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Universal Studios Overcome by "Fear"
So long, Spider-Man; hello, Emperor Scorpions.
Universal Studios' latest attraction, Fear Factor Live, opens its doors in Hollywood this Saturday, replacing the Spider-Man Rocks! musical show. (The Orlando location's version opened on June 3, giving a wild west show the boot.)
There certainly won't be a lack of bugs or wild antics under the buildings' new offerings.
Fear Factor Live is the result of Universal and NBC's merger in 2003 and the first reality TV show to become a theme park attraction. Based on the hit gross-out series, it tests park guests' nerves--and stomachs--with three challenges in front of a live audience.
The stunts vary from park to park, and include endurance hangs while getting shot with stinky air cannons, some aerial squid-tossing, retrieving flags from tanks full of eels and chugging one of the show's classic smoothies. The sets even include the infamous Walk of Shame as losers exit.
Oh, and getting the Emperor Scorpions poured on your head? That's just interstitial entertainment between the main stunts (which you must be 18 or older to do, by the way). A Fear Factor Junior segment also challenges kids to eat chocolate-covered bugs.
"We didn't want to do Fear Factor Live if it didn't represent the show," said Matt Kunitz, executive producer of the NBC series. "It had to have the feel and--pardon the pun--taste of Fear Factor. This definitely does. We're 125-plus shows into Fear Factor, we're in syndication now, but this is the icing on the cake. Maybe it's the little kid in me, but I think it's so cool to have a theme park attraction."
Over 100 people daily will go through a casting process to get in on the action, while other guests are plucked from the line or audience to be part of the smaller stunts. The prize? Bragging rights (and some Universal swag).
"People come to a theme park to go on roller coasters, not get electrocuted," said Ed Sanders, host of the U.K. edition of Fear Factor. "But by all accounts, it's a great attraction. There are crazy people out there. And at the end of the day, crazy people are good viewing, whether it's on TV or on a stage."
Loony reality TV wannabes are in plentiful supply. That's a given. But is Fear Factor Live the beginning of a trend? While Arthur Levine, the self-described Theme Parks Guide for About.com doesn't foresee the opening of Apprentice: The Ride! anytime soon, he does notice parks going more interactive, like with the gaming aspect of Disneyland's new Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.
"It used to be that you were just a passive rider or audience member," said Levine. "The trend now is more towards putting some kind of gun in your hand and you shoot things and score points and are someway engaged in the attraction. Fear Factor Live is taking that concept to the next level. The audience members are the stars of the show?Whether there?s more of a reality TV spillover into the theme park world, that remains to be seen."
As long as there are eels involved, we think people will be watching.
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