A bit of the extreme with Simon Yin

Central, HONG KONG — The so-called Samurai Sake singes its way down the gullet  leaving us with creased faces reeling from the strong, 46-percent alcohol shot. With the mercury in single digits outside, we welcome the respite from the cold here at the upscale Japanese restaurant that is Sushi Kuu.

“This is game over, right now,” a man loudly declares someone, smiling broadly from across the table with bald pate glinting under pinlights. Even as we are hosted by History Asia, the restaurant’s affable proprietor and chef Satoru Mukogawa is in charge of our dinner — and drinks, obviously. The shots start to come in quick succession. The game is clearly not over.

Heck, it hasn’t even begun.

Our group of media from Singapore and Malaysia is told to expect something “extreme” during this entire Hong Kong jaunt — in keeping with the Hidden Cities Extreme program the network is drumbeating for. The show’s host himself, Simon Yin, is the aforementioned smiling fellow. It premiered on Feb. 25, 10 p.m. (Manila time) on History, with a replay tonight, the second season of Hidden Cities Extreme follows on the heels of its top-rated debut season.

Avers Hazel Yap, director for marketing communications at AETN All Asia Networks: “Season One did very well for us. We were No. 1 in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, and we are quite hopeful that this season will fare even better.”

Filipino viewers will have good reason to sit up and watch. The eight-episode run kicks off with Yin’s Philippine adventures. Soon after planing into Manila, Yin travels to Pampanga to spend a day out in the field with farmers. He soon gets acquainted with how the locals seek to solve the problem of rats by catching — and subsequently eating — them.

Next, Yin tries his hand at the infamous rail skates (also known as trolleys) which ferry passengers on active railways between train passes. He also plays a brutal game of underwater hockey with the No. 1 Asian team. Finally, Yin cavorts at a local range as he sharpens his wits and speed with tactical shooters.

Back at Sushi Kuu, a curious march of appetizers is laid out for us in succession. After some boiled Japanese broad beans (soramame), we each are served a bowl of shirako with fresh seaweed. Shirako is codfish semen, and it tastes almost as it looks — creamy and extremely rich.

We quickly learn that fish sperm is nothing compared with what comes next. A cringe-worthy platter of assorted delights makes an appearance: broiled grasshopper (oddly sweet), broiled honeybee grub (a little nutty), whale bacon (rubbery and flat), and, gulp, octopus sperm (sour, salty and seaweed-ish).

With little hesitation, Yin tucks in the fare with the rest of us, and recalls shooting an episode in the hinterlands of inner Mongolia where he had to endure “massive diarrhea and stomach cramps.” He says, “I got sick the whole time. It was really, really bad... Every village that we went to… they love to serve goat. They honor you by slaughtering goats.”

All the goat meat, intestines and brains — not to mention rice wine — got to him. At some point,  continues Yin with a pained look, “I just wanted to go home… I was eating charcoal pills and diarrhea medicine.”

Also in Mongolia, Yin finds himself racing camels at the Sonid Right Banner at speeds of up to 60 kph. At Xilingol, known as the “pearl of the grasslands,” Yin risks his life to manually extract horse milk used to produce an ancient liquor.

Occupational hazards for the Hidden Cities Extreme host, for sure. But his hardships have nonetheless proven to be a winning formula for the show, which History described at the outset as Fear Factor meets Dirty Jobs (and, perhaps, Jackass).

Yin sees himself as a typical “ABC (America-born Chinese)” and proves to be a perfect host to lead Asian viewers on wild journeys and experiences across Asia.

Colorful and animated in person, the former MTV New York music jock is the first of three boys born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Yin actually auditioned to host the original Hidden Cities program (Anthony Morse eventually got the part).

“I think my personality was a little too big, too colorful,” Yin had said in jest to this writer in a 2012 interview. When plans for the edgier version were being drawn up, the producers remembered Yin and promptly called him up. Yin wasted no time signing on the dotted line.

Hidden Cities Extreme also devoted an episode to the Philippines then with the host learning the martial art of eskrima, how to make (and eat) balut, climb a tree to harvest coconuts for tuba brewing, and some gun action with a Cebu City SWAT squad.

Production for the second season, shares Yin, wound up last August, and he is very proud of the results. “This season, every episode is completely different in the way it feels, looks and runs. Japan is quirky and weird, Manila is kinda high octane, Indonesia is very cultural and nice… India surprised me the most; it was really fun and interesting,” he maintains.

In Vietnam, the host found himself getting rid of unexploded ordinances such as rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), mines and grenades. Yin shares: “I was like, ‘Why am I doing this?’”

All the adventures make for compelling television, of course. “I think the researchers did their job in finding good and interesting stories for us to show,” he insists. At the crux of the successful program, of course, is Yin himself — a self-deprecating, always comedic and ever-daring everyman who allows us to vicariously experience Asia’s little-known nooks and crannies.

“I represent you, and you, and you,” he says, pointing. “We’re the same. We’re experiencing things the first time together.”

Over the course of the meal, we indeed dig into more firsts: Horsemeat sashimi, whale sashimi, chicken sashimi, horse nape, horse carpaccio, bee-egg tempura, deep-fried stingray fin. Of course, Mukogawa keeps ordering Samurai Sake as perfect companion to all the palatal tickling.

I look down at my right forearm. An angry round welt has appeared on it, and I remember why. Yin had hit me with a couple of pellets during our airsoft adventure a few hours before at Impact Force. Our extreme experience has just begun in earnest, and over the next couple of days, our physical and mental fortitude would be further tested.

We put on the moves for a wing chun (a traditional Chinese martial art) lesson, care of Master Sam Lau. At Yunnan Ren Jia, we are served a plate of fried creepy crawlies which curiously taste like miniature kropek pieces, if you get beyond the thought that you’re sinking your teeth into critters you wouldn’t even dare touch.

The tongue titillation ends at Shia Wong Hip, where we partake of something called “five kinds of snake soup” (yes, it tastes like chicken), fried snake and snake and turtle soup — a yummy, dark broth that’s supposed to improve your circulation and joints.

If true, this is certainly useful for the next activity — some motorcross action at the Hong Kong MX Club. After a near accident aboard a small bike, I ponder my mortal existence and opt for the four-wheel ATV instead. My wife says it was a good call. I agree.

Let’s just leave it to Yin and his realm that is Hidden Cities Extreme — always ready for some heart-stopping action and stomach-turning food.

However, he avers: “I’m a very simple guy at heart. I still like my burgers, pizzas, chicken wings… I still find a lot of comfort in my food. I’m a very emotional eater. When I get upset or have a bad day, I like to feel comfortable with my food.”

Even as his palate has stayed relatively the same, Yin  will eat or drink most anything you dare him to. He has ingested cow pee, vile-tasting live worms and a sundry of unappetizing food that nonetheless are staples or delicacies in the regions where Yin takes them. Therein lies the difference of Hidden Cities Extreme with, say, Jackass.

There’s always a cultural relevance in what Yin does. “Overall, it’s fun… and believe it or not, you learn something,” he says with a smile.

Whatever Yin says, you best take his word for it.

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Hidden Cities Extreme will have a replay tonight at 10 p.m. on History. Chat live with Yin on Facebook.com/HiddenCities at the same time. Catch him  on Twitter @HistoryAsia on March 11 at 10 p.m.