Ok, I searched and didn’t find any thread on this topic, so maybe no one cares. But on the 1/24/05 episode of Fear Factor, I really think they crossed a line. I’ll admit that the show is one of my guilty pleasures; I enjoy the stunts and I like watching people do and eat gross things (most of the gross stunts I could never do myself, but maybe that’s why I like watching other people do them).
But on this week’s episode, they required the contestants to cut their hair. One of a number of very short (and somewhat odd) haircuts (mohawk, “taco”, patchwork, completely bald, etc.) would be randomly selected, and if both members of the couple didn’t agree to get the cut, they were out of the competition. All three of the women had long hair, two of them to at least the middle of their back. To what I believe is their credit, those two women refused to go through with it.
It’s one thing to ask people to do a crazy stunt. It’s one thing to ask them to eat something gross. It’s one thing to ask them to face their fear of drowning.
But to ask them to make a semi-permanent change to their appearance, something that will be with them in their daily lives for years aftwards, that’s just going too far. How long does it take to grow your hair down to the middle of your back? Ten years or more? Regardless of one’s own opinion of long hair, or the superficiality of placing value on a person’s looks, those two women obviously wanted long hair, and spent years and years getting it that long. To ask them to change that, and have to then live with the results for the next TEN or more years is just wrong. And I for one was very happy to see the women refuse. I have more respect for them than for the one woman who did go through with it.
Yes, I know, no one on the show is forced to do the stunt; this was made crystal clear by the two women who refused. But I just see a great difference between asking someone to eat a bug, and asking them to cut their long hair. With the former, if you do it it’s done and over with and you can go back to your regular life none the worse for wear. But with the latter, you have to live with the consequences for years and see it every time you look in the mirror.
It’s not a semi-permanent change, it’s a temporary change. And there’s always wigs.
The premise of the show has always been to get people to do things that other people wouldn’t do. If two people chickened out, the only thing they lost was the chance for a cash prize.
It is a much bigger deal for a woman to shave her head than a man.
I would watch FF all the time if it was just stunts. I can’t stand the eating challenges.
I’d cut my hair before I’d do the eating challenge 99.9% of the time. Especially for a shitload of money. I don’t think they went too far. Ingesting some of the stuff they eat is MUCH worse in my opinion. Some of it makes me so sick that I start gagging and have to leave the room.
The whole point of the show is watching people degrade themselves. If you are asking if the two who refused to cut their hair are somehow superior to the others, I’d say no. They’re all whores. They only differ in their price.
10 years? I must have some fast growing hair then. In May, I cut it to chin length and it’s back past the bottom of my bra strap.
Hair’s hair. There’s wigs, extensions, scarves, bandanas and hats.
Crunching live animals or swallowing them whole to disolve in stomach acid and crush in peristalsis in what I can only imagine is a terrifying and excrutiating death seems much more ethically questionable to me.
I’ve heard critiques of Fear Factor; that it’s too disgusting, abusive and mercenary. But I think that misses an important point. The scheming and backstabbing on Survivor holds no appeal for me, but FF, and especially Joe Rogan, are usually very positive. Here’s a challenge, it’s scary but it won’t really hurt you, face your fears and kick ass! I’ve always liked it for its attitude.
Roadfood, was this an episode with married couples? If you’re already planning for the long term, you should be able to survive getting your heads shaved together.
I guess it could be read that way. When we’re talking about “here, swallow these live Morroccan leechslugs in the hope of winning money” I just don’t grok it as a life-affirming experience. Too, there is the sadistic fun of watching the losers endure a horrifiying round or two and then drop out.
I don’t think they went too far, but that sounds like about as far as they’ve ever gone.
I do agree that the show would be much more enjoyable for me if they’d drop the eating stunts. I don’t mind gross (like searching for something in a vat of rotting squid), but the eating turns me off somehow.
I think the biggest thing wrong with Fear Factor is the lack of any consolation prizes. I think that anyone who completes even one of those stunts deserves to get something for it.
Now that I read this, I think this is one of the reason I like the show. Generally, it’s a postive experience, as you say. Conquer a fear, do something you thought you couldn’t do.
