Fear Factor is an American stunt/dare game show that first aired on NBC from 2001 to 2006 and was initially hosted by comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan.

For the first five seasons, the contestants consisted regularly of three men and three women pitted against each other in a variety of three stunts for a grand prize, usually $50,000.

In 2017, MTV revived the series with rapper and actor Ludacris assuming the host role; this incarnation ran two seasons (thirty-three episodes) before being cancelled in 2018.

As NBC's answer to the CBS television series Survivor, the show was initially a hit for the network in the summer of 2001 and built strong ratings and popularity in the following seasons.

According to a 2015 interview with Art Bell, Rogan expected Fear Factor to be cancelled after a few episodes due to objections to some of the content and further stated that he took the job mainly to obtain observations and anecdotes for his stand-up comedy career.

Despite much publicity concerning an improved format and better stunts for season six, the series' ratings continued to drop and consequently, NBC put the struggling program on hiatus for the remainder of the season to make room for the sitcom Joey, the Friends spin-off that was itself removed from the NBC lineup a few weeks later.

In the fall of that year, NBCUniversal Television Distribution put it into barter syndication and it aired on Fox, The WB and UPN affiliates and on the cable channel FX.

Following Rogan's verbal disclaimer, the narrator gives a statement and this is one most commonly used: It all began 10 years ago at the dawn of reality television.

NBC pulled a two-hour, five team, five stunt episode entitled "Leeches & Shaved Heads & Tear Gas, Oh My!"

which featured a stunt where teams spun a wheel to determine whether they would have to shave their heads and eyebrows, get tattooed or be tear gassed.

The stunts drew inspiration from elements of pop culture, such as horror movies, urban legends and viral videos.

They are extremely dangerous and should not be attempted by anyone, anywhere, anytime.The normal format involves three men and three women—or four teams of two people with a pre-existing relationship—who have to complete three professional stunts to win US$50,000.

Only once in the history of Fear Factor did the $50,000 prize go unclaimed in an episode; On September 27, 2004, a "Best Friends" edition, none of the remaining teams were able to complete the final stunt.

On rare occasions, the 'mental' challenge would be of a completely different nature, and not be an objectively gross stunt (such as eating undesirable animal parts).

Extremely rarely during the show's original run, Rogan would participate in the second stunt, most often as a way of encouraging contestants to take part.

The player or team with the best performance this round wins the grand prize, usually $50,000 and has the privilege of being informed by Rogan that "evidently, fear is not a factor for you."

Naturally, on the one occasion that the $50,000 prize went unclaimed (the season 5 Best Friends episode), Rogan instead informed the contestants that "evidently, fear is a factor for you."

Season 4 included a two-hour season premiere in which 12 contestants competed in six stunts for a grand prize of $1,000,000; and a two-part, six-stunt Las Vegas episode where the winner would have a chance to win up to $100,000 based on his or her performance in the final stunt (they would then have to bet half their winnings on a hand of blackjack).

The men had to release a flag from a locked box while hanging suspended in the air and eat three different items from a table.

Featured the teams were Jonny Fairplay and Twila Tanner from Survivor, Jonathan Baker and Victoria Fuller from The Amazing Race, Craig Williams and Tana Goertz from The Apprentice, The Miz and Trishelle Cannatella from The Real World and Anthony Fedorov and Carmen Rasmusen from American Idol.

The show's winner was required to bet at least half of their winnings on one hand of Blackjack, with the chance to continue gambling if successful.

Fear Factor Super Bowl Halftime Show (season 2): Played in the normal format with Playboy Playmates.

The first stunt aired as counter programming to the Super Bowl halftime show and ended right before the third quarter of the game started.

MTV's Fear Factor revival continued to use the format of four teams of two people competing in three challenges for a $50,000 grand prize, as in the last two seasons of the NBC series.

Fear Factor has received criticism from the general public mainly because of the show's second stunt, which intends to disgust its viewers.

The American Humane Association expressed concerns for allowing various animals to get injured and even killing insects by eating them alive during the videotaping of the show.

[34] In January 2005, an episode featuring a stunt involving blended rats aired in its normal prime time slot.

The Edison Electric Institute issued a warning regarding the episode, fearing that viewers might attempt to climb through a real substation with potentially fatal results.

[36] An episode originally scheduled for January 30, 2012, featuring contestants drinking donkey semen and urine was rejected by NBC, which instead aired a rerun.

[28] On January 31, 2012, two of the contestants, twin sisters Claire and Brynne Odioso, appeared on The Cowhead Show on Tampa Bay radio station WHPT to talk about their experiences in that episode; however, according to TMZ.com, producers of Fear Factor warned the Odioso sisters not to continue any discussion of the program, as doing so would put them in breach of their confidentiality agreements.