I SURVIVED A JAPANESE GAME SHOW - Pedal Fast or Big Splash

I love the titles they give all of their challenges for Majide, the show-within-a-show on I Survived a Japanese Game Show. 

This week the American contestants faced "Pedal Fast or Big Splash," which is both the title of the game and how you play it.  For the elimination round, two contestants donned Velcro suits for "You Look Funny Stuck On the Wall," a title which really distills the essence of what the challenge is all about.

I have to admit, "Pedal Fast or Big Splash" looked pretty hard.  They should have called it, "Pedal Fast Then Big Splash" because failure was inevitable.  The Yellow Penguins and Green Monkeys both tried as hard as they humanly could to keep an adult on a tricycle from plunging into a moat of ice water.  It's harder than it sounds.

Here's how it worked:  One team member rode the tricycle on a big conveyor belt.  Two other team members rode stationary bikes as fast as they could, because the faster they rode, the slower the conveyor belt went.  The goal was to keep the tricycle in the "red zone" on the conveyor belt for the longest time.  Ultimately, the person on the tricycle ends up in a giant vat of water that the Majide production crew keep freshening up with bags of ice.

In the end, the Green Monkeys lost by only 4 seconds, but lose they did.  Again.  This time the penalty gleefully imposed on the team was a day in the paddies planting rice, which is not easy.  The winning Yellow Penguins got a tour of Tsukiji Market, a vast fish market where they sell $20 million in seafood per day.  It's absolutely huge and is packed with huge and exotic fish, some of which I doubt are from Earth.

Since they lost the "Pedal Fast..." game, the GMs have to select two players to compete in the elimination game, where the loser goes home.  Meaghan volunteered to go up against Darcy, (who has been chosen for the elimation three times now) but she wanted immunity for volunteering.  Everyone on the team agreed, but just before the elimination game, Darnell went back on his word and says he's reconsidered the whol immunity deal.  Darnell, you cad!  This angers Meaghan greatly.

Meaghan and Darcy face off in the ultimate game of trampoline and Velcro:  "You Look Funny Stuck On the Wall."  As you might have gathered from the picture, the object is to bounce off a trampoline on to a felt wall - while wearing a Velcro suit.  You try to position your body in mid-air to match the shapes on the felt wall.  Meaghan is really, really good at this.  Darcy?  Not so much.

In the end, the Sayonara Guys came for Darcy and carted her away, singing "SAYONARA!!!" along with the crowd.  It's a moment of poignancy masked by obnoxious behavior.  Because, when you think about it, sooner or later the Sayonara Guys come for us all.

--Dave Campbell