Some hosts of the program attend the press conference in Beijing. Photo: Courtesy of Mango TV
The sixth season of Chinese hit
Who's The Murderer, a variety show that sees celebrities role play various characters as they try to solve murder mystery, is currently in production, it was announced on Sunday. The announcement sparked excitement among fans, who took to social media to call for the show to air as soon as possible.
The show is a licensed Chinese version of South Korean program Crime Scene that has been adapted for local audiences.
Each episode of the unscripted show features a murder that a cast of celebrities try to solve by piecing together clues to find out who among them is the culprit.
Other than the detective, each player is given detailed information about the suspect they are portraying including their personality, alibi, relationship to the victim and other information such as history and criminal motive. Each suspect can conceal information until he was explicitly questioned by other suspects or the detective, but the criminal is allowed to lie.
This season will have more ties to social issues. A member of the marketing team for the show told the Global Times that a case about abusing and killing a little girl will also be involved in the season to call more attention to abuse against underage women.
Since the first season debuted in 2016 on Mango TV, all seasons of the show have received high marks on Chinese media review platforms. The first season has a 9.3/10 on review site Douban from more than 110,000 reviews.
The popularity of the show among young Chinese people can also be seen from how often it becomes a hot search topic online. Although the new season has not yet aired yet, discussions about this season's cast and cases have flooded China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.
The press conference for the show was held on Sunday in Beijing, where the sixth season is being shot. Senior players and fresh blood appeared at the press conference.
When speaking about the longevity of the variety show, He Jiong, one of its main hosts, replied that he is glad to see this "healthy child" grow one year older.
The live action role-playing games (LARP) have become very popular among young people. Besides gathering at restaurants and cafés, specialty venues offering these activities have become a new major entertainment trend, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.
The report said that at present, the main demographic for these games is between 20 and 35 years old. In 2019, more than 700 LARP-related venues could be found just in Beijing.
Who's The Murderer has played an important role in popularizing these games among young people. Some netizens have admitted that they learned about and became interested in LARP detective games after watching the program.