The Japanese are a rather inventive people when it comes to game shows. The strange and odd things they come up with to challenge contestants is amazing and unique. There is one game show that a particular portion of it made the rounds on YouTube for a bit.
For those who are not aware of it, the show was/is called ‘TORE!’ and consists of two groups of contestants competing against each other. I don’t speak or read the Japanese language so I can’t tell you the exact nature of what was going on, but I certainly got the gist of it. Apparently they would get popular and notable people from TV shows or other popular media in Japan and have two groups who would compete against each other for points.
The challenges were a two part deal. Depending on the challenge, one or two people got selected from one or both of the groups and had to solve puzzles or answer questions within a certain time frame. To raise the pressure level, during the time limit there was also a physical component that would make the person stress out more.
There would be things like a ‘quicksand’ pit where the person would slowly sink as the time ran out, or a large wide ‘slide’ at a steep angle where hand or foot holds would slowly retract until the person slid down into a ‘bottomless pit’, or a wall they had to stand against on a very narrow ledge with another ‘bottomless pit’ at their feet while random blocks in the wall would extend out taking up room for them to stand and ultimately pushing them off the ledge. Of course all of the challenges were setup to appear to be ‘deadly’ but were quite safe for the groups.
The one that this story is about is the ancient Egypt room. A single challenger - later episodes did have two at a time up there - got placed standing up against a square metal pole with their feet in solid white boots. A contraption is on either side of them that held two large rolls of white cloth on spools. The cloth is stretched out from the rolls and caught between the back of the boots and the front of the pole that extends well above the contestants head. Interestingly enough, I only ever saw female contestants being placed in this challenge. That’s not to say the men also faced this one, but the videos on YouTube focused on the females.
To start the game the device would spin around the person and wrap the cloth around their legs up to just below their crotch. Then they’d be informed of the type of question they had to answer which consisted of needing to list about seven things to complete the challenge. While they are trying to fill up the list the rolls of cloth are spinning around and slowly mummifying them.
The device raises the rollers fairly slowly so the layers really get built up around the person’s body. They are free to move their hands around at the start, but when the cloth reaches high enough they are supposed to cross their arms over their chest just like a classic mummy. The device is of course linked to the countdown timer and will go all the way up wrapping above their head to fully mummify and secure them to the pole they are standing against. From what I can tell in the videos the cloth seems to be slightly elastic and there appears to be some tension control on the rolls so the cloth is pulled somewhat tightly around the victim of the challenge. It also looks like the cloth is at least twelve inches wide, and I think it may be a bit wider than that even. In all of the videos I’ve seen online not one of the contestants ever beat the mummy challenge. By the end it looks like the new mummy is not able to move hardly at all due to the tension and numerous layers of the cloth that secures them to the large metal pole.
Initially, the boots were separate and had an obvious gap between them. Once the person was wrapped up it looked wrong for there to be a noticeable gap down between their feet and ankles area. Later the boots were joined into one so the gap was gone and the finished mummy looked more solid. I’ve also noticed that once the rolls reach the top and stop spinning it appears that only half of the rolls have been used, so there is enough to go all the way back down again to the bottom.
I’ve had a thought about the game show and a twist they could pull on the people who are playing. Of course my focus is on the mummy room, but I’m sure that they could come up with something appropriate that fits the other challenges too.
What if, once the person fails and is defeated by the timer running out and they are fully wrapped up, they have to stay wrapped for the rest of the entire game show duration? They would become a liability to carry around by the other contestants, or could simply sit there to the side as a reminder that they have lost one team member.
This story is a bit of a lucid dream thought challenge about how that might work out, and is told from a third person point of view where we get to watch what happens while also being able to get the reactions from the person in the challenge.
Mimizumi is the first contestant to be selected for this episode of the show, and she has gotten her favorite challenge to participate in. She will be going against the timer in the Mummy Room.
Mimizumi tries to peer around in the darkness but there is hardly any light to see by. The game show is still quite popular and she had seen the challenge for this room many times on television, but she wants to see it up close and in person now that she is a contestant. The show managers want to keep it a surprise to get her reaction so the entire set has been kept really dark with almost no lights at all. When she was selected as the challenger for the mummy room she had also been informed that another update to the game had been made. The producers felt that the boots still looked too fake so they ordered another change to make them look better.
