[6][7] According to journalist Bartley Kives, around 700 people auditioned for the show, which only lasted for two months, before McKinstry left Winnipeg with "estimated debts in excess of $100,000".
[8] McKinstry later claimed to have lost $1 million in the CR6 failure, and the many people he recruited to build the soap opera, including photographers, writers, a director, and several prominent businesses, never received any of the money owed to them for their work.
[citation needed] Before his death, McKinstry designed an experiment with two cognitive scientists to study the dynamics of thought processes using data from his Mindpixel project.
Chris McKinstry was found dead in his apartment on January 23, 2006, with a plastic bag over his head, connected to the stove gas line with a hose.
[14] McKinstry is the subject of a 2010 documentary called The Man Behind the Curtain directed by Michael Beach Nichols and Joshua Woltermann which recounts his innovative work and his struggle with mental health issues.