The early 2000s were an interesting time for culture and television. In back-to-back years, MTV brought us the series “Jackass” while NBC gave us “Fear Factor.” Both featured people doing outrageous or gross things but for different reasons and in different ways. “Jackass” featured actors doing ridiculous things virtually guaranteed to get someone hurt while “Fear Factor” had people as contestants trying to win money by doing stunts surrounded by safety crews. Those two worlds are about to collide.
“Fear Factor” is getting a revival with Johnny Knoxville as host.
Knoxville was one of the creative minds behind “Jackass” along with being its host and lead performer. The ridiculous pranks, physical violence, and asinine stunts built up enough appeal to lead to several feature films and spin-offs. All of it was designed to range from being barely safe, to intentionally harmful to great comedic effect. Meanwhile, “Fear Factor” was a competition show hosted by Joe Rogan where contestants were effectively dared or challenged to do everything from escape from a submerged car to eating a hissing cockroach. It almost sounds like the kind of show that Knoxville would’ve hosted, and now he will be.
“Fear Factor: The Next Chapter” is heading to Fox as open casting calls are ongoing for the show. Fox’s president, Michael Thorn had high praise for Knoxville. “His wild sense of humor, unmatched ability to push boundaries and take on the extreme makes him the perfect fit to lead this bold new reinvention of Fear Factor.” He’s not wrong about that either, not only does Knoxville have a love of that kind of physical and low-brow humor, but he’s actually lived through stunts that no person really should subject themselves to.
This new version of the show looks to be a bit different from the original premise. In the original run, contestants just competed in various stunts and were eliminated if they couldn’t go through with it or failed to complete it under the given criteria. This new iteration will take a group of people, put them in a remote location, and then have them go through a bunch of stunts while also playing a “twisted game of social strategy.” What does that mean exactly? Not sure, but it does make it sound more like an intense version of “Survivor.” There’s no official date yet for when the show will premiere but with Knoxville hosting, we have more reason to look forward to it.
