In Japan, the reality series Who Is the Wolf? has run for 13 seasons and is thought to have been viewed by about 70% of girls and women in their teens and 20s. Now it is seeking to replicate its astonishing success beyond its shores by partnering with Netflix, tweaking the name (to Is She the Wolf?) and the format (very slightly), then putting it before a global audience.
I suspect it will succeed, if not perhaps to the same massive original extent, for two reasons. First, the basic premise is foolproof – a tried and tested formula for instant addiction. Five men and five women looking for love are placed in close proximity and given group tasks that will allow them to get to know each other and, hopefully, strike sparks that can be fanned into the raging inferno of all-consuming lurve. You know the drill. The twist – again, not wholly unprecedented – is that one or more of the women is a “wolf”, who is forbidden to fall in love and must lie to all the others to prevent discovery. In the original show, the wolf’s (or wolves’) identity is kept secret from viewers too, but here it is revealed at the end of the first episode.
