Japanese comedian Kai Kobayashi has supported claims that Terrace House producers encouraged Hana Kimura to act out, as well as asking him to touch her breasts.

We previously reported on the death of wrestler Hana Kimura, who was appearing on Japanese reality TV show Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020. The wide-spread assumption that her death was suicide lead to speculation if the show’s current season would be cancelled; which it later was.

In Early July Hana Kimura’s mother and former pro-wrestler Kyoko Kimura claimed that the show’s producers had encouraged her daughter to play up to her wrestler “heel” (villain) persona for the purportedly unscripted reality show. She also condemned the “housemates” partying so soon after her death.

The producers allegedly asked Kimura to lose her temper at fellow housemate Kobayashi, and knock his hat off his head, after he accidentally (actually the producers, intentionally) shrunk her wrestling costume in the wash. The producers even allegedly encouraged Kimura to slap him at first, which she refused to do. Nonetheless her actions lead to backlash from audiences.

Now, Bunshun reports (translation: Google Translate) that Kobayashi has supported the claims that the producers staged the incident. Kobayashi claims that on May 15th- 8 days before Kimura’s death- that she had called him. While speaking for 20 minutes, he didn’t feel anything was wrong.

During Episode 33, where Kobayashi and Kimura went to an indoor trampoline park, Kobayashi claims that producers encouraged him to touch Kimura’s breasts. Producers allegedly made requests like this “daily,” seeking drama and “romance” from the show to generate discussion on social media.

Fuji TV reportedly declined to comment on the claims in the interview with Kyoko Kimura, and stated they were “looking into” the claims of staged scenes.

Image: Distractify, Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020 official website