Julianne Reviews: Fear Factor 2011

Is it 2001...or did Fear Factor get re-charged?

Well it's definitely not 2001 but Fear Factor has returned to prime time with a bang. Perhaps one of the Grandaddy's of reality-based television, NBC has decided to resurrect the show that made a few of us question how far people were willing to go for $50,000.

This show was born at time when millenial reality-television was based on adventure, dare-devil stunts and grotesque acts that included hanging from helicopters, walking tight-ropes that were twenty-stories high, laying in tanks that were filled with snakes and of course the cliche ingestion of bugs.

No matter how cute the contestants may have been or how strong they wanted to believe they were, it took a special kind of intensity make it to the end of the game and to hear the words "Fear is not a factor for you," said by host Joe Rogan. This show was about physical and mental ability and the best part for viewers was that the contestants didn't have to spend 30 days on an island or locked on a compound to prove their ability.

It is this hubbers opinion that the show previously met its demise a few years back as a result of time-slot shifting and poor seasonality re-entry. The show eventually faded into the television abyss, never to be heard from again...or so it would seem.

With Joe Rogan back as the host of Fear Factor, the series has returned with all new episodes and its original formula: Action + Creepy = Cool.