Continuing from Part 2.
While doing my best to prepare for the top prize, I was becoming more and more reluctant to appear on the show. It was probably unique to the Japanese version that it featured a little vignette that gave a glimpse into the private life of each contestant. The show disclosed their real names, where they lived, their family situations, their alma maters, and their occupations. I imagined my private life being sliced and diced for everyone to see by the arrogant Minomonta on public television, and that thought depressed me to no end. What if someone saw that and decided to kidnap my son and demand a ransom of 10M yen? I was seriously worried.
On top of that, the series of interviews at Fuji television disgusted me. They kept filming me throughout the interviews. They made me do a fist pump and say, "I'll do my best to win 10M yen!" I winced and somehow managed to do as I was told. They also asked me very personal questions, like why I had divorced. Based on my answers, they were clearly planning to create half-fake introduction footage about me. To make things worse, they even forced me to lie about how I would use the 10M yen. I'm not an idiot — my only plan for the money was to put it straight into my savings account; I was a single mom with no savings. However, they said that wasn't exciting enough and gave me something scripted to say — though I've forgotten what it was — and filmed that as well.
All of that really drained my energy, and I was torn between my desire for the 10M yen and my reluctance to appear on the show. I was totally on the fence about whether to go through with it or not. In the end, I finally determined to sell my soul for 10M yen and appear on the show.
The next part will be the final post in this series.
I love this series!!! It's so gripping. I can't wait to read the final installment! I hope you don't mind that I kind of reworded a lot of things in this post. I think I've gained an understand of what you're trying to say sometimes and I try to read between the lines and express what you might've not found the words for.
What an awful bunch!
@CocoPop Thank you as always, Uly! I've been thinking that you might be able to read minds because you guess what I'm trying to say really well ✨ Your rewordings are so interesting and informative!
@Simone- As you may know, Fuji television would be accused of a scandal. I wasn't surprised at all. That's just how they are as a company.
PS: You used alma mater perfectly!
@CocoPop Yes! I remember it now!
It makes sense that they'd make you say things that'd be more exciting for the show. And I can somewhat understand showing as much of one's life as they possibly can, so that a viewer could get the feeling that the show isn't heavily scripted and the contestants are real people, not hired actors. But showing too much of your personal info is just irresponsible and invites disaster. I wouldn't want that to be out there in the public either.
I can't wait for the next part.
Everybody's on the edge of their seat waiting for the last installment. No pressure! 😬