Finally got a chance to watch the I Survived a Japanese Game Show premier episode. I find the Japanese culture and their entertainment endlessly fascinating. So I found this pilot episode very entertaining and interesting.
The contestants thought they were going to Los Angeles for a new reality show. Once they arrive they are then bustled from one end of the airport to the other end and put on a flight to Japan. The contestants are then shown where they will stay while in Japan. Talk about culture shock. They found out the beds were on the floor, they would sleep several to a room with very little room, and Japanese food in the pantry. Then they were introduced to "Mama-san" she immediately berated those who had left shoes on and gave then their marching orders and ordered them to bed. You could tell several of the contestants were dazed, like deer caught in the headlights, they didn't know what was all going on and confused on what to do. The next morning they are woke up early, combined with jet lag, and but on a small tour bus with a short tour along the way. They stopped at the famous filming studios. They are told they are going on a tour and are hustled in a door and back through the back areas to a set of double doors. They are told to go on in, the room is pitch black and spotlights glaring in their faces, which means they can see nothing beyond the small pool of light they are standing in. The lights come up and there is the crowd, announcer, and game show floor; all cheering. This is when they finally find out exactly what they signed up for.
The following contests and events give them a taste of what Japanese game shows are like. The group is split into two teams. The winning team of the first contests got a nice, high class, tour of Tokyo from the air in a big luxury helicopter. The losing team then has to complete a challenge in the streets of Tokyo. Afterword's they then also had to choose 2 team members to for elimination. The two contestants then participated in another game show contest with the loser walking off and heading home.
I found the show quite fun. It had a nice balance of poking fun at our clueless American contestants with a crash course in Japanese life and culture. I look forward to catching each episode as they air as soon as Hell's Kitchen wraps up.
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