Scumpup: “life-affirming experience”? Ok, maybe not. But still positive in that a person gets past a fear and does something they were initially afraid of, and sees that no harm came from it.
But also (up until the hair thing), do it and then move on; get back to your life with no lasting effect from what you did. I guess, based on the responses here, I must be just odd for seeing that difference as significant.
PunditLisa: To me, something that takes ten or more years to get back to the way it was is semi-permanent. I didn’t say “permanent”. Sure, you’re right that by the strict definition of the word “temporary” it’s temporary, but then by the strict definition of that word, nothing that happens to a human being is permanent. There’s still a huge, huge difference between eating a bug and then it’s over, and waiting years for your hair to grow back.
Not married; some were dating, one had previously dated I think, one couple was brother/sister. But I really fail to see the signifcance of your question. Even if the couples were married, getting one’s hair cut affects one’s entire life, not just one’s partner.
I’d shave my head for 250 grand any day of the week, and I’d sure as hell rather wear a mohawk than drink a rat shake. I see the haircuts as an easy stunt, not a bad one. I’d consider myself lucky as a contestant.
There was one ep where Fear Factor clearly went over the line, because they never did anything like it again: the ep where constestants were strapped into chairs and tortured by being pierced with a series of increasingly large needles. They did it once, there was a lot of screaming and crying by some of the female contestants, they never did it again.
The haircut thing seems incredibly mild by Fear Factor standards.
They had a similar challenge on TAR, and the woman who did it, along with her partner, went on to win the million dollar prize. To her it was worth the sacrifice for the potential (and ultimately realized) gain. To others it might not have been. For me, I’d’ve done that challenge in a heartbeat, but I frequently change my hairstyle; grow it out, cut it all off, etc., and my hair grows really, really fast (I’ve gone from Halle Berry-length short to the top of my bra in under 2 years). The only caveat I’d make is that they’d have to save my ponytail to donate to Locks of Love, which is what I always do with my long hair whenever I cut it off. <shrug> To me, that would’ve been the easiest challenge – hardly what I’d call “going too far.”
Did they have nurses or doctors licensed and certified in Clean Needle Technique doing it? Sounds like a horrid liability/scope of practice nightmare.
(I’ve only seen one show - where the contestants had to run a maze gathering flags while escaping from attack dogs. Then the eating things became more prominent in the advertising. Didn’t interest me enough to tune in again.)
Actually, they’ve done the shaving-your-head thing twice on TAR; the first time, the pair declined to do the task, since they’re models and it would have had a serious impact on their livelihood, especially the guy, whose trademark is his long blond curls. In their case, it was a good decision since he’s making more money modeling now, I suspect, than he would have won on the show, and they were never really serious contenders in any case.
But as for going too far? For me, it doesn’t even come close to some of the other stuff that they do on Fear Factor. Hair grows back, and for most people it’s only a month or two till they have enough hair to not look all that unusual. For a shot at all money? Not much of a decision, IMO.
I think the one where they had siblings possibly twins and one was chained to a beehive while the other had to do some various things to get the keys and let them loose. One of the girls I remember was stung quite a few times and you could see the swelling starting. That is a life threatening situation what if one had had an allergic reaction. I am sure they have doctors standing by in case of an injury but jeez that one was too dangerous. the increasingly bigger needles was nasty but unlikely to kill someone. big scars though. I don’t watch often enough to remember any other scarring type things.
As far as I am concerned $50 k isn’t enough to eat the nasty stuff they have to eat. I could do the stunts but I am not eating that stuff.
But then again, it was part of a Fast Forward challenge and thus completely optional (though for practical reasons, once committing to do the FF would probably mean elimination if they didn’t complete it). It was also done as part of a Hindu religious ritual as well, which lent more dignity to the matter than Fear Factor did. The players (Uchenna & Joyce, a black married couple) went bald and went on to win the race.
Cancer patients have to deal with being bald and they’re not getting a million bucks for it. Still, I won’t deny that having your hair shaved could be somewhat traumatic. If that’s the case, then they don’t have to agree to do the challenge.