She had been brought in by two game show workers and sat down on the edge of the platform she was to stand on. They were so concerned with not letting her see anything that the two of them had small flashlight lamps on bands around their heads so they could see to work, but did not give enough light to show anything else around her. Her shoes had been removed and the two people proceeded to wrap up her feet, ankles, and lower legs with bandages up about the same height as the boots used to reach. First they had wound several layers around her legs individually, and then they pulled her legs together and wrapped even more layers around tying her legs to each other. The result was a rather thick bundle of bandages that completely enclosed her toes, feet, ankles, and about a foot of her lower legs into one.
Once the wrapping was done they helped her to stand up and placed her up against the big square pole and made sure that she was able to hold herself standing up straight on her own. Once they felt she would not fall they informed her that it would only be a few minutes for the challenge to start up and the lights and cameras would come on. They pointed out where a red light would come on higher up above the monitor in front of her to let her know the cameras were rolling.
True to their word, the lights came up and the red light flickered on in less than five minutes. She looks around to get a good view of the room and her eyes get big upon seeing the two spindles full of white cloth on either side of her that will soon be wrapping around her. The monitor comes to life and the animated sphinx ‘host’ speaks to her. They talk briefly about her own TV show and the character that she portrays. Then the animated head tells her that it is time to begin and that she is caught in the mummy’s curse, doomed to remain as a mummy for all time if she cannot correctly answer the questions.
The device starts up and begins to wind the cloth around her legs. It has been positioned so that several inches are below the line of bandages that have been wrapped around her legs already and the new layers being added blend in perfectly. The cloth is wrapped around her from both sides at the same time so each layer is actually two bandages thick and the layers overlap by a good three quarters or more of the width of the cloth. The machine speeds up so that the cloth is deposited rather fast, but it rises only an inch or two each full revolution so a lot of cloth is being wound around her legs. It keeps going until the cloth reaches the top of her thighs where it stops. The end result is that the final layers left behind as the machine continues to rise up are quite thick and restricting.
Mimizumi tests how much she is able to move her legs and she can barely bend her knees or flex her ankles. The cloth is stretchy and has been pulled tight enough that it is resisting her attempts to move rather well. She thinks that if she were not being tied to the rigid metal pole at her back then she’d probably be able to bend easier, but having that included is definitely adding to her restriction. She looks back up at the screen and makes a comment about how tight it is. Her ‘host’ playfully informs her that he does not want her to be able to get away from his pyramid so the strength of the bandages has recently been increased. Then he gets serious.
The cartoon ‘sphinx’ tells her that she needs to give him a list of things that complete the question she is about to get. It also tells her that while she is working on the list her ‘bandages’ will be slowly wrapping her up at the same time, so she will have to think fast before the bandages reach the top and she becomes just another resident of the tomb. Looking behind herself she shakes in fear for the cameras at the sight of the prop mummy that is standing in the corner.
The challenge timer then starts counting down from one minute and at the same time the spools of bandages once again begin to spin around and slowly rise up to deposit more tight layers around her. Her question is then displayed on the screen at the same time the sphinx tells it to her.
Mimizumi quickly gets the first three slots filled, then has to think some to get the next one. By the time she has four of the seven slots filled the machine has managed to wrap her up to her chest just below her breast line. Per the rules at this point she obediently crosses her arms over her chest so her fingers are pointing at an angle towards the opposite shoulders. Having watched the show enough in the past, she was always annoyed by the people who insisted on waving their arms around the entire time or would use their hands to try and pull the cloth wrappings down from their faces. She was not going to be one of those and go by the rules.
Of course the constant feeling of being slowly wrapped upwards was making her start to panic a bit as the level of the bandages got higher and higher. This made her make mistakes on her answers because she was not thinking clearly, but at least there was no penalty for wrong answers, just a buzzer. She keeps at it and with a ding got the fifth slot filled correctly, but now the cloth had gone over her elbows and is half way up her forearms by that time. She begins throwing out more answers randomly as the bandages keep getting higher, but none of them are right. The cloth reaches her neck and then her chin and shows no hint it is going to stop.
