James Fallows

« Harping on the RMB | Main | Gao Xiqing interview in the new Atlantic »

About that oddball Korean game show....

05 Dec 2008 01:01 am

.... the one where contestants wore campy, antique Harvard/Yale-style blazers:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r96/jfallows/IMG_5860.jpg

Courtesy of a reader who knows Korean pop culture, the real story:
The show is actually a take-off of another game show "The Golden Bell", which is a quiz show for high school students. (Basically, they go to a high school and gather 100 students and the students all answer tough trivia questions round by round until no students are left or until the final round, which is the 'golden bell' round. It's very tough and 'golden bell' winners are rare and highly regarded, apparently.)

Anyway, the stills/video you have are for a show that features actors/musicians/MCs who compete in a "Golden Bell" take-off. The questions aren't really tough trivia, but little word-games and puzzles that the stars play to collect money for charity.

The uniforms are supposed to be take-off of school uniforms, so it makes sense that they remind one of the Yale/Harvard uniforms.
So there. As I said when first raising this topic, life is strange.