BBC plans human Tetris show

Fancy watching a bit of live Tetris on your TV screen? Hmmm… doesn’t exactly sound enticing, does it? But fear not – the BBC’s plans to bring the Russian shape-shifting puzzle to the gogglebox don’t involve watching a bunch of bespectacled, spotty youths playing Nintendo.

No, what we’re talking about here is human Tetris – where hapless members of the public are on hand to play the part of one of the bricks.

It’s all based on the hit Japanese show Tunnels no minnasan no okage deshita (snappy, eh?) where contestants are faced with a succession of moving walls with a variety of different shaped holes in them. If they fail to negotiate the hole, they contestants end up knocked off their perch in a pool of gunk. Think Gladiators meets Noel’s House Party and you’re almost there.

The format was piloted by the BBC earlier in the year, and is now being developed as an element of a new 11-part series. The Japanese original has been widely watched on YouTube and nicknamed Hole In The Wall. In case you’ve missed out on all the fuss, here’s a clip from the show.

by Stewart Turner, Thursday 19 June 2008

Source: Digital Spy

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