Apparently, many people don’t know that Distraction, with the same host, is (was?) on Comedy Central, too. However, it does appear, from what I’ve seen/heard of the UK version, that CC doesn’t allow the show to go QUITE as far as they do there. Can anyone confirm/deny? Which stunts WON’T they do?
(They’ve done tattoos, but not piercings, and they have some of the pain to buzz in ones, and the bonus rounds seem pretty intact. Oh, yeah, and the peeing buzzer thing is a fave in the US version.)
Correct. There general attitude on TV here seems to be “who wants to watch a bunch of nobodies?” For the last 10+ years (and probably further back), the contestants on nearly every “game show” in Japan have been either well-known celebrities or apprentice comedians (as in the OP’s clip, which explains some of the odd hairstyles; ordinary folks don’t wear bowl-cuts). The celebrities generally goof around and have fun, while the apprentice comedians get the ever-loving snot beaten out of them by the elder comedians. The comedians aren’t necessarily trying to win, they’re trying to get as much attention and camera time as possible to gain enough popularity to eventually become elder comedians themselves so they can beat the crap out of their own apprentices someday.
Incidentally, Masatoshi Hamada (the guy in light blue who’s asking all the questions), is one of the wealthiest performers on Japanese TV, mainly through buying the contracts of younger performers, getting them on his own shows, and taking a huge cut when they get famous. This means that just about everyone in that clip is little more than his indentured servant (except for the guy in red, Hitoshi Matsumoto, who was Hamada’s original partner): they either do exactly what he tells them to do, or else they never work in show business again.
Does anyone else find it disturbing that it was her father that wrote that?
Roller Ball would be my choice for the game show I’d want to be on the least.
“Your game shows reward knowledge. Ours punish ignorance!”
I’ve never seen the gross foods - sheep testes, and grubs - or the shooting with paintballs/various rancid food items/shit; no piercing, but they did do tattoing, like you said; I don’t think I’ve seen the US contestants thrown around by pro wrestlers, or beaten on by kick boxers, bouncers, or bullies.
There’s no burning money on the US version, whereas that’s a common final round on the UK version. (Slightly more hazardous than smashing shit, I guess. And perhaps against the law down there?)
Also, for general toning down - the host doesn’t swear as much, they ask fewer sexual questions about the contestants, and the nudists have much smaller roles and are blurred. (Which is a pity…the US stable of nudists is a LOT more attractive than the UK, even with the fat and old people…because ALL of the UK nudists are fat and old.)
I’m not sure the distractions are really TONED DOWN, so much as aimed at a different audience.