Figure skating world champion Kaori Sakamoto will appear on the quiz variety show "Senbiki: The Answer is Just Drawing a Line" (Chukyo TV/Nippon TV network), airing from 7pm to 9pm on April 29th. This will be Sakamoto's first variety show appearance since retiring from competitive skating, and she spoke to the press with her co-stars after the show's recording.
In this fourth special episode, the show will feature unique questions that require viewers to "draw lines" to find the answer, such as "Connect the correct tails of the zebra with a line" and "Add two lines to form a compound word." This time, the show will feature a competition between "Seiya Team," led by Seiya of "Shimofuri Myojo," and "Tsuda Team," led by Atsuhiro Tsuda of "Dian."
Sakamoto, who capped off her career with a gold medal at the "World Figure Skating Championships 2026" held in March, shows a side of herself rarely seen on the ice when she panics over a difficult question on the program.
Sakamoto reflected on the recording, saying, "As I solved the problems, my brain became more and more active, and I was much sharper in the second half, which was a lot of fun."
When she revealed that she received the offer to appear on the show "before the World Championships (laughs)," the interview set erupted in exclamations of "What?!" She then shyly added, "After that, I decided to compete in the World Championships, and I thought I'd just try my best at both."
Team leader Seiya said of Sakamoto, "First of all, I thought, 'Wow, I get to meet him!' It's strange that Sakamoto stayed and is doing the interview with us (laughs)," and then gave his seal of approval, saying, "He was fantastic (on the show). He's so cheerful, I thought he must be used to variety shows. I hope he appears on all variety shows from now on! He had a high success rate in answering questions, and I think he'd be great on quiz shows too."
Sakamoto stated that if the program becomes a regular series, she would like to continue appearing on it. "If I get the chance, I would love to! I'll watch every episode, try to answer the questions myself, and study hard so I can keep up," she said excitedly.
