Small Group Communication - Application

Game shows are relatively popular TV shows. One show that featured opposing teams was “I Survived a Japanese Game Show.” Two different teams from America fly to Japan and participate in a game show series unless the individual gets terminated from their team and are forced to go back home. The teams work as small groups in order to increase their chances of winning better prizes like Japanese spa treatments versus losing and cleaning a dirty, busy casino. Winning challenges as a team also increased the amount of grand prize money the winning individual wins, as the last one standing.
It seems as if people see entertainment in people humiliating themselves. However, these teams who begin as “small groups” cope with media pressure and peer pressure to carry out each task. The members of these teams could range from being a stay-at-home-soccer-mom to an ultimate athlete or maybe a computer programming guy. These teams also have to think strategically about the person they want to eliminate from their team as it could mean getting rid of the strongest person or keeping them until the final straw. I noticed from the two seasons of the show, there is always a female or male that the entire team and opposing team underestimate. Eventually the underdog comes out on top and it pays off for them. Sometimes, team leaders become overly demanding and other times they are not aggressive enough to help guide the team. This show demonstrates how a small group of different backgrounds somehow learn how to co-exist to reach a common goal in an entirely different country and function under pressure especially with such incentives in mind.