The cloth rises up and the first layer wraps around Mimizumi’s mouth. She is desperate now and is yelling out words as fast as she can, and actually gets one right filling in the sixth slot. As the cloth suddenly covers her eyes she sees that she only needs to fill in one last answer to win, but she can’t think of anything and goes quiet as the spools spin around her and bind her head in multiple layers against the pole that she is now fully secured to.
The timer runs out with a buzzer and the spools stop turning, the last couple of turns wrapping around the pole above Mimizumi’s head. Less than half of the two rolls have been used to wrap up the newest victim of the Mummy Room. The sphinx makes a comment and asks her a question to which she is able to respond, but her answer is muffled and restrained by her wrappings. She tries to move but is only able to wiggle a bit for the audience and her team who are watching her. A final comment from the host who is now invisible to Mimizumi and she can hear the large back end of the sarcophagus slide forwards around her then the front side flips up and ‘seals’ her in with a large bang and gong sound.
Of course once the challenge is over and the contestant is inside the ornate sarcophagus the cameras cut out and nobody sees what happens next, but the contestant shows back up with the group again by the time the next challenge comes up. Mimizumi waits patiently and has a little fun struggling against the cloth that holds her tightly. It is tight enough that she is barely able to turn her head side to side and is unable to bend her head up or down at all. A couple minutes later the speaker comes on again and she is informed of yet another rule change that shocks her.
The person speaking to her tells her that from now on all of the contestants who fail at their challenge will be penalized for the duration of the rest of the show and be removed as an active challenger, thereby reducing the number of contestants on her team to be chosen from. For her participation in the mummy challenge and having failed, she will remain wrapped up in her bandages for as long as it takes to film the rest of the episode. Once she has been fully prepared she will be returned to her team to sit quietly by their side as a reminder of the price of failure.
Mimizumi is worried by this and understandably concerned. The filming of the show usually takes several days to get one episode, and can even take up to a week depending on the nature of the challenges selected! She struggles and voices her dislike of the new rule, but there is nothing she can do to stop it. At this point she is completely helpless, bound tightly in bandages and secured to a rigid metal post.
Several minutes later she hears the sarcophagus open up and retreat. A moment later there is at least one person in the room with her who begins to talk.
<Hello Mimizumi. I am here to prepare you so that you will be able to safely remain in your wrapping for the next few days or so.>*
Mimizumi manages to respond despite being muffled. Secretly she is quite pleased by the announcement, but she feels that she has to publicly appear to be upset.
<I don’t want to remain wrapped up all that time. Please let me out of these bandages.>
<I’m sorry, but we can’t do that. You signed a contract and agreement to accept all of the rules of the challenges you and your team would face.>
Mimizumi is an accomplished actor, and is even able to produce tears on demand, and she uses that to bolster her appearance of being unwilling and upset. She gets herself crying so that the cloth over her face might visibly show it is getting wet and starts to sob.
<No! You ca-can’t d-do this to-ooo m-meee! P-Please, le-let me ou-out! P-Ple-ease!>
She tries to struggle some against her bindings, but it is only for show. Mimizumi is more than happy to be wrapped up and can’t wait for her sentence to begin. She even hopes that she will get to remain a mummy for a whole week if she is lucky.
The person who was talking to her is joined by another apparently as she hears two people start trying to calm her down and rubbing her shoulders through the bandages. She keeps sobbing for just a couple more minutes then ‘lets’ them calm her crying to just sniffles.
<There you go, Mimizumi. It’ll be alright. We are going to take good care of you and when you get out everything will be okay. We just have to get a few things setup to handle your body functions so you won’t starve or make any mess. You’ll also have to be silenced as you can’t help your team anymore.>
This gets Mimizumi’s attention and she wonders what they will be doing to her. The other person speaks up and she notes this one is a woman.
<Mimizumi, I am a registered nurse. I work regularly in the emergency department and the show has hired me for my outstanding skills. We are going to start with taking care of your ... waste elimination. It’s going to be slightly unpleasant for you as I need to insert a catheter and an enema tube in you. This is why you were asked to wear shorts. That will make this easier on me to reach up to where I need so I can insert these items. It’s going to be tough enough with your legs bound together like they are, and it would be impossible to get in without cutting a hole if you were wearing long pants or a long skirt.>
<You’re going to shove tubes inside my bladder and behind?> Mimizumi asks sulkily, secretly thrilled at the prospect.
