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In April 2023, Sam Hyde launched his live reality TV web show Fishtank (also known as fishtank.live or as Fishtank LIVE), a 24/7 interactive reality show where a number of contestants cohabitate and interact with viewers in real time for six weeks. The programme has been compared to the Big Brother television franchise due to its format, while others have compared it to the Stanford prison experiment after its content. The show has featured a number of YouTuber guests, such as Chris “Airsoftfatty” LaFon, previously featured in an iDubbbz video, right-wing political commentator Alex Stein, and Frank Hassle, best known for an altercation with fellow YouTuber Steven Williams (better known as Boogie2988), where a revolver was fired by the latter.

Season 1 began on April 18, 2023, with eight contestants. Filming took place in Swansea, Massachusetts, where the house was swatted on the season's fifth day. Season 2 started on December 18, 2023, with 10 contestants. Filming took place in Cumberland, Rhode Island. On January 26, 2024, two days before the season's finale, a homestay service known as FishBNB was announced.

On January 11, 2024, Jeff Mutter, mayor of Cumberland, announced that local authorities were investigating whether steps could be taken in response to local complaints regarding the show filming in a residential part of the town. Three weeks later, ten chickens purchased from a poultry shop in Federal Hill were rescued by a local animal sanctuary on January 27 after reportedly being released in the house "for a comedy bit." Patrick Cole, a spokesman for the Tiverton-based sanctuary, claimed that the show's producers had discussed abandoning the animals before demolition work took place in the house, later contacting them for help. Cole's claims were later denied by two members of the show's production, including co-creator Jet Neptune.