Hello!! You're probably confused about the LORE of the FAKE snnos episodes, so this will hopefully explain enough while not giving away the whole EVERYTHING, you can't have your cake AND eat it!

Question 1:Why is this even a thing?

The fake SNNOS series (FSNNOS) is a branch/parallel timeline to the normal plot of snnos where the contestants die and the host replaces them, this series is meant to show an alternative direction the show could've gone in and shows alternate directions the characters could've went trough

Question 2: Is this canon?

Well yes, well no, well sorta kinda! Certain beings of higher power know about the other timelines and the contestants from the parallel timeline are canon in the normal one, just not as contestants! They're just ordinary people

TLDR: FSNNOS isn't canon.

For the most part, it takes place in an alternate universe where the contestants of SNNOS die and get replaced by the FSNNOS cast, this isn't the only change to the timeline tho, and changes to the parallel timeline may show in the actual one :)