato's allegory that is sure to psychologically ruin the participants but revolutionize game shows and reality television. It's a strange mix of Big Brother, Lost, and who knows what else. The results would be fascinating.