Game Show NewsNet

Episode 3.6 - October 27

It looks like we're back in Normal Fear Factor mode - no Million, no new car, no trip to Vegas - just 6 people competing for $50,000 - well, for now anyways, until the sweeps...or maybe not - this is a SPECIAL Halloween Fear Factor. One of these people will be $50,000 richer, the other 5 will be Halloweenies.

We start this episode in a graveyard, where Eleicia Brandolini (Weymouth, MA), Brian Hood (Roseburg, OH), Jennifer Long (Jonesboro, GA), George Chidak (Brick, NJ), Lexi Charomonte (Bakersfield CA) and Jason Bell (LA, CA) compete for the money. Quote of the night comes from Brian - "Having all of those women win just shows the caliber of men that they have on the show." Nice.

This seems to be a simple one at first - the person is handcuffed in a tank filled with 400 gallons of water. All you have to do is to find the right key to get you out. The 2 men and the 2 women who do this the fastest get to move on. Joe, however, is concerned that the players will be lonely, so he brings some of his friends to keep them company - a few hundred snakes!

Jennifer is going first - and she wants Lexi to go home because she's too talkative. For someone who's supposed to be setting the bar in terms of time, she's not doing a good job - especially since the keys are attached to her butt. She stays in there for an agonizingly long 6:20, which is enough time for some other people to make a leather belt from the skins that the snakes are shedding while waiting for Jennifer to get out of the tank.

Eleicia is next - and Lexi talks trash to her, too - as she throws a raspberry at her when she says that she will do it in under 2:30. She can't stand the snakes - and that sometimes is a very good motivator to move very quickly. That she does, and she gets done in 2:15 - well under her predicted time.

Jennifer is on the bubble - while Lexi (considered 'the hated one' by the other people) is blowing bubbles. She is screaming like a banshee when the snakes are poured in the tank, and she is taking her sweet time as well - but not sweet enough. Her 3:53 gives Jen a sour taste in her mouth as her bathing suit costs her the game. "I'll never live this one down for the rest of my life."

The women were VERY slow in getting this done - how will the men do? Jason, who calls everyone else 'spectators' in the opening promo, goes first. He may have been a spectator in the tank, as it takes him 4:15 to get out. That doesn't beat either of the surviving women's times, and you may as well warm up the bye-bye wagon for Jason.

"If Lexi wins the whole thing, that would suck." This comes from Brian, who is the next person in the tank. What would suck for Brian is if he didn't get as far as Lexi - and lt's looking like that may happen as it takes him over 2 minutes to find the first key. He does get it done - but he hesitates in getting the last handcuff off - and that hesitation costs him. His time - 4:16. He's off by a scant second, and that may be enough to send him home.

George, who teaches Special Ed, is ready to go - and unlike everyone else, he isn't dainty. He dives right through the snakes and gets all of the keys. This proves out to be the right strategy, as he is done in a very quick 1:33. It really will suck for Brian, who not only doesn't win the $50,000, but who gets knocked out in the first round.

But Lexi is around for the second round - and so is Joe, who is about to explain it. There are 7 'flaming' goblets. Each person will shoot an explosive pellet at the goblet, which will be cool from a pyrotechnic standpoint. The goblet, when exploding, will reveal a number - which is how many of these things that you have to eat. Which things are they? Well...STINK BEETLES! You either get to eat 8, 16 or 24 of them, and you don't get any ketchup (or human blood, being that it's Halloween) to help get them down.

George starts it off, and after 2 attempts, he gets to eat 8 beetles. He says that it was pretty nasty, but it looks like he munches them down without a problem. Jason, a professed sharpshooter, is next - and I hope he has a sharp stomach, since he has to eat 16 of them suckers. He hates the aftertaste, but he gets them down as well.

It's the ladies turn. Eleicia gets the maximum 24 beetles to eat.

Eleicia - "I love secretion."
Joe - "This is a family show."

She does the stinking beetle dance as she eats them, but she gets it down. "Now, it's everyone's favorite contestant, Lovely Lexi!" jeers Joe, as she will be hearing the sounds of gagging from her fellow contestants - especially since she has to eat 24 of the beetles. She pops them down like they were popcorn, and she also makes the finals. Everyone passes the test of the stink beetles. She screams, and Joe anoints her as one of the freakiest contestants that has ever been on Fear Factor. Thanks - she thinks.

For the last stunt, it's time to visit the mausoleum! We have another tank - and in the tank is the return of the old favorite COW EYEBALLS! Also in the tank are pigs hearts - 10 of them. Whoever gets all 10 hearts out of the tank the quickest wins the $50,000... and of course, you have to do it with your mouth.

Jason is unlucky contestant #1. It takes him 2 minutes to find the first heart and it's not looking very good for him. He gets into a groove and works pretty quickly after that - but the slow start may come back to haunt him as he gets it done in 3:42.

Lexi, the freaky contestant is next - and she says that she can do it in 2:37 exactly. She is scooping the eyeballs away with her face -but she gets the hearts much quicker than Jason and she already has 5 in under a minute. She doesn't do it in 2:37 - she does it even quicker - 2:14 - which is enough to send Jason home.

Now will that time hold up against George? He uses Lexi's pushing the head technique - and he is just flying. He blows the 2:14 away - by almost half. He gets it done in 1:09, and Crazy Lexi, who now calls herself Lexi the Loser, is gone.

It's now down to Eleicia - and she is moving very very quickly - even quicker than George. The key is that she didn't bury her head completely in there - so she can see the hearts. She can also see her time - 53 seconds. That is good enough and Eleicia is the first female Fear Factor champion of the season. Maybe it's not the caliber of men this time - but the fact that the women's caliber was just a little quicker smarter, and - for this show - freakier.