"I Survived a Japanese Game Show" - August 5, 2009 episode - season finale

Yep, you read that right. I didn't know this was the last episode. I mean, there were 5 people still in the game! And I didn't know beforehand that it was a two-hour episode.


But first, some old business from last week. I present to you - Judge Bob as Mr. Banana Man.













OK, now, new business.

The show started off recapping the season so far. OK, that was weird. And then the announcer said they'd be eliminating one person at a time tonight until there was a winner since it was the season finale. Awwwww, no more shows? Sadness. (Quick, who did I acquire that particular saying from?)

Even with only 5 contestants left, they were still in their teams. The first game was called "Dude! Where's my luggage?" Each team had to run up a moving conveyor belt that had luggage coming down. They had to collect only the bags with blue tags and toss them into a luggage bin. After 30 seconds or if they fell off, the next team member would take a turn.

Since the teams were uneven, the Green Tigers had a handicap - one of the team members would be wearing a carrot suit and boxing gloves. Brent volunteered to wear those. Cathy did pretty well during her turns, and Linda did ok, but Brent really sucked because of the cumbersome outfit and because he couldn't really pick up anything with the boxing gloves. I don't think he got even one piece of luggage. The tag on the bags were a lot smaller than I thought they'd be, so it was hard to identify the right bags. And there weren't just suitcases - there were giant things coming down that conveyor belt! And as time progressed, the conveyor belt moved faster, and more and more luggage was sent down, piles at a time.

After the Green Tigers went, the Red Robots had their turn. There were only two of them, so when one fell off, the other one immediately had to step up, which meant they each had more time on the conveyor belt and no time to rest. With the Green Tigers, even though Brent didn't get anything, the time he spent on the conveyor belt meant that Linda and Cathy could catch their breath for those couple of seconds. But Megan had one really amazing shot, falling down and shooting a piece of luggage into the bin. SCORE!!!!!

When the results were tallied, the Green Tigers had 24 pieces of luggage and the Red Robots had 17 pieces of luggage. Cathy's winning record was still safe (insert "safe" motion here) for the moment. Megan was upset that she had volunteered to change teams because now, she was going to have to fight for her survival in the elimination game against Justin.

For winning, the Green Tigers' reward was to board and ride the Himiko, a futuristic boat. They were then taken to Joypolis (which the announcer pronounced as "Joyopolis" except that the spelling doesn't have the extra "o"), which is a high-tech arcade/amusement park. Brent, Cathy and Linda had a blast.

The Red Robots had yet another punishment. Megan and Justin were taken to a temple of Zen monks, and they went through "monk bootcamp", which first consisted of chanting and running back and forth between two spots, and then they later waded through freezing water while chanting again. Justin was pissed off at having to do all of that and pretty much just made disparaging remarks the whole time and "woe is me" comments. Megan, however, was very spiritually moved by the whole experience. She and Justin were both in the elimination game, so she hoped that Justin's anger would throw him off balance and her calmness from the experience would help her.


Running barefoot on hot pavement.


At least the monk didn't add "and more intense".

Megan preparing to wade into a cold river.


For the elimination game, they wore muscle suits and had gloves on that had pointy ends. The game was called "balloon assassin". Each person would be strapped to a bungee cord and bounced on a trampoline to pop the balloons hanging from the ceiling. The bottom layer had yellow balloons, which were worth 1 point each. The upper layer had blue balloons, which were worth 2 points each. (When each balloon popped, confetti came out.) Whoever got the most points in 2 1/2 minutes won the game.

Megan went first and was doing a pretty good job. She managed to clear out the layer of yellow balloons, but then she couldn't get herself to bounce high enough to reach the blue balloons. But she finally figured something out - the husband thought she was pulling on the bungee cord more, which would bounce her higher than just using the trampoline - and she was able to pop quite a few of the blue balloons.

Justin was up next - he was shorter than Megan so would be at a disadvantage to reach the balloons. He missed on quite a few of his early attempts, hitting balloons but not being able to pop them. But, he also clicked and began annihilating the balloons.

After both had their turn, it was time for the tally. Megan had 23 points, and Justin had 31 points, so Justin won the game. The Sayonara Mob climbed out from under the trampoline to take Megan away. Brent and Cathy were upset to lose Megan, but Linda was devastated since they'd become friends.

Good job, Megan. Sorry that you have to leave your new-found boyfriend Rome.

Megan Bentley
Megan puts the ME in Megan. The world revolves around her and, if it doesn't, she'll do something about that! Growing up on a farm in rural Ohio, this only child is also a walking television show, and everything that comes out of her mouth is wildly funny or sarcastic. Beneath the sarcasm and bravado, however, you'll find that Megan is incredibly sensitive, likable and prone to drama and tears.
Age: 28
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Occupation: Dental Supply Salesperson

With four contestants left, the teams were now divided by gender. Cathy and Linda were Green Tigers, and Brent and Justin were Red Robots. For the next game, they came out dressed as samurai (Cathy and Brent) and geishas (Linda and Justin). The game was called "You Stand Still! No, You Stand Still!" This was similar to a game that was played last year. Each team member would be in a chair that spun around a lot before the game started, with each member on the opposite side of the game field. Once the chair stopped, they had to make their way on a narrow walkway to spinny discs. While each kept pace on a disc, they had to change costumes, dressing the other person in the clothes they were wearing. They had to put on the headpiece for the other person, and then they could each put on their own shirts, but the other person had to put on the wrap. They then had to make their way to the other person's chair to pick up the accompanying item to their new costume (sword for samurai, fan for geisha) and then make their way back to their own chairs.

The Green Tigers were up first. Linda didn't have issues with spinning so she wasn't worried about that part. As they were on the spinny discs exchanging costumes, Cathy fell into the flour once, but they generally did a good job.

The Red Robots were next, and Brent was definitely *not* good at dealing with spinning. He had a very difficult time when the chair stopped, and it took him a bit to steady himself. He and Justin had difficulties with the costume exchange, but they finished their task as well.

The Red Robots' time to complete their task - 2:16. The Green Tigers' time to complete their task - 1:44. Cathy and Linda were jumping up and down with joy, and Cathy's winning streak remained safe for another game.

Justin was very dejected at having lost yet again, and he was close to just wanting to quit, but Cathy and Linda talked him up. They were actually rooting for him to beat Brent in the elimination game because they thought they'd have a better chance of beating Justin then Brent when it came to the final 3 competition.

For the Green Tigers' reward, Cathy and Linda were going to be special guests on a popular Japanese morning talk show called "Zoom in Super". They were on national television and were interviewed by the hosts and given some stuffed animals as gifts. (I have to say here that during this segment and during the earlier Joypolis segment, when they got stuffed animals as well, I was *so* looking for Gloomy. I was really hoping one of them would get a Gloomy. I had to learn to live with disappointment.)

The Red Robots' punishment this time was to work in a bento factory, making bento boxes as part of an assembly line. Justin complained the entire time - big surprise - claiming that he was being tortured in Japan. Drama queen much? And then he said that making bento boxes was woman's work, and that Cathy should be there to do it instead. Seriously, is he really that much of an ass in real life or did they tell him to play it up? I hope it's the latter because if it's the former... While Justin was making lunches, Cathy was having a good time going on roller coasters and playing games. Oh, and by the way, she kicked his ass in the challenge. Which is why he was making lunches instead of having fun.

After they made all the bento boxes, they then had to deliver them, on bicycles, and they had to collect money for them as well. They didn't know their way around too much so they got lost a couple of times, making them late in their delivery to unhappy customers. That was pretty cool to watch though. Those bento boxes looked awesome - I wish someone would deliver bento boxes to me at work for lunch!

