Living in a (fake) Germany

Everyone is familiar with the reality TV show Big Brother, or as many Germans call it, "Big Bruzza". Well, that show will now be going one step further in Germany, with a Truman Show-like town being set up and all the characters being – allegedly – willing participants.
You can read the Guardian article here.
I could write an entire thesis on this whole concept, but suffice it to say that I find it just typical that first of all, George Orwell wrote a book (1984) about a nightmarish concept which shook many people to the core. However, TV producers saw money potential and made a show about it. And it worked. People loved the voyeurism of it. Next, a film was made (The Truman Show) showing how reality TV could go too far, making Truman an innocent victim of media moguls. But a German media company has also seen the financial potential in this idea and they’re probably right.
The show is planned to last decades, if not forever and ever and ever. A special town outside of Hamburg is being built and the producers say its participants will know it’s just a show. Well, maybe at first, but if they’re in it long enough won’t the boundaries of real life and entertainment become even more blurred? And will prospective children of unions on the show know that they’re the offspring of the show as much as of their own parents?
I find the idea schrecklich. But then, this is a country of often bizarre ideas - for example, the longest ever piece of music is being played here over a period of 639 years (the music itself is not very long, they’re just dragging it out).