<Yes, I’m afraid so. Are you going to be okay with this? It is going to happen no matter what, but it would be easier for you if you don’t try to fight against me on this.>
<I suppose that I don’t have much of a choice unless you unwrap me. I’ll do what you tell me to do.> Mimizumi tells the nurse quietly.
<Very good. I promise that we will do everything we can to make this as easy on you as possible.>
There is a long pause where Mimizumi thinks she hears something happening but the bandages are already thick enough to noticeably muffle any indirect sounds around her. She jumps as much as her wrapping allows, when she feels something happening down between her thighs. It takes her a moment to realize that someone is working at pulling the bandages apart, moving them up or down to create an opening between her legs.
It takes a minute before she feels fingers touch her left thigh and pull at the hem of her shorts. It feels like they are probably wearing rubber exam gloves from the sensation. Next another hand slides up inside her shorts along her leg to her crotch and finds her panty. The underwear is pulled down and to the side some and the fingers feel around a bit looking for her urethral opening. They have to poke inwards a bit to get to it which is uncomfortable and at the same time mildly stimulating. Having found what they are looking for, Mimizumi feels something small and round start to push up inside of her. It has obviously been well lubricated as it slides in fairly easily and she knows this is the catheter going in. The tube continues to go deep inside until it reaches a point where it stops. The force is increased pushing it through the blockage and the catheter enters her bladder.
Mimizumi feels a sudden relief of pressure that she did not realize she had been feeling as her bladder empties itself of the urine it had been holding. A moment later she feels something odd inside then the catheter gets tugged on from the outside but it does not come out and she figures out that the balloon has been inflated to keep it in place. The bandages around her front side are moved around again to put them back in place as well as the people can manage.
<That’s one tube in place. Now I have to try and get to your backside. That’s going to be a bit more difficult with this large pole in the way, but it can’t be moved yet. We’ll just have to see how this goes.>
The sensation of bandages being shifted around behind her follows quickly and it takes them a couple of minutes before she starts to feel someone touching the back inside of her thigh. The same process follows with her shorts being pulled out and someone running their hand up her butt to find her anus. A lubricated tube is pushed through her sphincter and inserted several inches before it stops, and then she feels something expand both inside her and on the outside of her butt as well.
<Well, that one was a bit of a challenge. I hope that the grunting I heard from you wasn’t because it hurt too much.>
<No, not too bad. I’ll be okay once I get used to these invaders.> she tells them dejectedly.
<That’s good to hear. I know it’s a bit invasive, but it’s what we need to keep you healthy like this for several days. The enema tube is a double balloon designed to be kept in place for an extended period of time. Since you’re going to be on an all liquid diet for the time being, your solid wastes are going to be reduced some but not eliminated. To make it easier for you to pass your fecal matter we’ll be giving you daily enemas to help liquefy it more once your colon has done what it wants to do with it and make it easier to wash out through the tube.>
Mimizumi feels someone start to work at the bandages over her face and she asks, <What are you doing now?>
<I mentioned you’ll be on a liquid diet, right?> At Mimizumi’s grunt of acknowledgement they continue. <Well, to do that you’re getting a nasogastric feeding tube. We’re pulling open your bandages just enough to expose your nose and mouth. In a minute or two I’ll be placing a straw to your lips that I want you to take. It’ll be in a glass of water for you to drink. When I tell you to, I want you to swallow several gulps of water through the straw. That will help the feeding tube go down the back of your esophagus and to your stomach.>
A moment later and Mimizumi feels the end of the straw touch her lip. She opens her mouth the best she can and the straw is pushed into her mouth where she closes her lips around it to hold it still. Next she feels something plastic get pushed up into her left nostril and several quick sprays of a liquid are pumped in and the object is pulled out again.
