[off-the-hook] “I Survived a Japanese Game Show” finale

The cast of “I Survived a Japanese Game Show” - photo courtesy and linked from Mary Greenawalt’s Facebook page (Mary was the cute redhead on the show)

Last night was the finale of ABC’s “I Survived a Japanese Game Show” and I found the shows to be quite interesting, embarrassing but overall entertaining for its run but was curious how this 2-hour finale would play off.

The finale featured the final four as Meaghan Cooper of Texas, Bilenda Madison of North Carolina, Donnell Pitman of Illinois and Justin Wood of Alabama competed in individually in elimination matches.

I found the first challenge interesting as the contestants had to go to the streets of Tokyo and have to accomplish missions.

With the group not knowing how to speak Japanese, they had to have people draw a moustache on their face, kiss them on the cheek, have someone wear a statue of liberty outfit, get a business card from a business owner and have three people do the wave. Meaghan used her charm and came in first, Donnell at second and it was a race between Justin and Bilenda who can return to the studio in time and take 3rd. Justin managed to come in with Bilenda a minute or two afterwards. Bilenda eliminated.

The second challenge was actually very enjoyable to watch as the trio now had to compete in an elimination match by wearing a sumo outfit (sponge) and lay in water and go through obstacles and wring out the water which falls into a bucket. The person with the most water would win.

Because of the suits taking in so much water, the person would have to carry 40-50 pounds on them and you can tell how it took a physical toll on the contestants but with Donnell being the most athletic, he won with ease. Meaghan came up short and was eliminated.

It was now down to the final two: Donnell vs. Justin and the following day, the two had an interesting Japanese welcome with people asking for their autographs and holding fans with their faces and receiving a certificate from a politician.

But the finale competition featured Donnell and Justin competing in an obstacle course that featured elements of past challenges. Justin led most of the game but each became even when they had to climb a sticky wall. Donnell looked to be on top and to win until he fell back down, Justin surged back on top and won the game.

Justin takes back $250,000 and Donnell, he goes back home with nothing.

I have to admit that I was pulling for Donnell because throughout the whole series, he was the one that kept saying he needed the money. Especially to pay off debt and in the end, he came up short. No consolation prize for #2 (which you see a lot in reality TV competitive shows in the US). So, that was a bit sad but competitively, Justin managed to get through that difficult wall and eventually winning the competition.

But how did I feel about the overall show?

Of course, if you watched many Japanese game shows, at first you are stoked to find out it would be shown on a major network in the US which was great. And that the competitors had no idea where they were going and that they would be in Japan was quite fun and to see how they would embrace the culture. So, I hope that ratings and viewers enjoyed it.

But on the other hand, for those who follow Japanese entertainment know there is no “Majide” in Japan. The people in the background, sometimes a lot of recurring people and I often wondered if these people were hired as actors to be in the background or were these legit people watching and behaving that way in the show?

Because that welcoming event for the final-two just screamed “fake” to me. Granted, the event made the two feel like champs and probably loosened them up for competition that day.

But nevertheless, the concept was fun and I enjoyed it. Again, I know some of our staff here at J!-ENT found it utterly embarrassing but I think through this show, it was good for people to see some aspects of Japanese culture through the teams that won and lost.

Overall, I was fine with it but the ending showing the loser and the sad music that would accompany them leaving was just creepy at times.

What about a second season?

Many G4 fans know the host of “I Survived a Japanese Game Show” Rome Kanda as TV host Kei Kato from “Unbeatable Banzuke” and because of that Rome has told a fellow fan that he’s communicated with a fellow fan saying that he would love to see a second season and the fan has since created a fansite for Kanda/Kato.

But if there is a second season, yeah… I’ll watch it. A lot more potential and things learned the first time around, would be interested to see if Arthur Smith, Kent weed, David Sidebotham, Karsten Bartholin and Tim Crescenti can get ABC execs to do a second season.

If you want to check out the show, visit abc.com and watch it online.