Japanese Treatment in the Works for French Game Show

PARIS: The successful French game show Tout le Monde Veut Prendre sa Place (Hold On to your Seat!) is being adapted in Japan for NHK, in a deal scored by Banijay International.

NHK will produce five pilot episodes that will air twice a day to secure a regular stripped slot. The Japanese adaptation of the show will be called Hold On! in English. Contestants consisting of ordinary people and celebrities will win points and prizes but not win money as they do in the French version.

Ukranian broadcaster ICTV has ordered a 20-episode series to begin airing later this year in an afternoon slot. Cuatro in Spain has ordered a pilot that is slated to air this year. The game show was created by Effervescence Productions for France 2 and debuted in 2006. It is currently stripped seven days a week.

Simone Halberstadt Harari, the president of Effervescence Productions, said, “We’re delighted to share this incredibly strong, ratings-winning format with Japan. Owing to its simplicity, fast pace and nail-biting addictiveness, it has become such a core part of daily French viewing. We can’t wait to see the reaction of its first Asian viewers.”