It was time for another elimination game. Brent and Justin had to wear goggles while they put on a whole bunch of different colored t-shirts on over each other. The game was called "t-shirt of torture". They had to take off one t-shirt at a time and hang each up on a clothesline. Each t-shirt had a letter on the inside back, and the letters would spell out a phrase. The first person to correctly guess and say the phrase would win the game. So while Brent and Justin were taking the multitude of t-shirts off, things would randomly be dropped on them - gallons of water, piles of flour and gobs of seaweed - ewwwwwwww. They were pretty even most of the time, but Brent would get a little bit ahead, and then he'd hit the buzzer to guess the phrase and then be wrong. Cathy and Linda were really cheering for Justin. After Brent had guessed wrong multiple times, Justin figured out the phrase before he got all the t-shirts off: "I need to win this game to be safe." Justin had made it to the final three, and Cathy and Linda were ecstatic.


The game started with a waterfall.


Hanging t-shirts on the clothesline.


Now, how about some flour? What is it with them and flour anyway?


Like seaweed mana from heaven. Not.


Justin is the winner.


The Sayonara Mob came out from the audience to get Brent, who took the loss very well, and he was actually rocking out to the whole sayonara ritual.

Good job, Brent. You were a great competitor, and you seem like a genuinely nice guy, but you jumped the gun by stopping and guessing so many times, and that eventually led to your downfall.

Brent Alexander
Energetic, smart and fun, Brent is the guy all the other guys want to hang out with and all the girls want to date. Possessed of a certain charm, he can't help but be the life of the party, and others can't help but befriend him. Brent is as genuine and real as they come: He'd give the shirt off his back to help a stranger, but would also be straightforward and honest if he didn't agree with someone or something. A good personality and good looks aren't the only things going for him; he's also extremely smart, athletic and an incredible dancer. For someone who has it all, he's surprisingly humble. Accomplishing any task he puts his mind to, Brent says he is "confident but not cocky."
Age: 28
Hometown: Miami, FL
Occupation: Salsa Instructor

The next game was called "Making new friends in Japan". I loved this game when they did it last year. Each of the three remaining contestants had to go out into the city and get total strangers to help them complete five tasks:

1. bow 10 times

2. put lipstick on the contestant and then let the contestant kiss them on the cheek

3. listen to the contestant recite a Japanese phrase and then tickle the contestant

4. let the contestant borrow their cel phone and make a call

5. five strangers had to do 10 chorus line kicks together

Once the contestant had completed all five tasks, they were to race to the base of Tokyo Tower. The first two to arrive would be in the finals. The last one would be out of the game.

And before the contestants were sent on their way, they were given schoolkid costumes and brightly-colored wigs to wear.

And they were off!

They each had difficulty getting people to even stop and listen to them. Without being able to speak Japanese, they couldn't get their point across, and their weird costumes didn't help. Linda was very boisterous, which was off-putting to most, and Justin was aggressive, which frightened some.

The guy that Linda got to put lipstick on her and then let her kiss his cheek was just WAAAAAAAAY too into it - heck, she could have charged him for doing that, and he probably would have agreed! Justin, on the other hand, just about molested the woman who agreed to put lipstick on him.

Getting someone to tickle them proved even more difficult as they tried to get the phrase out correctly and to get a total stranger to actually touch them to be able to tickle them. Justin had to contend with a woman with a child in a stroller who insisted she couldn't because she was married, and he was pretty obnoxious to her.

From the footage that was shown, they didn't seem to have too hard a time getting people to let them borrow their cel phones - I don't know that I'd hand my phone over to a stranger who I couldn't understand, not knowing who they were going to call. They then called Rome back at the studio to complete the task.

Completing the last task took much more coordinating because they had to get five people gathered to agree to do the kicks together.

Rome and the audience had been watching all of the action via the numerous cameras out in the field. As one player was close to completion, they all journeyed by bus over to the Tokyo Tower to await the contestants. The first person to arrive was Linda, securing her spot in the final competition. Cathy and Justin were finishing up around the same time, and it was a race to the Tower. Cathy arrived minutes before Justin, so Cathy was in the finals, and Justin was eliminated from the game.

Justin took his loss well, and in his final speech, he said he enjoyed all of it and wouldn't change a thing. I hope he meant that, because that wasn't close to what he was saying at the time. And hopefully, he didn't really believe all the sexist, racist things he said either. Maybe he'll be able to grow up and mature from all the experiences that he had in Japan. And maybe he'll learn to be less obnoxious too.

Justin Brown
Justin Brown is a real life "Van Wilder." He is funny, has tons of ambition, but lacks the focus and dedication to truly get what he wants. As a fifth year senior, he has gained the confidence and subtle arrogance that come with being a big fish in a small pond. He often uses humor, charm and wit to get what he wants, including talking his way back into school after being academically discharged and being elected president of his fraternity.
Age: 22
Hometown: Carbondale, PA
Occupation: College Student

It was down to the final two - Cathy and Linda. They were picked up by a limo and taken by helicopter to the roof of the Mori Tower, and when they ventured down below, they were greeted by Rome and a huge audience and cameras and flash bulbs and people holding up pictures of each of them. The first female defense minister of Japan came out to make a little speech and give each of them a plaque commemorating their accomplishment so far. However, they don't seem to have gotten the cushy night's stay in an amazing hotel that last year's finalists got.


Then it was time for the final competition. They were each dressed in kitty costumes, and the game was called "awholebunchofstuffthatRomesaidreallyfastthatendedwith...Super Majide!" It was an obstacle course, combining the hardest parts of the games played earlier this season. They first started off being sent on a conveyor belt into a balloon foam pit. They then had to carry 10 bento boxes across a narrow walkway while also having balls shot at them. If they fell, they had to start over again. They had to keep going until they got 10 boxes across. Both Cathy and Linda fell off the walkway or had the boxes shot out of their hands. Cathy made it over with 5 boxes, but Linda made it over with 7 boxes. Cathy fell a few more times on subsequent attempts, and Linda was finally able to get 10 boxes into the bin and move on. The next task was to yank the tentacles off five squid using the contestant's mouth only. Linda had a serious problem with this. Cathy eventually got the 10 bento boxes she needed and moved on to the squid. She ended up finishing just before Linda to move on to the next task. At the end, Linda didn't so much yank the tentacles off the squid as she did just yanking the entire squid off the string holding it up. Oh, and the floor had that really sticky stuff on it, so when they fell, they'd have a hard time getting back up, and they ended up shedding their kitty costume and other garments after this task.

Cathy noticed that Linda was having a hard time getting her costume off from the sticky stuff, so she raced ahead into the lotion bath and through the slides to the spinning disc where she had to release paint from overhead and catch it in a cup strapped to her front. The task was to fill the cup and then pour it in a bin, and when enough paint had been collected in the bin, the weight would cause a balloon to burst, releasing the key inside.

Both Cathy and Linda were working on the paint challenge, and they were both slipping and falling and not being able to fill their cups and just being exhausted, but neither one gave up. Linda managed to get a full cup at one point, but it wasn't enough yet. Cathy had been getting little bits in her cup many times, and finally, her last cup tipped the scale enough to pop the balloon. She grabbed the key, unlocked the door and pushed the buzzer. Not only had Cathy participated in every single team reward, but she completed her sweep by actually winning the game! That was so awesome. She was proud of herself because she was the oldest and the shortest, and she was a mom, but she said that they all underestimated her.

And hell yeah they did. They kept talking about her being a "soccer mom" since she was a stay-at-home mom raising two kids. And the other contestants were saying derogatory things about how good they were and how could they possibly lose to a soccer mom. What, like moms just pop out of nowhere having done nothing in their lives up to that point? Sure, there might be the occasional one like that, but most moms have gone through school and maybe had a career but have certainly had experiences that have made them more than just a couch potato who doesn't know anything and can't do anything. Being a mom is supposed to mean that you have no ability to do anything? Really? These people know nothing about what it means to be a mom, what it takes to get everything done, especially with two kids, huh?

