The Gong Show made performers anxiously try to complete their act before being gonged off the stage. The Japanese game show, Debu Tan 3 (デビュたん3), replaces the gong with the threat of missing your train. Bikini-clad contestants deboard a train, then they have just 60 seconds to debut their talent and reboard.
In fact, one unfortunate contestant is left behind when she takes a little too long with her uniquely Japanese talent. The woman ties herself up to recreate rope bondage known as Kinbaku, or tight binding. She then puts a latex glove over her head and breathes heavily until it bursts. The understandably lightheaded girl loses more than her train of thought. She rushes to board her departing train without her clothes.
Another contestant tries her luck with a pick a card trick. However, there’s no magic here. She picks her own card by pretending to shuffle the deck, which puts in the judge’s pocket. Once she boards the train, she reveals a planted card in her bikini top.
A flexible woman wows the judges by putting her arms behind her head and fondling her own breasts. The performance may seem gong worthy to an American audience but the caption repeatedly declares it is sugoi (すごい), or amazing.
The TV special aired on 8/11/17 which conveniently coincides with Mountain Day, a newly conceived holiday when the Japanese admire their nation’s glorious peaks.