The BBC is piloting Sneaky Sneaky, a primetime comedy game show featuring celebrities pranking unsuspecting contestants, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.

Developed for BBC One and international audiences, the hour-long family show features five celebrity “secret agents” sneakily playing tricks on members of the public to win them a cash prize.

The contestants believe they are taking part in a reality show, unaware of hidden cameras and the celebrity agents observing their every move. The agents must complete ridiculous missions without arousing suspicion to win money for the oblivious contestants. Once the missions have ended and the contestants discover the truth, they face a final challenge to take home the money.

A co-production between BBC Studios and Japan’s Nippon TV, Sneaky Sneaky is an adaptation of Koso Koso, which aired on the Japanese commercial channel in June.

Koso Koso featured missions such as Supermarket Sneak, in which the agents tried to hit targets on the players’ backs while they browsed shopping aisles and Night Mission, where the agents undertook tasks while trying not to wake the sleeping contestants. The pilot attracted a 24.9% viewership share of 13-49-year-olds on Japanese television.

Details of Nippon partnering with BBC Studios and the Asian-focused content creating company Empire Of Arkadia to develop a British version of Koso Koso were announced in October. But production is only now underway on the BBC One pilot, with the host’s identity yet to emerge.

“We’ve really enjoyed working with the development team at Nippon TV on what has been an exciting creative process” said Suzy Lamb, managing director of BBC Studios Entertainment Productions, in October. “Bringing together the experience and ideas from us in BBC Studios and Nippon TV has been hugely beneficial. Together we have created a format which may not have happened in isolation – it’s a real coming together of UK and Japanese creativity to create a format that will have wide appeal.”

Nippon TV’s Tom Miyauchi added: “Our partnership with BBC Studios and Empire Of Arkadia, will spearhead both creatives and distribution across vast territories in both east and west, as reputably covered by each party. Koso Koso celebrates both hilarious comedic elements with strong reality aspects as garnered by producers from both ends of the world for a global audience.”

The project was brokered by EOA founder, Fotini Paraskakis, Daniel Thomas, head of format acquisitions on behalf of BBC Studios, and Miyauchi, head of formats, content business and distribution, global business, on behalf of Nippon TV.