To everyone who looked down on Cathy just because she was a mom - IN.YOUR.FACE.


Judge Bob came out and gave a trophy to Cathy, and the Congratulations Mob came out for Cathy, and everyone was chanting "Omedeto" instead of "sayonara". And Linda, as second place, didn't get any recognition or get to experience the Sayonara Mob. As the husband said, it's like the first runner up in a beauty contest - you get a quick mention but no actual acknowledgement because everyone is then too busy focussing on the winner.


You did a great job, Linda, and you were gracious in your defeat. Congrats for *almost* surviving a Japanese game show.

Linda Plaxen
Athletic, fun and easygoing, Linda is a tomboy who still likes to look good and shop. Extremely active and in great shape, she works hard to keep her physique. Brutally honest and a trash talker, Linda isn't afraid to speak her mind. Born and raised in Southern California, she has the laid back California vibe and the cute girl-next-door look. Down to earth and likable, Linda gets along with boys better than she does with girls. Nothing gets under her skin more than fake blonde bimbos - she HATES them.
Age: 32
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: Button Seller

Congratulations to Cathy. You did an amazing job, being on the winning team for every single one of the rewards. You never had to face even the possibility of going to an elimination game, and you certainly contributed to every win by your team. And when it came time for the individual challenges, you showed that you didn't need to rely on anyone else and could do just fine on your own. (And we'll even overlook your "duh" moment, thinking that adding "o" to the end of any word automatically makes it Japanese.) You set a great example for your kids, and your husband and kids should be so proud of you.


You won $250,000, but more importantly:

YOU SURVIVED A JAPANESE GAME SHOW!!!!!

Cathy Grosam
Cathy is the cute and funny housewife who's also ultra competitive. She's is one of those moms that everyone wishes they'd had growing up: She's super involved, loud, crazy and a whole lot of fun. She's also always the loudest mom cheering from the sidelines. Not a 'desperate housewife,' Cathy loves being a full time, stay at home mom, calling herself a "child engineer." Some may call her controlling, but she'd say she just loves to be involved in everything her kids do. She is the VP of the PTA and the coach for her son's soccer team. The moms around her neighborhood call her "The Queen of School."
Age: 36
Hometown: Bartlett, IL
Occupation: Housewife

I really enjoyed the show this season, and I'm sad that it's over so soon. I'm really hoping it comes back for a third season next summer. And maybe next year, we'll get to see more of Mama-San again, instead of her just mostly being relegated to very short vignettes on the website.


Until then, everybody:

Hai, Majide!

"I Survived a Japanese Game Show" - July 29, 2009 episode

So, I realized that I'd been posting these summaries too early, not leaving enough time for the video clips to go up on the site. So, now we're back to having screen capture pictures!


Picking up at the end of last week's show, Dan had just survived the elimination round. Remember the part where I said he was slamming into the wall trying to get the balls up the dragon's nose? Yeah, well, I wasn't kidding. He had a couple of really nasty bruises to show for it, and he was really sore generally too, it seemed.

The next day, the contestants were lounging around at home when the phone rang. Mama-San picked it up, and it was a surprise call from Rome, who told them that the Green Tigers had to pick one member to go over to the Red Robots to even up the teams. The Green Tigers went into seclusion to decide. Smartly enough, they did not in fact send Cathy back over. Both Cathy and Brent expressed the desire for either Linda or Megan to go. Linda said she didn't want to go, so Megan volunteered to switch teams.

Game time!

For the first game, the contestants were dressed in kitty costumes with funny noses and ears, and each also had a big bowl strapped to the top of their head.

Rome went to the Green Tigers' room to see who was being switched over, and he was told it would be Megan. He then opened the door to the Red Robots' room and brought Megan over with him so she could join Dan and Justin. Dan was not at all happy to have Megan on his team because he said she was loud, but Justin was fine with having her - he just didn't know if she'd help their team. Justin and Dan had wanted either Cathy or Brent.

The first game was called "Sour Milk For Kitty". Each of the three team members stood on descending steps that vibrated. The person at the top step had to ladle curdled milk (with chunks and all) into the bowl on his/her head, and then that person had to transfer the contents (pretty much by tipping the head backward) into the bowl of the second person, who then had to transfer the milk to the third person, who then had to get the milk in a bucket. The team with the most milk in the bucket in the allotted time won the game and an advantage for the second game. I was surprised that it was just vibrating steps rather than the spinning discs, but I guess they figured the game was hard enough as it was. The husband also pointed out that with the spinning discs, they'd probably fall off the steps, which would be bad.

The Red Robots went first, with Justin on the top step, Dan in the middle, and Megan at the bottom. Justin and Dan weren't doing very well at coordinating the transfer of milk so Dan was just getting soaked with the sour milk. Ewwwww. Megan was really tall, so she had some difficulty getting the milk from her bowl into the bucket so far below, but she managed to twist herself around quite a bit to accomplish that. The Red Robots were pretty confident in the job they'd done.

The Green Tigers were up next, with Brent at the top, Linda in the middle and Cathy at the bottom. Brent really struggled at first. He was ladling the milk into his bowl, but he didn't seem to realize that he had his head tipped forward, so as he poured in the milk, it just came streaming right back out. Other times, he totally missed and was just basically pouring the milk on his head. The Red Robots were watching this and loving it. Finally, Linda was able to give him directions on what to do since she could see the problem he was having, and he started to get the hang of it, and they were managing to transfer bowlfuls of milk. Cathy also had an easier time getting milk into the bucket because she was shorter, but she also seemed to have mastered a method of flinging her head so that all the milk in her bowl pretty much landed in the bucket.

After both teams had gone, the results were revealed. As in the previous milk challenge, the Green Tigers ended up with about twice as much milk as the Red Robots, so they won the first game.

One thing I did like better about this game was that you couldn't automatically tell how much milk was in the buckets. With the baby bottle game last week, you could see the milk as it accumulated in the bottle, so even before they announced the official results, it was obvious that the Green Tigers had gotten more milk. This time, they did the reveal of the contents of both buckets afterward, so you didn't really know until then who had won.

The contestants then went to get ready for the second game. I wonder if they were given the chance to shower or clean up. I mean, Dan and Brent at least were covered in that sour milk stuff!

Before the second game, Rome introduced Judge Bob to preview the game - and Judge Bob was dressed as Mr. Banana Man! How awesome was that!!!!! (Unfortunately, they didn't have that segment up on the site, so I don't have a screen shot of that. I should be able to get a picture elsewhere at a later time, so I'll try to remember to include that in next week's summary.)

OK, sorry, lost my head there for a minute.

The second game was called "big foot bang bang". Each of the contestants would be dressed as a fruit or a vegetable. Of the three team members, one would be the kicker, and the other two would be the helpers. On the opposing team, one would be the goalie, and the other two would control him/her. The kicker was hanging from a rope/harness, and he/she had his/her feet in a giant shoe. One team member would place oversize balloons on a tee, and the third team member would push the kicker to kick the balloon into a goal net. Meanwhile, the other team would have a goalie hanging in the front, dressed in a cactus costume. He/she could sort of wave his/her arms around, and the other two team members were on opposite sides of the goal with a pulley system to move the goalie across the front of the goal. Their job was to block the balloons, and the cactus costume had prickly stuff that would pop the balloons upon contact. The goalie really couldn't move much and could really just wave his/her arms a bit. The team with the most goals in the allotted time was the winner.

The Red Robots went first, with Justin in a costume of grapes (and he very much enjoyed playing with two particular grapes that were strategically placed on his chest), Dan was dressed as an apple, and Megan was the kicker, dressed as a carrot. For the Green Tigers, Linda was the goalie in the cactus suit. The Red Robots had a hard time at first, and balloons went everywhere, including one that went squarely into Judge Bob. However, they soon learned the hang of it, and they managed to score two goals before the Green Tigers also got the hang of the defense. Brent and Cathy did a good job of yanking Linda back and forth to block and pop the balloons. The Red Robots ended up with a total of two goals.

