It looks like the producers of American Idol (Freemantle Media North America) are looking towards the land of the rising sun for inspiration on coming up with a new hit television show. Hole in the Wall, a twisted, contorted, and what have you game show is set to come to the shores of North America courtesy of Japan’s Fuji TV.

Back in July, 2006 a new and somewhat odd game show premiered on Japanese airwaves. It featured contestants divided into two teams competing for the daily prize. What’s so odd about that you say? Well for starters, players have to have a rather high level of flexibility coupled by quick wits in order to survive the rounds. Each round consists of team members standing on the edge of a platform in the middle of a pool and a runway. At the other end of the runway there curtains are drawn to hide whatever it is in store for the unknowing contestant. A timer counts down to zero, then suddenly the curtains are drawn revealing a “wall” that comes rushing in towards the contestant. A hole is carved out of the wall shaped after a certain pose that the contestant must duplicate or else get pushed back into water from behind them. The poses get increasingly harder, sometimes insanely difficult and literally impossible, as each round goes by. One could easily imagine how hilarious the results can be.

The U.S. isn’t the first country to import this show, which is still ranked number 1 in it’s time slot in Japan. Freemantle Media has already created versions of Hole in the Wall for countries such as Argentina, Autralia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, and the U.K.

Hole in the Wall is set to premier on Fox soon. Casting calls are announced for Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta