ZooVenture coming
By Alisa LaVelle
to Hawaii with host
who’s a stickler for fun
Star-BulletinWhen the sixth-graders at Mililani Middle School heard about the Animal Planet ZooVenture games, they could not wait to go.
Shouts of "cool" came from the class.
Tomorrow, live versions of Animal Planet's ZooVenture happen at Bishop Museum. The game show times are 10:30 a.m., 2:30 and 4 p.m. Each show is free and open to the public.
The shows will not be shown on television.
Using the same games from the televised show, local kids and their families get to compete in messy games that test their knowledge of animals.
Host of the cable and live-version shows J.D. Roth said kids everywhere love doing the things "their mother would not allow."
Roth described one game where parents are pitted against their children. They answer questions about animals like, "Is a koala actually a bear?" and "What does a porcupine sound like?"
Loser takes a pie in the face.
Typically parents are the losers, Roth said.
"I want to see my mom lose for a change, and take a pie in the face," Christina Lasky, 11, said.
"I want to get pied myself," Jordan Takai, 11, said.
Participants get to answer questions about the natural world, solve puzzles, do fast-paced matching games and identify animal sounds.
Then, there are the physical games like gorilla diapering while racing the clock and eating bananas; feeding baby birds by snaring Gummi Worms -- hidden in chocolate "mud' -- with their mouths; and launching giant spiders into a "Worldwide Web."
"Our games involve peanut butter, chocolate, popcorn and chocolate -- lots of chocolate," Roth said.
Four participants will be chosen from the audience for each show, he said.
"I never felt what it is to be on a show and do stuff with my parents and get chocolate all over myself," said Brent Furomoto, 10, excited about trying to get picked.
All participants will receive T-shirts, and winners will get stuffed animals, finger puppets and pencils.
"The live shows are a labor of love," said Roth, the show's host since its inception three years ago.
"I think it instills positive messages," he said.
Most of the students from Dawn Rodrigues' class thought Roth was "so cool" and funny because of the way he talked.
"And he goes near dangerous animals," Douglas Okamura, 11, said.
The live show traveled to 25 American cities and Asia.
"It translates because a kid is a kid anywhere," Roth said about doing the shows in Bangkok, Manila and Singapore.
"Hawaii is the highlight," he said.
The show targets kids age 6 through 12. Animal Planet ZooVenture airs Monday to Friday starting at 9:30 a.m. on Oceanic Cable Channel 35.
"The show sounds fun and tasty," Lara Wolmack, 11, said. With excited nods and smiles, all of her classmates agreed.