For the Green Tigers, Linda was dressed in the grapes, Brent was dressed as an apple, and Cathy was the kicker dressed as a carrot. She made some comment about having been a soccer coach or something, so she was really looking forward to this. For the Red Robots, Dan was the cactus goalie, with Megan and Justin pulling.


Green Tigers ready for action.


Red Robots on the defense.


Since the Green Tigers had won the first game, they had won an advantage - which was one free kick. So, Dan was moved to the side, and the Green Tigers got their free kick - and the balloon went right into Dan's suit and popped. Justin's interview had him making fun of them for failing at the free kick. And then when the game actually started, the Green Tigers got goals from their first 4 (or more) balloons. The Green Tigers kicked the Red Robots' asses. Badly. Severely. Cathy was making goals left and right, literally, and Justin and Megan were completely failing at being able to move Dan around to block anything. Justin was mad because he thought the Green Tigers were rubbing it in, and Cathy was of the attitude that they were going to be in their faces with this win. The Green Tigers scored a total of 12 goals to win the game.

And after the Green Tigers' third goal, I wondered why they didn't stop the game. And I kept wondering that every time they scored another goal and were allowed to keep attempting more goals. As I recall, every other time where the second team or contestant knew what they needed to win, they stopped once they reached that point. Once the Green Tigers had gotten their third goal, the game was over. It didn't matter if they scored 3 or 400 - they still won. Rome made some comment about there being no mercy rule, but I would swear they didn't previously just let them go on. It was like they were just allowing the Green Tigers to humiliate the Red Robots. It was just weird.

Cathy's winning streak remained unbroken, and Megan was worried that she'd be in the elimination game.

For winning, the Green Tigers' reward was to attend a Samurai festival. The next morning, Mama-San dressed each of them in an outfit called a hakama. Justin saw them and commented (to the camera, not to them) that Brent looked even more like Whoopi Goldberg when he was wearing a dress. His obnoxious comments are really getting on my nerves. Wasn't he supposed to be the mastermind or something? Not doing great on your losing team, dude.

The Green Tigers were then taken to where a group of Samurai were, and they watched them demonstrate fighting with swords up close and personal. They were then given their own lesson in learning sword movements, and then they were dressed up in armor and were able to participate in a parade through the streets where they were able to demonstrate their new skills. They loved this experience. I think this has been the coolest reward so far. Hmmm, Cathy's gotten all of the rewards they've had. Wonder which one was her favorite so far?

For the Red Robots, losing again meant another punishment. Their task was to turn bamboo into chopsticks. They started off having to harvest these gigantic bamboo trees. They were massively tall and thick - I had no idea bamboo could grow like that. They had to cut them down and then chop off the smaller branches and then carry the huge bamboo stalks. Because of the hard work, Justin made some derogatory remark about why they needed chopsticks anyway and hadn't they ever heard of forks. Dude. Shut.Up. After that, they had to saw them all into smaller sections and then split them into smaller pieces and then were shown how to basically whittle/carve chopsticks from the bamboo. They were told they had to make 50 chopsticks. Dan ended up doing pretty well, but Justin sucked at it and then, appropriately enough, given the sour milk challenge and his grapes outfit in the second challenge, he expressed sour grapes about how he was ok letting Dan be good at making chopsticks because it didn't matter to him. W.


Dan, Megan, Justin and bamboo harvester dude in the bamboo forest, in the midst of trying to cut down one of the giant bamboo stalks.


Megan struggling with carrying a huge bamboo tree.


Megan sawing off a section of bamboo.


Justin having difficulty making chopsticks out of bamboo.


It then came time for the elimination game. Dan, Justin and Megan talked about who should be in it, but they couldn't come to an agreement, but that's just what Megan wanted. She wanted a stalemate, knowing that the decision would then go to the Green Tigers, and she figured she'd be saved by them. But should she have been so sure of that?

Rome called the Red Robots out on the stage, and for some reason, he kept referring to Megan as his "edamame". Does she know that he's calling her a soybean? And why is she flirting with him and kissing him? Although Rome did say, in Japanese, that she was his girlfriend. Too funny.

The Red Robots did admit to being unable to come to a decision about who would play in the elimination game, so the Green Tigers were called out to decide for them. And, sure enough, they saved Megan and chose Dan and Justin to play in the elimination game. And they were shown their costumes for the game - velcro suits! Yeah!!!!!! I love this game!!!!!

The game was called "You Look Funny Stuck On Wall" and was the same game used for an elimination last year. Each contestant wore a suit with huge strips of velcro on it. There was an outline on a wall of different shapes that a human body could be in, and the contestant had to jump on a trampoline and try to fit their body exactly into the outline. Whoever got the closest to being in the outline won the round, and the person who won four rounds won the game.

Justin wasn't particularly good at first, but Dan was even worse. He said (again) that he'd been homeschooled and had never been on a trampoline before, so he had a really hard time getting the hang of how it worked. Justin won the first two rounds handily before Dan finally figured it out and won a round. For the third round, Dan went first, and then they left him hanging up there and then went to a commercial! The husband and I laughed at that, and he said he thought they did that to someone last year too. Justin ended up doing really well, and he won that round, making it 3 to 1. On the next round, Justin did well, but he had one leg that was really hanging out, so there was a chance for Dan. All of the other contestants were really rooting for Dan. But Dan tanked it, not even coming close to the outline. Justin won his fourth round and the game.

The Sayonara Mob came in to tear Dan off the wall and carry him out.

I really wanted Justin to lose because he's just getting entirely too obnoxious, and I didn't want to have to listen to him anymore. But, that's not to be yet. I think I'm rooting for either Brent or Cathy. I realized that I can't really tell the difference between Linda and Megan, and they're the only ones where I still have to read the chyron to figure out who it is. But I seriously don't want Justin to win.

I'm sorry to see Dan go. He played well, and he survived two elimination games but got sunk on his third. If there was some way that I could actually say something to him, it would go something like this:

Dan, you seem like a really nice guy, but dude, you really have to stop hiding behind the whole homeschooling thing. You're 25 years old. Unless your mother homeschooled you until very recently, you've had years to learn about the world. Just because you had a conservative, religious upbringing and have a set of morals that you live by doesn't mean that you have to be sheltered and completely unaware of the world out there. A co-worker of mine was homeschooled until high school, and she's definitely not sheltered. You might not have known how to really work a trampoline (I've never been on one either, though I get the intellectual idea of how it works), but that has nothing to do with having been homeschooled. Stop using that as an excuse for things. For goodness sake, you work in a library! There's all kinds of information in there. Reading isn't as good as doing, but at least you can be exposed to a lot of things. And don't just stay in your library - get out and experience the world for real. You don't have to do debaucherous things or anything like that. There are plenty of fun and exciting and interesting things to learn about and experience. There's a great big beautiful tomorrow out there!





OK, sorry, lost my head there again.

Best of luck to you, Dan.

Dan Barbour
Willful yet likable, Dan is a librarian who "has an opinion about everything." Whether the topic is politics, movies or the color of the sky, Dan's the type of guy who "always believes he's right, and everyone else is wrong." But don't let his choir boy looks and tendency to blush fool you. This avid poker player is no pushover, and he's not afraid to manipulate a situation to his advantage. This self professed virgin was home schooled and is the product of a conservative, religious upbringing. He never curses, and his favorite phrase is "Oh my word." He'll be the ultimate fish out of water not only in Japan, but also living with the other Americans.
Age: 25
Hometown: Shrewsbury, MA
Occupation: Librarian

They're down to five contestants left now, so I think it would be time to forego the teams and just have individual contests. The challenge next week with the luggage conveyor belt looks awesome!


