It’s safe to say the old NBC show, Fear Factor, is not for the faint of heart. During the program, various contestants competed to win prizes and money; the grand prize was usually $50,000. The challenges weren’t just athletically demanding or embarrassing, though. No, the participants had to do disgusting, horrific stunts. If you ask us, the trials were absolutely not worth $50,000.
Designed to mentally challenge the contestants, many of the stunts involved eating gross Fear Factor foods and combinations. The hopefuls consumed everything from scary bugs to old, moldy items to animal remains that looked sickening! In fact, the food probably made everyone ill. How was this show on the air for so long? That’s the real question.
It’s hard to determine which foods were the worst because everything was truly horrible. Unfortunately, some gross Fear Factor foods stand out more than others. The following items will probably ruin your appetite.
1. Donkey Fluids
Yes, seriously.
In a never-aired episode titled “Hee Haw Hee Haw,” contestants had to drink bodily fluids from a donkey. Probably the most revolting Fear Factor moment ever, the episode would have aired during the sixth season. The contestants all drank their respective donkey juices, but it was not a pretty sight.
2. 100-Year Old Eggnog
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjr5qg4PWu4"]Regular eggnog doesn’t even sound that appetizing (to some of us).
So, just imagine. Eggnog that sat around for one hundred years sounds even worse than the regular holiday drink. During a Season 3 holiday episode, a contestant had to eat reindeer testicles and wash them down with old eggnog. If that’s not festive, we don’t know what is. Oh wait… literally anything else would be more appropriate.
3. Horse Rectum
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M1wZ8Wq9n0"]Another Season 3 episode featured some more vile animal parts. Those unfortunate contestants had to eat 13 inches of horse rectum on a timer if they wanted to have a chance at winning. Yes, 13 whole inches. If the participants could finish the unsavory snack, they would get $50,000. No one won. But we have to wonder, “Was the rectum cooked or raw?”
4. Blended Rats
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t99lZFfIhMY"]A smoothie made of rats?
That’s just awful! But someone thought it up and put it on TV. This 2005 episode encouraged contestants to drink the rodent blend. The challenged was so revolting, one man who only watched the show participants drink the mixture sued NBC for $2.5 million. He said the visuals made him get dizzy, run into a wall, and vomit.
5. Leeches
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG9QrEvgw8c"]This episode is like a horrible nightmare come to life (but which Fear Factor episode isn’t?). During a Season 7 special episode, contestants had to sit in a bathtub full of blood-sucking leeches. But it gets worse! Their partners had to suck off the leeches then eat them. To make things even more horrible, one leech latched onto a contestant’s throat.
6. African Cave-Dwelling Spiders
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdB-WnWtDvo"]Just when you thought the show couldn’t get more traumatizing, it did. In a Las Vegas episode during the show’s fourth season, contestants ate African cave-dwelling spiders, also known as whip scorpions. Those participants could have been in grave danger if anything went wrong, and the prize was only a Mazda car.
7. A Bug Wedding Cake
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbYC6wzs6h0"]Fear Factor seemed pretty determined to ruin every food, including wedding cake. In fact, one challenge encouraged newlywed contestants to eat a specially-made cake. No, there was no buttercream frosting or fondant. Instead, the monstrosity teamed with worms, beetles, and alligator eyeballs. After eating, the couples had to spit up the faux dessert then swallow it again. An experience
8. Boiled Buffalo Testicles
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nydponAafUU"]It’s unlikely that anyone would relish the idea of eating testicles.
And boiled buffalo testicles make the prospect seem even worse. In one Fear Factor episode, though, contestants had four minutes to eat four of the buffalo private parts. Interestingly, one person claimed to like them. We’re not sure if they just wanted more camera time or what. But we certainly don’t agree with their sentiment.
9. Maggot-Covered Cheese
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfQIiLRldUA"]In one particularly gruesome Fear Factor episode, contestants had a unique challenge to face. The show host, Joe Rogan, told the unlucky guests to eat cow snout and cheese covered in maggots for dinner. If they wanted to win, they needed to clear plates. No one even offered a drink to wash it all down.
10. An Iraqi Camel Spider
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foj53AcIkac"]Certainly, more than one Fear Factor episode featured spiders. Camel spiders, however, contain a venom that can numb entire parts of the body. In fact, most people consider these arachnids to be vicious predators. It’s unclear how NBC let people actually eat the insects, but it happened all the same.
