Thursday’s episode of Champions put skilled make-up artists to work transforming a Japanese man into a foreigner. The man they worked on was a store owner who wanted to test the skills of one of his managers:

The fake foreigner appeared at the store with a camera crew and a foreign woman acting as his translator. They told the goofy-costumed manager they were filming a television show in which a famous international businessman (the fake foreigner) visited stores to observe how business is conducted in Japan. When the translator told the manager that the businessman was very famous (as much as Bill Gates or Obama), the store manager lied and claimed to have heard of the man.

The store manager performed rather poorly. He was unwilling to claim that the store chain was #1 in Japan, did not know the exact number of stores in the chain, and needed to call other staff to help explain some of the products. They tested his motivation by asking him if he had ever considered quitting his job, and he readily admitted that he often had. When asked about his boss, he claimed the owner was a bit too strict.

When the store owner stopped pretending to be a foreigner, he yelled at the manager about his lack of spirit and motivation. Although the program ended with the owner saying his manager had done a pretty good job, the manager probably suffered some more punishment after the cameras had left.

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