Oh, and for anyone out there who might know what happens in future episodes, PLEASE, no spoilers of any kind in the comment section, not even little hints or anything like that. I don't want to know *anything* until I see it on the show. Thanks!

Hai, Majide!

"I Survived a Japanese Game Show" - July 22, 2009 episode

This episode went back to starting the way they normally do - recap of the last episode and intro of the contestants. But, there's still no video from tonight's show on the website yet. Maybe I'm doing these recaps too early for them now. Oh well. No screen shots for you.


Jamie was glad she was still in the game, and she was sad that Drew was gone, but she was *really* mad at Justin and Dan. They tried to make nice with her, but she wasn't having any of it. Back at the house, Justin tried to explain how she and Drew were isolating themselves, and it made Justin feel left out of the team and that he couldn't trust them, but that did not sit well with Jamie at all. Meanwhile, the eavesdropping Green Tigers were eating up all the drama.

Game time!

But first, a derail. So, the show was starting, and they showed Rome making his way out to the stage. There was a part where he was looking at some kind of penguin costume or something - that part wasn't weird. But right before then, he walked past an open door, and walking in the room on the other side of the door was someone carrying one of the giant stuffed pink bears. That wasn't weird either. What was weird was that the person carrying the bear was wearing a giant rabbit head. Now, if it was one of the contestants wearing a rabbit head, that would be one thing. But why would random person be walking around in a rabbit head? Curiouser and curiouser.

OK, really, game time!

The first game was called "brain freeze fish breath". Did I mention that the Japanese are whack? Yep, this was pretty much bobbing for frozen fish. (One of the contestants, maybe Linda?, said that it was fish and squid, but I only saw fish. They were all frozen and giant in any case.) There were two aquariums full of ice and water and frozen fish. The contestants had to stick their faces in the water (they were wearing goggles) and try to grab a fish only with their mouth. Whoever got the most in 2 1/2 minutes won.

Oh, and when they were backstage, they had the contestants wearing inner tubes and arm floaties, but that was all just for show since they didn't wear any of them during the competition.

The contestants were having a hard time getting any fish, mostly because bobbing for them was difficult, but APPARENTLY, the ice and water were really freezing cold, because the interview clips showed all of them absolutely complaining about it, and after Justin stuck his head in and then pulled it out, his head was *really* pink and almost red from the cold.

The Green Tigers pulled out a win again, scoring 3 fish whereas the Red Robots only scored 1.

I can't remember if it started from the first round, but Rome has been doing this thing where he talks about being "safe" for whichever team wins the second game, and he does this slide thing, kinda like in baseball. They've been doing it pretty much every time now, with everyone joining in. It's funny.

The second game had the contestants dressed in baby clothes - giant diapers with a safety pin, bib and bonnet. The game was called "baby go boom boom" and was similar to a game played last season. Each team sat in a spinning disc, and after it had spun at least 20 times, the first person had to make their way down a plank and then while jogging on another spinning disc, fill two cups with milk and then make their way through an obstacle course with other spinning discs and spanking hands and shooting steam and such, until they got to a giant baby bottle, where they would pour in the milk they still had in their cups and then hit a buzzer. The other team members have been spinning all this time, and once the buzzer was hit, the next person could go. They had a total of 3 minutes to navigate the obstacle course and get milk.

So, umm, before the game, when Judge Bob was kinda doing the demo - what was with him in the baby clothes being spanked? Whack, I tell you, whack.

Since the Green Tigers won the first game, the advantage was that one of the Red Robots had to be "carried on grandma's back", which really meant they had to strap a stuffed person of grandma to their front. Dan volunteered to be the one strapped to grandma.

The Red Robots went first, with Jamie leading them off. She did really poorly, falling a lot and spilling most of her milk. She barely had a few drops to pour into the baby bottle. Justin went next, and he did a really good job, getting quite a bit of milk into the baby bottle, and when he'd gotten through about half the course, he poured the remaining contents of one cup into the other and then stacked them, so now, he only really had one cup to hold, and he could use his other hand to balance or whatever. This was a method that pretty much everyone else playing the game adopted. Dan then took his turn, but he was seriously hampered with having grandma strapped to him, especially when he had to crawl into the hole before getting sprayed by steam - he almost didn't fit through and pretty much had to flatten grandma to make it. He had a little milk left over, and then Justin took another turn. He did a great job, and he made it back to the baby bottle with almost a full cup right before time expired. The Red Robots were pretty happy with how they'd done.

Next up were the Green Tigers. The first two people did ok, not getting a ton of milk through but not spilling all of it either. When Brent took his turn, he started off a bit slowly down the plank, but he was able to keep quite a bit of his milk to pour into the baby bottle. Linda was then the last to go, and she also did really well, also having just about a full cup to contribute to the baby bottle.

They had a reveal of the contents of each bottle to determine the winner, but it was obvious from just watching the game that the Green Tigers won. It wasn't until they had the bottles side by side, though, that you could tell that the Green Tigers had twice as much milk as the Red Robots.

The Red Robots were dejected to have lost again. At the end of that game, when they were going out with majide, I kinda thought it was funny that Jamie was barely doing a half-hearted attempt at the majide hand signal. She was *not* happy. But, drama started again. She knew she'd be in the elimination round, but Dan and Justin were jockeying to *not* be the one in the round with her, and she realized that she would probably be the one choosing the other contestant for the elimination round. Meanwhile, the Green Tigers were eavesdropping on this conversation from their room.

But first things first - reward and punishment. The diaper costume from the last round was actually appropriate for the reward and punishment.

The Green Tigers were the guests of honor at a sumo school/sumo house. (OK, there was a sign on the front that said "sibatayamabeya aoki" [or it might have been "sibatayama beya aoki" - I couldn't tell because the "beya" was actually on a different line, so I didn't know if it was supposed to be a different word or the sign wasn't wide enough to hold all the letters so they just split the word up that way], which I took to be the name of the school, but a Google search turned up nothing, so I have no idea what that means. Heck, for all I know, the sign could have said, "beyond these doors lie giant Japanese men".) Mama-San also went along as the translator. The sumo wrestlers fought matches in front of them, and they learned a lot about them. I thought it was interesting that they blurred out parts of the sumo wrestlers. At first, I was wondering if they were blurring out boy bits, but in most of the shots, there shouldn't be any boy bits where the blurring was, so they were really just blurring out butt cheeks. Really, butt cheeks? That's all? OK, I know their butt cheeks are probably more substantial than regular butt cheeks, but women in skimpy bikinis showing their butt cheeks don't seem to be an issue being shown on TV, but sumo wrestlers' butt cheeks aren't ok? Whatever. After a little while, Brent was offered the opportunity to participate in a fight. Since he was the only male on the Green Tigers, he would have been the only one who could do that. He accepted and he let them strap the sumo diaper on him. He actually did quite well, holding his own against the fighter before pushing the other fighter out of the circle and winning the match. Oh, and yeah, they blurred Brent's butt cheeks too.

The Red Robots also had a day having to do with sumo wrestlers, but from a very different perspective. Their punishment was to be sumo servants for the day. Jamie was given kitchen duty (I guess because she was the female), and she had to prepare food and cook for them, which she complained about incessantly. Meanwhile, Dan and Justin weren't having too much fun either - they were given bathroom-cleaning duty, which was bad in and of itself, but while they were cleaning, one of the sumo wrestlers went in there and was taking a shower in the open room, as well as pointing out to them where they needed to clean better. Poor sheltered Dan was mortified at the naked man in the bathroom with him. After they were all done with that, all three of them then had to give massages to the sumo wrestlers. And yeah, Jamie bitched the whole time again.

