Show Format
Before the contestants are introduced (and at the half-way point of a two-hour special), Rogan utters a verbal disclaimer. The wording has changed with certain versions, but this is one most commonly used:
| “ | I'm Joe Rogan, and this is Fear Factor. The stunts you are about to see were all designed and supervised by trained professionals. 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. If a contestant/team is too scared to attempt a stunt, failed to complete a stunt, or (in some cases) had the worst performance on a stunt, they are eliminated from the competition. If only one contestant/team successfully completed the first or the second stunt, they automatically won $25,000, and the other contestants eliminated in the stunt along with the winner of the stunt return for the next stunt to compete for the remaining $25,000. If no one successfully completed the first or the second stunt, then all of the contestants/teams eliminated in the stunt would return to the next stunt to compete for a reduced $25,000. (In season one, if one person completed the stunt, then the completer won $10,000 and the $50,000 grand prize was not reduced.)
Only once in the history of Fear Factor did the $50,000 top prize go unclaimed in an episode. This happened on a Best Friends edition on September 27, 2004, when none of the remaining teams were able to complete the final stunt. In the stunt, one member of each team had to drive a ramp car, while the other member had to drive a sports car. The one driving the sports car had to drive it onto the truck bed via the ramp car. If the sports car fell off of the truck bed at any time, the team was automatically eliminated. Had it been successfully completed, the team who did this the fastest would have won. However, the last remaining contestants walked away with two Mazda vehicles.
After the acquisition of Universal Studios of Vivendi Universal by NBC's parent company General Electric in 2004, contestants could win vacations in order to promote the theme park division of NBC Universal at Universal Orlando, or win trips to Universal Studios in Hollywood.
The order of the stunts on a typical episode of Fear Factor is as follows:
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