Tears for fears

MTV's debut of Fear Factor has come and gone. So how did the fear and loathing develop?

First thing to say is that some would dispute whether Fear Factor is a game show at all. It does verge on reality TV, but basically it's just an extreme version of Beat the Clock. So I'll channel my inner Game Show Newsnet and include the show in our little genre.

MTV hyped their version as a gentler, kinder rewind of the often gross original. It's true that nobody on the new show had to drink donkey semen. But the first stunt involved buckets of cockroaches getting dumped on the contestants, so some grossness remained.

The other two stunts were physically demanding but not gross at all. In fact, the swimming pool hijinks (see screenshot) reminded me of Dog Eat Dog, noted for eye candy but not for gross-out crudity. Four teams of siblings competed, with one team given the heave-ho after each stunt.

Ludacris hosted in an unassuming manner. I barely noticed him, which probably means he did okay. During the commercials I switched over to the Extra Innings baseball package. Not all the games were thrillers, but at least nobody got cockroaches dumped on them.

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