Fear Factor Goes Live!

At Universal Studios Theme Parks in Orlando, Florida and Hollywood, you can eat bugs.....and worms etc. You can also hang high above a stage, stick your hands into a tank of squirmy eels and let your significant other put huge scorpions on your face! Sound gnarly? Is the gross-out factor your cup of..blended insects? Then this new theme park attraction is for you!

We visited Universal Studios in Hollywood for a preview of the attraction opening on June 18th. The event was kicked off by two stunt people competing to win a "longest slide on fire" contest. Jimmy Hart (Serenity, Batman Forever, Dukes of Hazzard and Hellboy) and pretty Karin Silvestri-Coye (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Van Helsing, Collateral Damage) suited up in protective gear, were set aflame and went careening down long wires to the waiting crowd far below them. Karin finished first. In "Fear Factor" tradition, loser Jimmy had to eat a bug!

NBC and Universal Theme Parks combine to bring the popular TV show to the public with no re-takes, no editing. It's all live. TV show Executive producer Matt Kunitz and attraction creators told us that up to 18 park guests at a time and up to 144 a day will be chosen to be featured contestants. The guests will be told what their stunts will be in case they want to back out and will be monitored for safety. Stunts will be a combination of gross out antics and death defying action. "We can flip a car over a moving train but viewers talk more about eating cockroaches", said Kunitz. So, the TV show plans an all gross-out episode. At the theme parks, you get a combination and a bit of audience participation. Wanna torture your boyfriend? This is the show for you.

After watching the fire stunt, press members were lead to the new attraction stage where we got a sample of the upcoming live show. Several junior contestants got to eat a few bugs. A Las Vegas lad chomped and gulped down his chocolate-covered grasshopper first. On a large screen, adult contestants told the audience why they were going to kick butt better than the next guy. We watched as the red and black-clad cops, homemakers, teachers, etc. hung from bars high above the stage, stuck their hands in the aforementioned eel tanks, grabbed flags, then rushed to down a really (upchuck!) tasty smoothie made with sour milk, bugs, worms and fish. Yum!

One more stunt, still being perfected, involves contestants creating charges of electricity while sparks go off on stage and the audience's seats vibrate. Wild! Later, a husband got to place big scorpions on this wife's face as her head was trapped in a glass box. Ewwww, talk about spousal abuse...but fun.

After eating some great (non-gross) munchies provided the press by Universal (including a very creative, bug and eye-ball decorated cake and a pile of cool gummy worms and spider cakes), I went back onto the stage to watch friend/fellow journalist for about.com Fred Topel take on the hanging, eel-grabbing, smoothie-chugging challenge. Eels, no problem. Gross-out smoothie? Well, he did pretty well even if some of the barfie drink went into the "chuck bucket". If you live in or will be visiting the Orlando or Hollywood areas this summer, you should check out this new attraction that lets you face your fears live, in front of other park guests.Hey, have a chocolate-covered cockroach for me!

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.