Sponge (TV series)
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Sponge (Korean: 스펀지) is a South Korean TV variety show that debuted in November 2003 on KBS2. The show claims to be "infotainment," and revolves around presenting various pieces of triva in an entertaining fashion. The pieces of trivia are often sent in by viewers who wish to broadcast some piece of little known information they have.
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[edit] Hosts
The show currently has three host: Lee Hyuk Jae (who also goes by the name Dr. Lee on the show), Go Min Jeong, and Lee Hee Jae. Additionally each week a panel of celebrities is present.
[edit] The Show's Format
Each piece of trivia is introduced as a sentence with a blank missing. A pannel of guests including singers, comedians, and actors then attempt to fill in the missing blank. After the guests make their guesses, the answer is revealed and then proof is offered to show how this piece of trivia is true.
Following the video evidence a pannel of 50 judges vote on how interesting the particular piece of trivia was, rating it on a scale of one to five stars. For people that submitted items that received five stars, a cash prize of 1,000,000 won is awarded.
[edit] Self Sponge
Self Sponge is a portion of the show during which viewers at home can submit their own pieces of trivia with experiments conducted at home. Due to Sponge's connection to the Korean web portal, Naver these videos can be submitted via the internet. Each week three Self Sponge videos are broadcast and the celebrity judges select one winner.
[edit] Top Web Searches
Each week the program ends with that week's top internet searches on Naver.
[edit] Criticism
The show was criticized for being very similar to a trivia program produced by Fuji TV in Japan. The show in question was called Trivia no izumi was first broadcast in October of 2002. When Sponge debuted the following year, producers of Trivia no izumi complained about the stylistic similarities between the two shows, which lead the producers of Sponge to slightly retool the format.