<That was an anesthetic to numb your sinuses temporarily.> she is told. <That will make having the tube pushed in a bit easier on you. I’ll give it just a few seconds to set in then I’ll insert the feeding tube. I don’t want to wait too long though as it is going to wear off quickly.>
Mimizumi starts slightly when she barely feels something enter her nose again. This time it seems to be slightly slimy and she guesses there is a layer of lubricant on the end of it, but she can’t feel it very well so she isn’t sure. She does feel the tube hit the back of her sinuses and the nurse has to push while twisting it at the same time to get it to bend and go down into the back of her throat. The anesthetic does work and dulls the sensation a considerable amount, but Mimizumi still lets a real tear or two fall.
She is told to start swallowing water which she does repeatedly until told to stop. The tube feels like it goes a long way down inside her and when they tell her to stop drinking water some tape gets stuck to her cheek, the tube is gently curved overtop of the tape, and another piece of tape goes over that to hold it in place.
Mimizumi asks, <Can I have more water? I’m a bit thirsty.>
<Of course. Feel free to empty the glass if you like.>
Mimizumi happily sucks down the rest of the water in the glass which turns out to be rather large. When she finally starts sucking only air she pushes the straw out of her mouth and sighs contentedly then licks her lips. Someone taps a finger on her lips and she assumes they are giving her the straw again so she opens her mouth the best she can.
<Wider please.> the nurse tells her, so Mimizumi pushes harder against the bandages to get her mouth to open more. When she gets it as far as she can someone sticks a finger in her mouth and grabs her jaw then pulls it open even more which makes her grunt. She doesn’t have a chance to complain though because something is shoved into her mouth and her jaw is pressed closed around it. The thing is squishy and large enough that when it conforms to the shape of her mouth it completely fills it. Mimizumi feels something slick get rubbed over her lips then the bandages over her face are shifted back into place again and pulled on a bit to make them tighter and she can’t open her mouth at all when she tried to spit out the gag. She does realize there must be a tube going through the gag as she is still able to breathe easily enough, but the entirety of her mouth and the top of her throat are filled up which almost completely silences her. She tries to make some noise but the best she can do is a quiet mewling that she is not even sure can be heard outside of her wrappings.
<I’m sorry about how I did that to you, Mimizumi, but I had a feeling you would not be quite so cooperative with having your gag put in. You’re supposed to be silent, and this is the best way to accomplish that. I did rub a good layer of petroleum jelly over your lips to keep them moist while you’re wrapped up, so you shouldn’t have to worry about you lips being too chapped by the time you are freed. If I can manage to get through your bandages after the next part then I’ll put some more on your lips when I can.>
Mimizumi wonders what she means by the ‘next part’. She thinks about what else could happen and she remembers that on previous episodes there was still plenty of cloth left over on the spools once the person has been wrapped all the way up, and the rolls for her turn looked to be even bigger than before. She realizes that there is probably more than enough for the machine to go back down again making her mummy bindings even thicker.
A moment later and her guess is confirmed as she hears the equipment power back up. The first thing Mimizumi starts to feel is the bandages start to wind around her head again, but this time starting from the top and going down. A few turns get wrapped into place around her forehead and down to her nose then they pause. The hard square bar that she’s been held against begins to move and it takes a second for her to tell that it is being pulled down through her wrappings until it is at the back of her neck. The spools start turning once more and continue to wrap the cloth downwards around her at the same slow pace they did when going up. The difference this time is that the metal bar is also slowly being pulled downwards and out of her bindings just ahead of the bottom edge of the bandages.
Mimizumi tries to struggle against her new layers but the attempt fails to result in anything resembling freedom. The elasticity of the cloth allowed her first layers to relax a little bit as the bar came out and made room, but the slow movement of the metal keeps her body restrained where it still runs along her back and legs, and the new layers are being pulled noticeably tighter so that her upper body and head feel like they can’t move hardly at all. The process is effective at keeping her still enough that the contraption easily increases her confinement all the way down to her ankles where it finally stops. The new layers not only restrict her movement even further, but they also conceal the tubes that have put in place and run down to either the back of her neck for her feeding tube, or the back of her knees for her waste removal. The external ends of all the tubes have been carefully managed so they are easily accessible under the edge of a single strip of cloth.
