Unfair to speculate on which finalist it was, but only three (excluding the actor) were "sent to Space" and spent five days in a spacecraft simulator.
They'll all be 43/44 years old now.
MALE 44 happy-go-lucky
In a job they could easily have gone back to.
Self-proclaimed desperate for the limelight.
Their reaction at the reveal: "We're just asses."
During:
“I kinda feel like it’s not real.” “Like something’s fake.”
After:
"Ahh, that’s embarrassing.”
Seemed more gutted at the actor Charlie's betrayal imho.
FEMALE 43 friendly outgoing
Passionate about Space travel
Their reaction at the reveal: "Oh my God. How heart breaking."
During:
"I did really believe that we were going to go into space. But when we took off, I did get suspicious." "This is a set-up."
After:
"When I thought we were coming back to Earth I was planning my speech. I was going to say it had been my childhood dream. Now I'm a little bit broken hearted."
A couple of weeks later:
"People ask me if I'm embarrassed by what happened, but I'm really not,"
"I can laugh at myself and don't like to take things too seriously.
"When they told us that we hadn't really gone into space I was gutted. I was so disappointed - but I'm over that now."
Seemed hurt but did sell a "romance" story to the local paper* or at the very least was quoted for it.
MALE 43
Their reaction at the reveal: “I feel stupid as hell."
"It was real, wasn't it - what we were thinking and feeling?"
After:
"My mum and dad are gonna love this.
"This is the biggest wind-up ever. This is wicked."
The actor Charlie thought this guy had been on the biggest voyage of self-discovery.
All three were young and attractive. I'd have expected them all to be settled down with kids by now tbh.
*The latter two above had a date after the show ended.
I can imagine, looking back at the footage, that all three might have been adversely affected in feeling humiliated/cheated/let down.
All three, however, are quoted as either sussing it at least once during filming or being okay with it afterwards.
Cruel or not, you'd think nearly two decades later, they'd be at peace with it unless they had pinned their hopes on it being life changing in terms of fame/money/future employment.
OP
Not interested in which of the three your relative is, but do tell them over two decades later, they still come across as decent and good humoured (although their naivete and vulnerability, both then and now, led to a desperate Johnny Vaughan trying to smooth things over and keep things buoyant in the painful post-reveal interview).
I do have four questions though:
Did they blow their winnings or did they manage to make any investment?
How did they find the actual trip on the "vomit comet"?
Are they in touch still with any of the others?
How do they think their life would have turned out, had they not appeared on it?
Aside from the review of it in 2021, I am amazed they never had any kind of reunion or their actual trip televised in all that time.
Also, not sure if it offers any consolation or not, apart from one of the original nine who agreed to soundbites for the Guardian two years ago - two of the finalists have no google presence. Their 5 minutes of fame, painful though it might have been, was just that. The third only pops up in a plea for votes to win a space shuttle competition. They'd have got my vote, had I known but as it turns out, all 21 global winners of that contest run by Axe in 2013 never got to go to space either!