Once their punishment was done, the Red Robots went back to the studio, and then it was time to decide who would be in the elimination round. Jamie decided that she had a better chance against Dan, so she picked him to play in the game with her. (But Justin was annoying me with his whole "puppetmaster" thing. Dude, lay off it.)

The game was called "up your nose, dragon". Each contestant had to slide across a slippery slope, with balls being released, and they had to knock the balls into the opening which was the dragon's nose. They then slid down into a pool of foam, and then they'd have to climb back up and do it again. They had 2 1/2 minutes to get as many balls into the dragon's nose as they could.

Dan was chosen to go first. He didn't do well in his first try, but he got the hang of it sometime. A few times, regardless of whether he got the ball in or not, he ended up slamming into the wall next to the dragon before falling into the foam. That looked painful. However, Dan did manage to score a total of 3 balls.

Then it was Jamie's turn. And there's really only one word to describe her turn. Fail. EPIC fail. (OK, that's two words.) Seriously. Her first attempt was really weak, not even getting half-way across the slope and nowhere near the balls being let go. For almost each turn, she barely made it across where she could even touch a ball. I think it was a combination of her being short, not getting a good running start to launch herself across, and landing too quickly on the ground, pretty much at the beginning, so she had no momentum to carry her across, high enough to touch the ball with some time to at least try to get it into the dragon's nose. From the footage they showed, she never even came close to even getting one ball in. When time expired, her score was ZERO.

But it was funny that the Sayonara Mob rose up out of the foam to carry her away.

I was glad to see Jamie leave. She was complaining all the time, and it was appropriate that she was the next to go right after her not-boyfriend, not-lover, nothing-was-going-on-with-him Drew.

Jamie Lewis
A "tell it like it is" kind of girl with a big mouth and no filter, Jamie is a spitfire from Philly who is sure to heat up this competition. "Being real" is what Jamie is all about, and whether or not people can handle the truth "isn't her problem." With her spunky charm, bubbly personality and electric smile, it's easy to see why Jamie describes herself as "a ray of sunshine." And with her feisty, in-your-face attitude, it's also easy to see why she adds that she's "a ray of sunshine that isn't afraid to burn you." Possessing the "rawness" that she feels embodies her beloved hometown of Philly, Jamie is "honest to a fault, opinionated and tough, but also has the biggest heart in the world." After the Eagles lost their shot at the Super Bowl recently, Jamie says, "Philly is hungry for a new champion, and she intends to be the Rocky of Majide!"
Age: 25
Hometown: Fairless Hills, PA
Occupation: Leasing Agent

Next week, more hijinks ensue. And, the teams are too uneven again - 4 Green Tigers and 2 Red Robots. Are they going to make a Green Tiger switch teams again? If they did, would the Green Tigers be dumb enough to let Cathy go to the other team? Is Cathy *ever* going to miss out on a reward?

Hai, Majide!

"I Survived a Japanese Game Show" - July 15, 2009 episode

This week's episode was weird in that they didn't do a recap of last week, and there wasn't even the intro segment where they showed all the contestants. They must have decided there was too much going on and they needed the airtime - usually, it seems like they're just filling space.

(And speaking of weirdness, the website didn't have any promo videos of this show like they normally do, so whereas I normally go and do screen grabs for pictures, there won't be any in this post.)

This show started right after the end of last week - Megan was happy that she wasn't eliminated, but she was sad, in tears, that good buddy Bobaloo left. She said something about winning that made it sound like she was going to share with him. Really?

Meanwhile, drama was playing out on the Red Robots team. Jamie and Drew have gotten very close, even to the point of sleeping in the same bed, though they claimed nothing has happened between them and that they haven't even kissed, but their antics have made virgin Dan very uncomfortable.

But enough of house life, it's game time.

The first game was called "Soccer Time With Grandpa!" Each of the contestants wore wigs that gave them white hair and made them look like they were balding. The task was to kick a ball into a goal, and whichever team had the most goals won. Easy, huh? Yeah, then that must not be the entire game.

First of all, the teams were uneven, with 5 Red Robots and 3 Green Tigers, so Rome told the Red Robots that they had to choose a member to go over to the Green Tigers. After a short discussion, it was decided to send Cathy back over to the Green Tigers, where she'd come from. The Green Tigers were amazed that the Red Robots let her go and joyously welcomed her back.

The next twist was that the contestants had to wear goggles which really distorted their vision and depth of field, so when they went to kick the ball, they couldn't even really tell where the ball was, and oftentimes, they were just kicking thin air. They each took a turn kicking a ball that was on a tee, and any touch of the ball meant their turn was over, but bumping and ricocheting of others' balls counted. The goal had a pit at the bottom, and as long as the ball went into the pit, it counted.

Each team had 2 minutes, and most of them had a very difficult time, but after a few tries, some of them started to get the hang of it. They all complained that they couldn't really tell where the ball was, which is why they were kicking at nothing, but I wondered why they didn't just pick their foot up and measure where it was compared to the ball, and if that wouldn't give them a better idea of where to kick. None of them seemed to do that though.

The Green Tigers started off slowly but then picked up the pace, and they got a total of 5 balls. The Red Robots took their turn, and they were on a roll for a while, getting a number of balls into the pit. Jamie took her turn, and she really kicked the hell out of the ball, kicking it over the goal altogether and also nailing one of the cameras filming the event. In the end, the Red Robots ended up with 3 balls, so the Green Tigers won. Rome commented that Cathy was still on a winning team, and the other Green Tigers called her their good luck charm.

As has been the case this year, they immediately went into the next game, which was called "Stuck On Golf". Two members of the same team hit balls off of human tees - their other teammates, who had helmets with tees on top. They were to hit the balls onto a sticky surface. The other team's job was to clear as many of the balls off the sticky surface as possible. First, two team members would do it for 30 seconds, and then the other two team members would do it for 30 seconds, and then in the last 30 seconds, all four team members could clear balls.

Because the Green Tigers had won the first game, they had an advantage - one of the Red Robots had to wear shackles, making it harder to move.

The Red Robots went first, with Dan wearing the shackles. They were falling down a lot and so getting more and more of the sticky stuff on them, making it harder to clear the balls. Jamie was so stuck that she couldn't even manage to get off the mat when she was supposed to have swapped out. They also had trouble pulling the balls off the surface, and even when they could do that, the balls stuck to them, and they couldn't fling the balls off the playing field.

The Green Tigers were next, and Brent was in the first group of defenders, and his strategy was to stand at the very front of the mat and deflect the hit balls before they could even land on the mat. That turned out to work quite well, and even after he tagged out and the next group came in, and when they were all working together at the end, they seemed to have a much easier time pulling off and discarding balls than the Red Robots. I think they stayed much cleaner and so didn't have as much of the sticky goo on them, and they managed to pick up the balls that were just sitting on the goo, making them easier to get rid of. I think the Red Robots were leaning on the balls too much before picking them up, making them stick to the surface even more, and then getting more of the goo on themselves.

When the contest was over, the Red Robots had left 24 balls on the mat. The Green Tigers had left only 15 balls on the mat, which continued Cathy's unbroken winning streak.

The Green Tigers' reward for the next day was to visit a sake brewery and beef plant. They traveled three hours north, and Mama-San went along to translate. They tried different kinds of sake and liked what they had. They were also able to try yamagata beef, which is very tender, and it was cooked shabu shabu style. Cathy was concerned that it was only cooked for a short time, but she was amazed at how delicious the beef was. Yep, that's what happens when it's great quality beef and you slice them that thin too.

Meanwhile, the Red Robots were enduring their punishment - they were going to be harvesting seaweed. They woke up at 3am to get to a boat at Chiba Harbor to head out into the waters around 5am. As they were boarding the boat, Drew said that he wasn't feeling well and decided to sit that part out, which did *not* sit well with Dan, who said Drew didn't seem sick 5 minutes prior. I was surprised that Drew was allowed to beg off that major portion of the punishment.