11. Roadkill
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMRzIAz0l74"]It’s hard not to wonder who hurt the people who created these food challenges.
And Season 5 episode clearly demonstrated that Fear Factor‘s creators had a sick sense of humor. This episode’s unlucky contestants had to shovel roadkill off the street, then eat it. It’s gruesome to watch. Understandably, one contestant walked off the show during the challenge. The other participants, however, were eager to complete the task and win.
12. A Variety Of Eyeballs
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDxpygkxlGk"]In one of the NBC show’s most memorable episode, contestants played a slot machine. This machine wasn’t like the ones in Vegas that offer desirable prizes. No, this game had different kinds of food options. Specifically, the machine decided which kind of animal eyeball everyone had to eat. The choices were cow eyes, fish eyes, or sheep eyes. Why?
13. Nightmare Pizza
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot6ZwTjL5CE"]Seriously, why did this show try to ruin everything good?
Even pizza wasn’t safe, apparently. Contestants created a special pizza in one particularly vile Fear Factor scene (and by special we mean sick). The toppings were cow-bile, coagulated blood paste, rotten cheese, red worms, and fish eyes. After crafting their mock delicacies, contestants actually ate their respective pizzas. It wasn’t pretty.
14. Worm Wine
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o4JTVkZOlE"]One Season 4 Fear Factor episode made us think differently about wine, of all things. Contestants had to make their own wine with worms instead of grapes. First, they walked barefoot in a worm vat to extract the liquid. Next, they dank it all down from a wineglass. We’re not sure how wine snobs felt about this challenge, but we certainly hated it.
15. Cow Eye Juice
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2noLnj_b-c"]Don’t worry, there was more than one eyeball incident.
Why wouldn’t there be? During an episode in the fourth season, contestants used their mouths to get cow eyeballs out of a jar. Then they squeezed the organs with their teeth, releasing a liquid. Finally, to win, they had to drink the substance. No amount of money is worth that.
16. Sheep’s Brain Pie
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yDCraHim5w"]In a Season 5 Fear Factor holiday episode meant to celebrate Thanksgiving, contestants didn’t have a lot to be grateful for. In order to win one noteworthy challenge, they had to eat a sheep brain pie. How did the production team even make the meal? We’ll never know, but we don’t imagine the process was all that fun.
17. A Bull Feast
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnfkBhKcHBI"]Another of the show’s dreaded holiday episodes featured a disturbing meal. This time the Fear Factor contestants ate a bull’s spinal cord. That wasn’t all, though. To win, they also had to down a bull snout and a bull spleen. It’s almost too much to handle, and yet, people ate it!
18. Live Bees
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_igtl4xODI"]No one should ever eat live bees, getting a bee sting is worse enough. And yet… here we are. During one challenge, a Fear Factor team member had to hang from gallows and get covered in over 100,000 live bees. Meanwhile, the other team member had to eat 20 of the buzzing insects. It’s hard to say which task was worse.
19. A Tomato Hornworm
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh7PoHduZ1Q"]In a Season 3 episode, contestants ate live tomato hornworms. And those creatures looked horrifying. The worst part? When one Fear Factor challenger ate their hornworm, the insect innards squirted on the other contestants! We almost wonder if the squirt was intentional. Maybe that contestant wanted to get everyone else out of the race.
20. Goat’s Milk
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKyluzzv5Mk"]You’re thinking, “Goat’s milk doesn’t sound so bad, compared to everything else!”
Well, actually, goat milk sounds rather revolting when you consider that during this Fear Factor show, contestants had to suck the liquid directly from the goats. Who knows when those goats last bathed? The animals could have been filthy, but the show’s production team didn’t seem too concerned about that.
21. Silkworm Cereal
This wasn’t your normal breakfast cereal with a quirky name, either. In one Fear Factor episode, contestants had to dine on a “breakfast” that consisted of silkworm cereal, one glass of liquefied pig liver, and three duck embryos. Orange juice was completely out of the question. You have to wonder how and why this happened; you have to!
We have some questions.
Who let the show air for so long? Who decided these gross Fear Factor foods were worth the money? And, finally, who watched the NBC program without losing their own lunch? We’re stumped.
