"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!