They were shown the nets where the seaweed was trapped and how they had to pull the seaweed out and into a bucket - slimy and smelly. After hours of that, they came back to shore, and they were shown how to make nori sheets. For this part, Drew did participate. After some time doing that, they were given a lunch break - which consisted of a couple small fish on seaweed. Bon appetit!

I was actually laughing quite a bit during this entire segment because the husband *hates* seaweed, something he blames on his years of decorating Rose Parade floats with seaweed. (Now, I happen to love seaweed, but I think even I would have had a difficult time with this punishment.) When we have sushi and have cut rolls on the rare occasion, he'll ask for soy paper instead of seaweed, or he'll only be able to deal with the seaweed if it's an inverted roll, with the rice on the outside, so he can't really taste the seaweed. On the occasions when the sushi chef has given us free seaweed salad, I'm quite happy because I don't have to share! And the funniest thing was one time when the sushi chef gave each of us a toro hand roll. I couldn't help laughing as I watched the husband sitting there, holding the roll, wanting the toro so much but not being able to get over the seaweed. I suggested to him that he could just use the seaweed cone as a container and use chopsticks to eat the toro from inside it. He liked that idea and picked out as much of the toro as he could that wasn't touching the seaweed. And then I got to eat the rest of his hand roll! During this punishment, I wondered if he would just refuse to do it, because it was basically his idea of hell. And then lunch? Well, he'd just starve!

OK, derail over.

The next morning, the Red Robots still had to decide which two people to send to the elimination game. Both Dan and Justin wanted Drew and Jamie because they didn't like the alliance they had created. Drew and Jamie were mad because the rule had APPARENTLY been that whomever did poorly in the challenges would go to elimination. Jamie knew she'd go because of how badly she'd done on both challenges, but since Dan didn't do well either, she figured he'd be in the elimination round too. Jamie was really upset at how things were going and went into her room to cry. And she had cried when her team had lost the first game on this round. Please, make the girls stop crying! They were then at a stalemate since Drew and Jamie decided to vote for Dan and Justin. I know that Jamie said it should be decided by who did poorly in challenges, but I thought that Drew bailing on most of the punishment the day before would have earned him an automatic trip to the elimination round.

When the Red Robots were summoned out by Rome, they told him they couldn't decide on two people, so he said that then the Green Tigers would decide for them and brought them out. In the end, the Green Tigers chose Drew and Jamie to compete in the elimination round.

The name of the elimination round game was "Stretchy Squid Face". Each of them had to wear a pantyhose mask on their head, with a hole cut out for their mouth, and they had to rip off the heads of squids with their mouths. The pantyhose was attached to the base, so they'd have to pull harder to make it down the line of squid. At first, the husband thought the squid was fake plastic, but as they showed a shot of them, it was clear that they were indeed real - and gigantic - and raw. Ewwwww. Now, I like squid, but I like it cooked, and on the rare occasions when I've had it raw, I wasn't that crazy about it, but the task set out for them would definitely have been something that would have turned my stomach. Speaking of which, if Drew was getting queasy about going on a boat and eating fish and seaweed, I didn't think having giant raw squid in his mouth was going to go over very well.

When the game started, Jamie did quite well off the bat whereas Drew struggled. She was making her way down the line very quickly while Drew was still trying to figure out how to complete the task. OK, how do I say this? Well, if you saw it, you know what I mean. If not, you can just use your imagination based on what I'm about to say. I would say that Jamie, as the woman, had an advantage over Drew, the straight man, as far as knowing what method to use to best get all of the tentacles in her mouth enough to yank the head off. The image was pretty graphic - I'm not sure they intended it to happen that way.

In any case, Drew finally got the hang of it, ripping into the squid on the side (as opposed to the method used by Jamie - see?), and he started gaining on her, especially since she was farther away now and had to struggle with the pantyhose pulling her back, whereas he was stronger and didn't have as hard a time. As time was running out, Jamie's pantyhose actually snapped off her head.

When it came down to the count of squidheads removed, Jamie had 12, and Drew had 11. The Green Tigers and the rest of the Red Robots were elated that Drew was eliminated. He did start to get entirely too cocky, so I wasn't sorry to see him go.

Drew Sealey
Good looking, smart and admittedly shallow, Drew is as blunt as they come. This successful attorney has a high opinion of himself and has a low tolerance for those who don't meet his standards. Working hard for his money, he's happy being frivolous with it and loves showing it off with toys and in his lifestyle. Drew works hard but plays harder; he frequently flies to South Beach and Vegas to party on the weekends. Into his looks, skin care and clothes, this pretty boy is as straight as they come. He thinks the world revolves around him and will only help others out if it would benefit him in one way or another.
Age: 29
Hometown: St. Louis, MO
Occupation: Attorney

Next week, adults in giant diapers, and then it looks like they're bobbing for fish in freezing water. And more drama and fallout from Drew's departure and Drew and Jamie's "relationship".

Hai, Majide!

"I Survived a Japanese Game Show" - July 8, 2009 episode

Brent wasn't happy about having been chosen for the elimination game, but he was happy to have won and stayed in the game. He was ready to take on anyone else he had to compete against.

After the elimination round, the contestants had some relaxation time back at the house, where it seemed that bonds had been forming. Linda, Megan and Bobaloo had become very good friends, and Drew and Jamie had gotten quite close, with speculation running rampant about exactly *how close* they'd become.

The next day, it was back to the competition. A little Judge Bob fan club, known as the Bobbettes, had formed in the audience.

The first game was called "Snap Attack". One member from each team sat opposite a member from the other team, with a wall in between so that they couldn't see each other. Each had the ability to pull a rope that would cause a rubber band to snap at the opposing person. The team members are all lined up, sitting down, on either side of the wall, each in a different colored zone. Two hits won that particular zone, and the first team to win three zones won the game. Oh, and did I mention, the men were shirtless and the women had on the equivalent of jogging bras on top. Yep, lots of skin, especially in the stomach area, to be hit by the rubber band. There were ropes all across for them to pull, but they were randomly attached to the rubber bands on the other side, so you really couldn't aim - it was just the luck of what you picked and whether it would hit the other person.

Some of the rubber bands harmlessly snapped in the air, but others found their mark, and from the comments made by the contestants, they H.U.R.T. Ummm, yeah, I would think so. Crazy game.


Preparing to be snapped.


The Red Robots won the first two zones, and then the Green Tigers came back to win the third zone, but the Red Robots then pulled off their third zone win, fittingly because of Cathy, the displaced Green Tiger. The Red Robots win gave them an advantage in the following game.

The second game was called "Paint Splash Madness". Team members had what looked like a giant measuring cup strapped to their front. While standing on a spinning disc, they then pulled a lever that released paint to fill their cup. They then had to make their way to another team member who was sitting on another spinning disc, holding a jug, and they had to fling the contents of their cup into the jug. The team with the most paint in the jug in the allotted time won.

The advantage for the Red Robots from winning the first game was that their team would have an extra cup that they could fill.

The Green Tigers went first, and while Brent did a decent job, Megan really sucked. She fell down, dropped her cup and then missed when trying to get the paint into the jug. The Red Robots had their problems as well. Drew had the extra cup, but he had trouble filling up one cup, let alone two. They had a hard time staying upright and filling their cups, and even Cathy dropped her cup a few times. Both teams made the mistake of flinging the contents of their cup at the jug when the person was turning away from them, which meant they weren't reaching the jug but just splashing paint everywhere. They never seemed to figure out that didn't work.


The spinning player with the jug, waiting to be filled.


Getting paint in the cup is messy work.


Even messier when you're trying to fling the paint into the jug.


Being the jug holder is like being the canvas of an abstract painting.


In the end, here were the results:

Green Tigers - 0.68kg
Red Robots - 1.12kg

The Red Robots won by quite a large margin, marking their second overall win in a row, which meant they not only got a reward but were also safe from elimination.

