Hey! Spring of Trivia | |
---|---|
Genre | Comedy |
Presented by | Katsumi Takahashi Norito Yashima |
Judges |
Tamori Bibiru Ōki Becky Rabone Megumi Hiroshi Aramata |
Narrated by | Shinji Nakae |
Country of origin | Japan |
Original language(s) | Japanese |
Release | |
Original network | Fuji TV |
Original release | October 7, 2002 – September 7, 2006 |
Hey! Spring of Trivia is the name given by Spike TV to the show The Fountain of Trivia (トリビアの泉 Toribia no Izumi?), a Japanese variety show on Fuji TV.
"Trivia" consists of a series of video segments that introduce and confirm the validity of unusual trivia. Past trivia has included exploding erasers, spiders affected by caffeine, and insects that cannot be killed. Most of the trivia on the show is sent in by viewers. A celebrity panel of five judges (ten in special episodes) evaluate each video segment and votes on how interesting it is by pushing a "hey!"-button (Japanese: へぇ~ボタン; Hē-botan) every time they are astonished. ("Hey" (Japanese: へぇ; Hē) is the Japanese interjection for expressing genuine surprise, equivalent to a mix of the English interjections "For real?" and "Wow!".) The total of all "Hey"s collected during the presentation of the trivia (maximum of 20 per judge) is then used as the indicator for the degree of surprise of this trivia. For every "Hey" a piece of trivia gets, the trivia submitter receives 100 yen. Should it receive a perfect score of 100 Heys (200 in special episodes), the trivia submitter receives 100,000 yen (200,000 in special episodes). To date no piece of trivia has received 100 Heys.
At some point in the show, there is a segment called "Seed of Trivia" (Japanese: トリビアの種; Toribia-no-tane). Viewers submit hypothetical questions intended to produce answers in the form of new trivia; "Trivia" then "go[es] to great lengths to answer them." Tamori (referred to as "Chairman Tamori" in the English dubbed version) evaluates the Seed of Trivia by pulling a lever. The Seed of Trivia's grade is shown as a flower. "Full bloom" (Japanese 満開; Mankai) is the highest of grades. Past examples of "Seed of Trivia" segments have included the fastest Japanese baseball mascots, the brand of ramen containing the greatest net noodle length per package, and which form of barbecue lions prefer most.