Advertisement

Crazy segments in Japanese game shows

Japanese game show AKBingo! (Photo: Youtube screengrab)

[CORRECTED on 15 May 2015 at 12:50pm: An earlier version said that a cockroach was used in the game, but actually, a cicada was used.]

Japanese game shows have been known to defy sense and test the courage of its contestants. From smelling underwear to getting slapped to falling into the unknown, the Japanese have done them all.

By now, you should have seen the video of two girls blowing a cicada through a tube back and forth between each other. The goal? To not let that itty-bitty creature get blown into your mouth.

The segment is from the show AKBingo!, which stars AKB48, a popular Japanese all-girl group. In every episode of the show, the girls will undergo challenges, answer quizzes and solve riddles. The blowing of the cockroach was one of the activities the girls had to do.

In regards to this cringe-worthy video, we found several others that make one question how the Japanese game show creators come up with the game segments and why the contestants would agree to be subjected to these setups.

The Beam Room, DERO!

This game is part of the game show DERO!, an escape room style show. In the show, contestants are locked in a room and the goal is to escape from it. There are different rooms with its different ways to escape each room, all of which features odd challenges.

The falling pit room is known as The Beam Room, where contestants are first made to stand on metal beams hanging over a black pit. After all contestants are safely on the beams, they will then have to take turns answering questions. The catch? The beams will slowly retract into the wall as the questions are being answered until all the contestants left on the beams are from the same team.

Mummification, TORE!

From the game show TORE!, which is similar to DERO!, contestants have to undergo a series of challenges to win the game. In this segment, contestants have to solve riddles in order to win. The interesting part? A mummification machine slowly wraps the contestant to a pole for every wrong answer, until he or she is fully wrapped up.

Wall of boxes, Gaki No Tsukai

Gaki No Tsukai is a game show that features plenty of different segments of games. It first aired in 1989, and is still ongoing. An example of the game segment is Silent Library, which was picked up by the US’ MTV.

One segment is where contestants sit at the top of a wall made of boxes. They are then tasked to pick a number from a screen and the number chosen will bring about their downfall. From volleyball girls to a tank, the game ends when the wall topples and the contestant falls. Imagine having a fear of heights and then being told to sit at the top of a wall with nothing to hold.

Marshmallow Rubber Band, Gaki No Tsukai

Perhaps a more popular game segment, the Marshmallow Rubber Band is one of the funniest Japanese game shows, in our opinion. Also from Gaki No Tsukai, the goal of the game is to have the contestants eat marshmallows that are dangled on a string in front of them. The contestants will have to pull against a rubber band that’s stretched across their face to get to the marshmallows. They are only allowed to use their mouth to grab the candy, and not their hands.