Mimizumi continues to struggle some, enjoying the feeling of being mummified as she is. Without the long metal pole up behind her she manages to tip herself over and she falls forwards with a very muffled scream in the back of her throat. The people watching her apparently were expecting this and catch her before she even comes close to hitting the floor. Had they missed, Mimizumi would have been shaken a little bit, but the double thick layers of bandages that now confine her body would have protected her from any serious harm.
They turn her over and lay her down on a flat surface then she feels movement of some type and guesses that she is on a stretcher or gurney of some kind. The movement stops and for a few minutes nothing happens. Then Mimizumi gets rolled over onto her side and held up somehow. There is a slight sensation of something happening at her front and back side at the same time. A moment later and her bladder once again releases its contents. On the back side there is a minor wiggling then the rush of warm water flowing up into her bowels. Enough fluid is forced in to make her feel extremely full and bloated, but due to the warmth of the water it is somewhat relaxing as well. The first of many enema sessions is left inside her for around ten minutes then flushed out and two more waves of warm water go in and out of her colon, each wave lasting half as long as the previous one.
For as long as Mimizumi remains mummified she receives an enema twice a day. Her catheter continuously empties any urine from her bladder without fail the entire time and she never feels full or the need to go while it is in place. She is fed a liquid formula diet twice a day and enjoys the fact that it is heated up before being fed to her so she can feel a pleasant warmth filling up her belly at her meal times. She does find that she is able to bend just enough at the waist and knees so that when she is brought out to the stage to sit with her teammates she is not forced to stand or lay flat. Although, there are several times she is left in a standing position and the bandages are supportive enough that she is able to remain upright for however long it takes without getting tired or sore.
While the gag and bandages are quite effective to almost completely silence Mimizumi, and the thick layers also effectively deafen her ability to hear for the most part, the nurse who continues to take care of her is able to establish a rough means of communication. She can just hear Mimizumi grunt in response if she bends down close to Mimizumi’s head, and by speaking a good bit louder Mimizumi is able to mostly understand what is being said with having to repeat some words only two or three times.
Mimizumi confides in the nurse and lets her know that she is quite happy to be a mummy for however long it will take for the show to be filmed. In turn she is told that her other teammates are a bit less than happy with their failure results. The ones who ‘fall’ into the bottomless pits are kept in a relatively small dark room below the main stage with just a twelve inch round hole above them that they can try to yell up through. It’s not terribly effective as the room is just big enough to create an echo that distorts any loud noises that get made. The ones who got stuck with the quicksand challenge are stuck buried inside a plexiglass box filled with the fake sand going up above their head for the duration. Others who failed their challenge are put into shackles and kept behind bars to represent the dungeon room they were in.
The filming for the show ends up taking ten days due to some technical difficulties. When the nurse eventually tells Mimizumi that it is finally time to get her out of her wrappings, Mimizumi is able to communicate that she does not want to be let out. Through playing twenty questions and a lot of quiet grunting Mimizumi and the nurse conspire together to keep her mummified for the entire weekend following the end of the filming. During that time the producers are told that Mimizumi is let free from her confinement when there is nobody around. In reality she is quietly kidnapped, with her consent, and taken to the nurse’s private facility where Mimizumi remains wrapped up for an entire month total. When she is finally unwrapped she is stiff and moving is mildly painful and sore. It takes her three or four days until she can move almost normally again. But she is happy and glad to have had the experience.
Mimizumi goes back to work on her show, explaining with the help of her new friend the nurse that she had caught a disease that required her to stay away from everyone until she was well again. The next year Mimizumi saves up her leave time and schedules a five week vacation where she goes back to her friend’s nursing facility and is wrapped up in a slightly more traditional method of mummification and remains in her mummiform for a full month once again. As the years pass on by, Mimizumi continues to enjoy month long vacations as a mummy each year. When she grows old and retires she has more free time available and the time between mummy sessions decreases to every four months. Eventually, Mimizumi’s health deteriorates as it does when the years finally catch up with someone. She is unable to undergo even a short one day long duration of being wrapped up, let alone the month long sessions she used to endure. On her deathbed she includes in her will and testament that for her final disposition of her mortal remains that she be properly mummified to the best ability of whatever responsible mortuary is able to honor her request. A company dealing with just such wishes was located, and following the last breath of her life Mimizumi’s fondest desire is fulfilled.
* Translated from Japanese