"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!