The Red Robots' reward was to experience race car driving, but not just regular race car driving, but the particular brand known as Tokyo Drift. They started off as simply passengers in the car while the professionals drove, and they had a great time. They were then offered the chance to drive, which Drew took them up on, even though he wasn't really given any instruction at all. They each also had a signed helmet they could keep.

Meanwhile, the Green Tigers also were around cars, but their punishment involved working at a Japanese gas station, which involved not just filling tanks but also cleaning cars, cleaning out the ashtray, cleaning the windows and even changing a tire, all without a translator. They had some pretty interesting customers too, from a Godfather/mob-type dude, to the convertible full of "Grease"/Elvis guys to a very particular owner of what looked like a massive roach coach almost.

After their punishment, it was time for the Green Tigers to go back to the studio for the elimination game. They had already made their decision about the participants the night before. Brent said that he didn't think he should be sent back to the elimination round since he'd done well in both challenges, and the others agreed. Megan tearfully said she didn't want to be in the elimination round either, but based on her performance, she had to volunteer. She was given the choice of choosing the other participant, so she had to choose between the two people she had bonded with. She picked Bobaloo because she thought she'd have a better chance of winning against him.

The name of the elimination game was "Alien Took My Teddy Bear". And for the record, they weren't teddy bears - they were panda bears. Different. Each of the contestants had to take a giant stuffed panda, go up one conveyor belt, make their way through another section with three spinning discs, and then another conveyor belt before depositing the bear in a bin. Whoever delivered the most bears in the allotted time won the game.

Bobaloo was picked to go first. He didn't have much trouble to begin with and delivered one bear without too much trouble. But he wasn't so lucky on subsequent attempts. He fell three times, each time being deposited into a bin of flour, and that meant he had to start all over again. The game really took its toll on him, and he only ended up with the one bear.

Then it was Megan's turn. She fell on her first try and had some difficulty but finally managed to deliver her first bear. On her second try, she fell in the spinning discs section, but she was trapped in between two of them, so she never fell in the flour. She finally managed to get her footing again, and she delivered her second bear with only seconds to spare, winning the game.

Megan was happy at her win but sorry to see Bobaloo go. He took the defeat very well and was happy to have been able to participate in the show. I had wondered how the Sayonara Mob was going to handle carrying out Bobaloo, and I did notice that one of the bulkier guys was given the task of carrying Bobaloo's mid-section while some of the other guys had his arms and legs.

I didn't really have a feeling about Bobaloo one way or the other, but he went out well, so good job.

Bob "Bobaloo" Koenig
Bob "Bobaloo" Koenig is a loud, large, loveable guy with true Midwest values. Growing up in Milwaukee, Bobaloo was always the funny athletic kid who loved sports and traditional Midwestern food. With a healthy diet of beer and cheese, he was the chubby kid everyone loved to be around. Not much has changed for Bobaloo since his childhood days -- he's still the funny, high-energy guy from the Midwest everyone wants on their team.
Age: 35
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: House Cleaner

More Japanese madness next week, and it looks like things are heating up between Drew and Jamie. What is this - Big Brother or Survivor?

Hai, Majide!

"I Survived a Japanese Game Show" - July 1, 2009 episode

The Green Tigers were enjoying their win streak while the Red Robots were determined to win a challenge. And then the twist - instructions came down that to even out the players (since the Green Tigers still had 6 people but the Red Robots were down to 4), the Green Tigers had to pick one person to send to the Red Robots. The person chosen to change sides was Cathy, who wasn't happy about being sent away, but she was hell-bent on showing her old teammates that they made a serious mistake.

The first challenge was called "Gopher Make U Crazy", which was a variation of Whack-A-Mole. The team members had to pop up out of a hole and spit ping pong balls into a bin. One of the opposing team members was in the middle with a mallet that they could hit the popping-up people with. The remaining four team members each had a flimsy noodle thing with which they could deflect the balls being spit into the bins. Of course, that made a mismatch since there were 5 spitters and 4 noodle people, but they never really addressed that. Bobaloo did a really good job for the Green Tigers, and even though he was getting whacked, it had no effect on him. When it came time to switch, Linda was the mallet person for the Green Tigers, and she was hitting the Red Robots pretty good - but she'd end up hitting them after they'd already spit the ball, which did no good to try to stop them from spitting the ball in the first place.


You can see the purple section has a cameraman instead of a noodle person.

Whack-er and whack-ee.

Noodle.


I absolutely *loved* this game!


When both teams had gone, they revealed the count of ping pong balls.

Green Tigers - 66
Red Robots - 106





The Red Robots won by a landslide, with newest member Cathy responsible for 32 balls all on her own.

They then went immediately into the second challenge, which had them wearing mouse outfits, with ears and a nose. The game was called "4 Near-Sighted Mice & Big Cheese". One team member was designated the big cheese and swung over the playing field, calling out instructions to the other team members. The rest of the team wore goggles with only a tiny bit of vision that was allowed, and one person would set a carton of milk on a conveyor belt, and then the other 3 had to try to catch the carton, while wearing boxing gloves, and then dump the milk in a large bin. Whoever ended up with the most milk won the game. Because the Red Robots won the first challenge, they had an advantage in this game - one of their mice members did not have to wear boxing gloves, ostensibly making it easier to catch the cartons. I didn't really think it was that much of an advantage.

At the end of the game, the Red Robots were revealed to have quite a bit more milk than the Green Tigers, marking the first time the Green Tigers won a reward and wouldn't have to go to the elimination round.

The Green Tigers' punishment was to build a zen garden, which ended up right in their backyard. It was a lot of hard work and manual labor, and when they were given a break for lunch, they got scary food that creeped them all out.

The Red Robots, on the other hand, started off their reward with a first class train ride, which ended up being on the bullet train, where they were given chocolate and sake to enjoy on the ride.





Their destination was a spectacular restaurant, but when they arrived there, it looked like any other little restaurant.





They were surprised, though, when some of the servers were monkeys, bringing them hot towels and opening bottles of liquor for them. (Here's an article about that restaurant. And here's another one, with video. And a third, also with video.)





They very much enjoyed their food (though I couldn't tell what they were being served), and then after the meal, the monkeys even performed a show with tricks for them. This would *SO* not happen in the U.S. for a myriad of reasons.





The Green Tigers then had to choose two people for the elimination round, and rather than do as the Red Robots had done and choose their weakest members, they decided to eliminate their competition and chose Brent and Debbie, two of their strongest players.

Brent and Debbie had to wear full-body penguin outfits, and the elimination game was called "Big Penguin Belly Flop". There were balloon eggs that they had to pop using their belly, and whoever popped the most in 2 minutes won. What's with the whole popping giant balloons with your body thing? They've used that trick a few times, though this was the first time where it had to be with your belly.

Brent went first and did a pretty good job, though he also made a mess. His popped balloon count was 20.

Then Debbie went, and her smaller size proved to be a disadvantage as she was having a hard time popping the balloons just by landing on them. By the time she figured it out, she had lost a lot of time, and when she was done, she had popped only 16 balloons, which meant she was out.


I was sorry to see Debbie go, because I liked her. She was ragging on Bobaloo *hard* though, including making some really mean personal comments. Oh, well, phone's ringing for you, Debbie, and it's the Sayonara boys.

Debbie Kaufman
Debbie is an incredibly book smart, eccentric and funny young woman. She was raised an only child by supportive parents who shielded her from the realities of sharing, poverty and heartache. Debbie hasn't had to deal with a world that says "no" or tells her that she isn't good enough. She believes that she can do anything, get anything she desires, and she isn't afraid to tell you what's on her mind.
Age: 22
Hometown: Easton, CT
Occupation: Stable Hand

Hai, Majide!