Susunu! Denpa Shōnen

was a Japanese reality TV show which aired from November 1, 1998 to September 29, 2002 on the Nihon TV network.

The title is a difficult to translate pun. The predecessor of the show was called "Susume Denpa Shōnen" (litt. "Forward! RadioWave Youth"). To depict that the show indeed moved forward, one of the characters of the title was made longer (graphically changing the nihongo|"me"|め into nihongo|"nu"|ぬ), resulting into a title more or less meaning "Do not advance ! RadioWave Youth".

The show was known for the extreme and absurd situations in which the participants were put. It reached extremely high level of audience during its short course, and became also quite controversial due to the challenges bordering on the sadistic and television producers changing the rules if they felt the participants were doing too well.

The participants were usually unknown comedians who were ready to do anything to get famous. Upon application, they were chosen randomly, and were not told what the objective of their challenge was. Some of the challengers became more or less famous, while some remained relatively unknown.

The program's cancellation was related to a government crackdown on "torture" themed shows. [http://www.chiprowe.com/videorev/japanesetv.html]

Major challenges

In its 4 year course, there were roughly 20 challenges accomplished by the participants.

Amongst the best known are

*Denpa Shōnen teki Kenshō Seikatsu (電波少年的懸賞生活 litt. "a life out of prizes by Denpa Shōnen) is probably one of the most known challenges of the show. Nasubi, a young comedian was forced to live almost a year naked in an apartment by living (including eating...) "only" on commercial sweepstakes.

*Denpa Shōnen teki Mujinto Dasshutsu (電波少年的無人島脱出 litt. "Escape from a desert island by Denpa Shōnen) and the Swam series. Two comedians were put on a desert island, with no food or no clue about where they were, and were only told that their ordeal would finish if they built a raft and reached Tokyo. After their escape from the desert island (it took them 4 months), they were given a swan looking pedalo and were told to reach Tokyo with it, and then go with the same pedalo from India to Indonesia.

*Denpa Shōnen teki Africa Europa Tairiku Odan Hitchhike no tabi (電波少年的アフリカ・ヨーロッパ大陸縦断ヒッチハイクの旅, litt. "Hitchhiking across the continents of Europe and Africa with Denpa Shōnen"). A comedian and a Radio DJ from Hong Kong named Zhe Zhiuyan hitchhiked from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa to Nordkapp in Norway.

*Denpa Shōnen teki Pennant Race (電波少年的ペナントレース) "The Denpa Shonen Pennant Race". This segment tested the loyalties of diehard fans of the Japan League Baseball teams - the Yomiuri Giants, the Hanshin Tigers, and the Chunichi Dragons. The contestants would be confined to a single room with a TV that only showed their team's baseball games. Their faces would also be hidden from public view. If their team won, they got to eat dinner and a small portion of their face would be revealed to the audience. If their team lost, they would get no food and the lights would turn out, leaving them in darkness until the next day's game. If the contestant's favorite team went on a win streak, the quality of the food they could eat would increase as well as gain public exposure and popularity due to their entire face being shown on TV until their team finally lost. A losing streak would mean that a contestant could go days in the dark without food. At the end of the season, the contestant would win an overall prize depending on how their team placed.

ee also

*Nasubi - A comedian that gained a moniker of fame via the show.
*Bluem of Youth - A J-Pop duo that garnered its biggest success with their involvement with the show.