Hole in the Wall, this summer's latest Japanese game show ripoff, has announced its hosts. Actress Brooke Burns and L.A. weather anchor Mark Thompson will be presiding over Fox's version of human Tetris. Both have game show experience, with Burns having served as the host of Dog Eat Dog and Thompson providing the voiceover for Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

Hole is being brought to America by American Idol producers FremantleMedia North America and came to be after clips of the Japanese version became hugely popular on YouTube. Ellen DeGeneres also got a kick out of the Japanese competition, not only featuring several clips on her talk show, but even going so far as having audience members participate in her own version.

If you've had enough of shows being imported to the US from the UK, maybe some Japanese grown entertainment will work for you. On the heels of ABC's upcoming Wipeout, and Fox's Hole In The Wall, another popular Japanese game show could be crossing the Pacific.

Vin Di Bona Productions, of America's Funniest Home Videos fame, has acquired the rights to Masquerade (Kasou Taishou). The show, which the linked article calls Japan's longest running hit series, finds contestants using costumes, props, and sets to create performances that trick the eye. Sound confusing? I thought so too. There are a couple videos of just what that entails after the jump. Having now watched them, it is an interesting concept, but I don't see it being an idea that works as a weekly series. As far as I can tell, it's only done a couple of times a year in Japan. That sounds much more reasonable to me. Of course, I never would have guessed that dad getting hit in the nuts with a Wiffle ball bat would still be working after 19 years either.

[ via Reuters ]

Human Tetris: It's the stupidest, simplest idea ever for a game show... which makes it frickin' brilliant! (Although, my co-worker, Joel, does not agree) Audiences in Japan and Denmark are nuts for it. That was enough for Fox to go from ordering one pilot to grabbing up an entire season, based on the popularity of the shows overseas and on the internet.

The version coming to American television next season is called Hole in the Wall. This game show is about people contorting their bodies to fit through an odd-shaped hole in a wall. The wall comes flying at them and they have to fit through the hole or be pushed into a pool of water. Simple, right? And it's going to be addictive as hell.

One of my regular blog haunts is the game show news site BuzzerBlog, and when I logged into it today and saw this post, I couldn't believe my eyes: FOX and Fremantle Media are apparently putting together an American version of the popular Japanese game show Hole in the Wall. I was so flabbergasted that I had to see who else reported on it; sure enough, it was right there in Variety for all to see.

If you're not sure what Hole in the Wall is, take a look at the video after the jump. Basically, it's a game of human Tetris: contestants have to bend themselves into the shape of a cutout on a fast-approaching wall. If they do it in time, they go through the wall. If they don't, the wall pushes them into a pool of water. That's it. That's the whole game.