Stomach-Churning Game Show Fear Factor Is Back With A Jackass Star As The New Host

Summary

Fear Factor returns on Fox with Johnny Knoxville as host, introducing a new format to fuel social antics.
The show was a 2000s hit despite initial doubts, leading to a multimedia franchise.
Fear Factor has been revived twice before, but Fox hopes the third attempt will captivate audiences with nostalgia.

Although it has been revived twice before, Fox is hoping a new incarnation of the gross-out game show Fear Factor will be a hit, despite being the third network to attempt to bring it back. Their ace in the hole is a famous face quite familiar with disgusting antics.

Fear Factor, a game show based on completing revolting stunts, kind of came out of nowhere to become a runaway hit for NBC back in 2001. They clearly didn’t believe in the show as they only gave it a nine-episode order from the jump, and initial host Joe Rogan has gone on record that he figured the show would be canceled after the first few episodes. The show was so popular, it became a multimedia franchise with a Game Boy Advance video game, a board game, numerous books, and the Fear Factor Live theme park show that used to be housed at both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Florida. Not too shabby for a fear-based reality game show that was supposed to be a flop on arrival. The first run of the show ended in September 2006, after six seasons and five specials, due to dwindling ratings. Now, Fear Factor is coming back on a new network with a new host, and he knows a little bit about grossing people out.

Johnny Knoxville Said Jackass Forever Was Not The End Of The Franchise

Johnny Knoxville isn’t ready to call quits on his painful career as a stuntman, leaving room for more Jackass movies in the future.

Fox let it be known that they are planning to bring back the show, currently titled Fear Factor: The New Chapter, with Jackass‘s Johnny Knoxville as the host this time around. They are also changing up the format of the show to seemingly include isolated social antics a la Big Brother or Love Island, as the cast of Fear Factor: The New Chapter will supposedly be living together under one roof. Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade has stated that the new series is “not going to feel like the show from 20 years ago.” Sharon Levy, CEO of series producer Endemol Shine North America, added, “When you reimagine a series as legendary as Fear Factor, you need a host who is the epitome of daring charisma and spectacle, and that’s Johnny Knoxville personified.”

Johnny Knoxville Is Officially The Host Of Fox’s Fear Factor Reboot Series

Fear Factor has been revived twice before since it first went off the air. Joe Rogan was brought back for a shortened seventh season of the show back in 2011 (before he was the king of the podcasting world), but that evidently didn’t work out for NBC, as they decided not to go forward with more seasons. MTV got in on the Fear Factor game in 2017, bringing in Ludacris of all people to host the proceedings. The last ten episodes of the MTV series were titled Celebrity Fear Factor and brought on board famous faces like Tyga, Lil Yachty, Drake Bell, and the cast of Jersey Shore.

Time will ultimately tell if people are ready for another Fear Factor in their lives. 2000s nostalgia is heating up right now, and Fear Factor was undoubtedly an extremely popular show for the first half of that decade. Perhaps Fox can pay Joe Rogan an obscene amount of money to come back for an episode or two? Maybe Johnny Knoxville will bring some other Jackass stars on board for a little bit of chaos now and then? Everything is up in the air right now, but one this is for sure: Fear Factor: The New Chapter is probably going to be gross.