Fear Factor pushed the boundaries of what we'd accept on our TV screens, with some wild stunts that would strike fear in just about any person good-looking enough to get on the show. And you know a show this daring is bound to have some unique and even outrageous guidelines. Let's take a look at some of the strangest rules that contestants had to follow in order to get their 15 minutes of Fear Factor fame.
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00:00Fear Factor pushed the boundaries of what we'd accept on our TV screens, with some wild
00:05stunts that would strike fear in just about anyone good-looking enough to get on the show.
00:09And you know a show this daring is bound to have some unique and even outrageous guidelines.
00:14Let's take a look at some of the strangest rules that contestants had to follow in order
00:18to get their 15 minutes of Fear Factor fame.
00:21For one thing, the show made a point of literally adding insult to injury.
00:26Turns out, being forced to overcome your biggest fear, eat pig rectums, or both, wasn't
00:31enough for American TV audiences.
00:33So Fear Factor contestants had to be okay with also being mocked to their faces while
00:38they suffered through their tasks.
00:40This is more exciting than the Superbowl."
00:43Fear Factor's original host Joe Rogan is a comedian, after all, and so it was only natural
00:48that he would get some wisecracks in.
00:50And the wannabe models and actors debasing themselves for America gladly took the abuse.
00:55After all, they had the chance of winning a veteran teacher's annual salary in one afternoon.
01:00That's what you do when you eat pig butt?
01:03Oh yeah, definitely.
01:05Contestants also had to be okay with possibly being stripped naked, and some challenges
01:09even involved physical torture, including simulated drowning and getting briefly buried
01:14alive.
01:15They also had to sign liability waivers so the network wouldn't get sued, and non-disclosure
01:21agreements so they wouldn't spill the beans when they got home before their episode aired.
01:26But there are two little-known Fear Factor rules that are some real head-scratchers.
01:31Contestants on the 2017 MTV reboot of Fear Factor had to comply with something we tend
01:36to take for granted about television production.
01:39We all assume that if a TV show wants you to come to L.A. for filming, the studio foots
01:44the bill.
01:45But MTV was trying to revive the show as cheaply as possible.
01:49It forced the contestants to pay their own way out to the City of Angels.
01:53The online application called for contestants who were in the greater Los Angeles area or
01:58can get here.
02:00So good luck trying to pay your airfare with a pocketful of maggots if you don't win.
02:04You really expected MTV would pay for your hotel while you were in town to eat marshmallows
02:09in a fish tank filled with flies?
02:11But perhaps the weirdest Fear Factor rule was forbidding contestants from running for
02:15public office for at least a year after their episode aired.
02:19That's right.
02:20A clause in the Fear Factor casting agreement stipulated that candidates for public office
02:25were ineligible to compete on the show, and selected cast members could not run for office
02:30for at least one calendar year after their appearance.
02:33It turns out that isn't an uncommon rule for a reality series.
02:37Other shows, including The Price is Right, have this stipulation in its contracts for
02:42contestants.
02:43Why?
02:44Most likely, this was to prevent NBCUniversal, MTV, or the Fear Factor producers from seeming
02:50biased toward a particular candidate or issue.
02:53Networks must give equal time to all candidates running for political office, so restricting
02:58reality TV contestants helps them avoid liability, as well as the obligation to then give the
03:03same screen time to other candidates.
03:06It doesn't seem as if any former Fear Factor contestant broke this rule to go on the campaign
03:10trail within a year of their episode airing.
03:13Get more reality TV contestants running for office than ever before.