The whole scenario reminds me of a faux-reality show called SIBERIA that NBC aired a few years ago. NBC was very careful in their promotions to NOT reveal this new reality show was FAKE. - More accurately - it was a dramatic mini-series under the guise of a Survivor-style reality show.
Well, they fooled me! It wasn’t until toward the end of the first episode that you realized - holy crap - this is a drama!!!
The show was tremendously well written. And after every episode you were left scratching your head - and heading for the internet to do some research on what we just saw - and what might be coming next.
It was a blast - I have FB friends to this day who were just random people who were analyzing the show.
Point is - fiction can be tied to reality very easily. All the references in this fictional show - were real...real history, real science - driving the plot of a FAKE show.
Be careful.