Five years after the last episode aired, NBC has decided to bring back reality pioneer “Fear Factor” after reruns on cable network Chiller produced unexpectedly high ratings.
“The stunt and camera technologies have evolved since then, we’re going to be able to make it even bigger,” NBC’s head of alternative programming Paul Telegdy said. “We’re going to make it more visually arresting.” [...]
“In the brave new world of reality TV [in 2001] it was deemed symptomatic of a problem — ‘we want our West Wing, why are you doing this?’” Telegdy said. “Now the ecology has changed, the top shows are reality TV. For consumers, it will be a fond reunion.” [Inside TV]
I often enjoyed “Fear Factor;” it was predictable but entertaining. Every episode: Joe Rogan meets the six contestants, they talk trash to each other, the first challenge is a stunt that requires the (always attractive) contestants to get into swimsuits, the second challenge is the gross-out one where they have to eat monkey vaginas or put garter snakes in their butts, one of the women cries, and then it concludes with an over-the-top stunt. That’s good TV. Well, except for the Joe Rogan part.
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The fuck’s a “Chiller”?
“Fear Factor” would work a lot better as a viewing experience if the contestants were coerced, rather than fame-hungry whores.
I can’t hate on Rogan too much. At least he called Carlos Mencia on his crap.
Joe Rogaine rocks.
I’d like Rogan more if he didn’t call female MMA writers “cunty” on message boards.
[www.cagepotato.com]
Joe Rogan is the tits. Fear Factor, however, did nothing to showcase his talents as a comic.
He should stick to MMA, standup, and tweeting THC-induced ponderings.
It would be better if Fear Factory did the theme song. I think Edgecrusher would work
[www.youtube.com]
They need Tyrone Biggins as a contestant!
I was not aware of this.
Not cool, man. Not. Cool.
I like to play “Beer Factor” where I see how many beers I can drink.
Joe Rogan is a meathead dipshit and I once threw up while watching “Fear Factor.” I approve of none of this.
I find it entirely possible that one female MMA writer could be cunty. Benefit of the doubt to Joe Rogan.
Joe Rogan is theoretically funny, but mostly an asshole. And not even the endearing, faux-smarmy Daniel Tosh kind of asshole.
/Does the internet still hate Tosh?
If you’ve only seen Joe Rogan on Fear Factor and UFC, and maybe some of his standup, then I can see where you’re coming from. But listen to his podcast the Joe Rogan Experience. He is easily one of the most interesting comedians out there, very smart and knowledgeable. I especially recommend the episode of his podcast that Doug Stanhope is on.
The return of Fear Factor has always been one of my biggest fears. Oh, does that mean I’m on Fear Factor right now? I quit!
I keep seeing people defend Rogan by saying he’s smart, and therefore not an asshole. News flash: smart people can be wrong-minded jerks, too. He happens go be a smart misogynist. Doesn’t mean he isn’t funny sometimes. Doesn’t mean he hasn’t been right about some things. It just means that, in this particular case, he was wrong.
Joe Rogan is the muthafukin shit!
From Rogans Forum:
Yeah, I responded to it on the underground:
Never did I imagine that so many people would get their panties in a bunch about the use of the word “cunty” to describe a female blogger, but in this “gotcha” era of online “journalism” we find ourselves in any controversy that can be exploited to fill headlines and pad mandatory blog obligations will be pursued to the extreme.
My use of the word “cunty” in retrospect was unfortunate, and more of a symptom of my stand up comic vernacular than what more verbally conservative people would interpret the word as. “Cunty” is just another word for bitchy.
It means exactly the same thing to me, it’s just that “cunty” sounds better and is more fun to use.
The term “bitchy” to describe the style of the writer in question and her take on things is both accurate and appropriate.
Here’s an example of one of her “articles” about me and Mike Goldberg that reads more like a forum post written by a nit picky attention whore borrowing his mom’s laptop than someone that calls themselves a “journalist” employed by a reputable site like Yahoo.
[ca.sports.yahoo.com]…urn=mma-202602
Here’s another “article” where she makes fun of Stephen Quadros’ appearance.
[sports.yahoo.com]…urn=mma-210138
These are just a few of the articles from her that have annoyed me over the years. I could look for more, but I think you get the point.
Is that journalism? Is that good writing? Is that the kind of thing you could stumble upon while reading the New York Times? Would it make a fine entry in FIGHT magazine? Is sports illustrated upset that they missed out on publishing these gems? No, it’s bitchy bullshit. Cunty writing, if you will.
The sport of Mixed Martial Arts is fairly new, and one of the very first sports to be supported and defined by new media. We have an extraordinary amount of websites dedicated to the sport, and in the dark days of being exiled from cable television these sites (including the one I’m posting this on, mixedmartialarts.com) helped keep this sport alive.
Now that the sport is incredibly popular and thriving however, we’ve reached this saturation point where anyone with a website that writes about this sport wants to be considered a “journalist.” People that 20 years ago wouldn’t have a shot in hell at a career in writing are now demanding to be taken seriously with their snarky, poorly thought out offerings.
This sport is infested with these people, and what they’re going to have to realize is that if they want to be writers and they want their stuff to be read and ingested than they themselves must become public figures in the process. The illusion of anonymity and a lack of repercussions available to the subjects of your work is a thing of the past.
Writers should expect to be openly critiqued and criticized online by anyone any everyone, because guess what – those people writing forum posts shitting on your work are just as much a legit “journalist” as any of these website people.
My apologies to Maggie Hendricks for calling her “cunty,” and I truly hope I didn’t hurt her feelings. My forum post was honest and off the cuff, and I didn’t think out the possible reactions to it. I don’t know the woman, and I’m sure she’s probably a nice person in real life, but if I have a point with any of this it’s that when you put negative shit out there in the form of bitchy blog posts, that shit is going to come right back at you, and you better not be surprised.