So, not too long ago, I get a call from an agency saying that they want foreigners who can be competitors for a gameshow. Given the excessively painful nature of Japanese gameshows, (the last time I did a gameshow, I ended up being dragged across a field behind a car with a piece of carpet on my chest), my initial instincts told me to say "Hell no". Upon hearing the hesitation in my voice however, the agent assured me that it was an American gameshow pilot, not an actual Japanese one, and for that reason, I thought to myself, "Well...why not? More experience is always better, right? As long as its nothing like "Wipeout". I should be fine."
Anyway, sure enough, a week or two later I got a call from the show's American produer saying that I had been selected for the show, and when I asked him what it was like, he said, "Kind of like Wipeout... Except skill isn't a factor. It all comes down to luck." Hmmm... Not exactly the news I wanted to hear, but at that point, I was already selected, so there was no turning back. Given that I would get paid the same amount whether I won the game or was out in the first round, I thought that if luck was on my side, I could just get out in the first round, take my paycheck and go home early without too much in the way of life-threatening escapades.
As fate saw fit however, luck wasn't on my side (or was it?) and I was one of the competitors who just managed to endure round after round of everything from being shot at with volleyballs to having wild animals eating raw meat off of our heads, and each and every time got through unscathed.
Finally, once the 24 competitors had been widdled down to 4, for the sake of making it interesting, the director and producer said they would double the payment for the winner. At that point, I thought, "What the hell. I've been here all day, I might as well go for it." and I did. In the end, it came down to myself and my good friend, Rudy, a breaker and actor from Compton, who because of our physical similarities I usually see at all the same auditions. It was funny that it came down to the two of us, because it isn't the first time it happened. We were also both in the new Japanese movie, Space Brothers." (He was cast as an astronaut and I was cast as a NASA security guard)
There have been other times as well where I have been selected and he hasn't, but on this occasion, the day was Rudy's. A role of dice caused the hammer to come down on me (literally) and I found myself lying in a cold and disgusting moat of purple Vaseline. In the end, we both ended up going home around 10pm, 14 hours after I got there. Contrasting this with the people who were out in the first round and were home before lunch (without even having to change out of their street clothes), I don't know if I would consider my 2nd place standing lucky or not.
After all was said and done, Rudy hung out a bit so I could shower and we walked back to the station together. If it wasn't my fate to win that day, I was happy to see that it was his. Rudy's a modest and hardworking actor- (the kind that this industry could use more of). Furthermore, when it all comes down to it, the bonus would have been nice, but I got the paycheck I was expecting with no injuries to speak of, so no complaints. Well... Except for the fact that one of my toenails is still purple from that damn Vaseline anyway.
Unfortunately, as the show was just a pilot no one will ever really see it (unless I can get a copy of it somehow). If however, a crazy lucked based gameshow comes out in the states though, you guys will know that I was one of the test participants for it, and depending on how you look at it, I was either the 2nd luckiest or unluckiest guy there. ;)
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