Fear Factor

Fear Factor is an American stunt/dare reality game show. It was created by Endemol Netherlands. The program was first aired on June 11, 2001.

The original Dutch version of the program was called Now or Neverland. When Endemol USA and NBC changed it to be shown in America in 2001, they changed the name to Fear Factor. Fear Factor has many different versions which are shown in different countries.

The program has contestants compete against each other in a series of stunts. The person who finishes better and/or quicker than all the other contestants gets a prize of US$50,000. For the first five years the program was made, the contestants were usually three men and three women. Each person played for themselves. In the sixth year, the show changed. They started using four teams of two people. The members of each team had some relationship with one another, for example Father-daughter, Husband-wife, or friends. Each team played for a shared prize of the same amount. Fear Factor is hosted by comedian Joe Rogan and executive produced by Matt Kunitz. The main music for the program is composed and written by Russ Landau. Other music used on the show is made from rhythmic themes most notably taken from the popular game Half-Life.

Fear Factor was an attempt by NBC to compete with the successful series, Survivor. The program was very popular for the network in the summer of 2001. It had strong ratings for the next couple of years, but in later years, the ratings were not as good. In 2006, Fear Factor was being shown at the same time as TV ratings champion, the Fox talent series American Idol on Tuesday nights. It did not get good ratings during this time. During the sixth season, NBC decided to not show the program for the rest of the year to make room for the sitcom Joey. That series was only shown for a few weeks. NBC canceled Fear Factor in May of 2006. The network began showing the remaining episodes of the sixth season on June 13, 2006. These episodes were shown throughout the summer.^[1] In 2004, Fear Factor became the first network reality show to be syndicated. Over its six seasons, Fear Factor earned NBC a reported $600 million from selling advertising during the program.

On May 31, 2011, NBC announced that Fear Factor would be revived for a new season.^[2] Eight episodes, two of which were 30 minutes long, were ordered. Rogan returned as host of the show. The revival began on December 12, 2011. On May 13, 2012, NBC announced the cancellation of the show. The last episode aired on July 16, 2012.

• Official Fear Factor website
• UK Gameshows Page: Fear Factor (about the UK version)
• Fear Factor - France on TF1 Archived 2006-08-28 at the Wayback Machine
• Fear Factor India
• Fear Factor Turkey Archived 2007-03-31 at the Wayback Machine