News from the world of entertainment hit today as it was officially announced that UFC commentator and world-famous comedian Joe Rogan will return to host the revival of NBC’s Fear Factor in 2011.
Production for the show will begin in late July, and new episodes could begin airing as soon as September of this year.
“It doesn’t seem real,” Rogan told TV Guide Magazine. “It seems like some sort of bizarro dream world. But I’m looking forward to it. The idea of sitting at home and watching someone else host it would have driven me crazy.”
Rogan was the host of the show’s original run from 2001-2006, which became a cultural phenomenon largely due to strange and often times disgusting stunts which the contestants were required to complete in order to be in the running for the prize money given to the winner.
NBC will be filming eight new episodes of Fear Factor with Joe Rogan as the host. According to Fear Factor executive producer Mike Kunitz, there was never any plan to have anyone other than Rogan involved in the reincarnation of the show.
“We wouldn’t want to do this show without Joe,” Kunitz said. “This makes me 100 percent relieved. Part of the nostalgia of the show coming back is Joe Rogan. Joe is a guy’s guy, but women like him as well.”
In the years since the show went off the air, there have been many technological advancements which should lead to a more exciting show, in addition to the obvious expansion of High Definition television.
“The stunt world has evolved significantly in the last seven years, since we taped the last show,” says Kunitz. “Technically stunts now are so much better at what we can do—much bigger falls, much faster falls. Bigger explosions, faster car stunts, bigger flips. We want to take it to the next level.”
Rogan is excited to return to the show and sees the role as something that is right up his ally.
“What I brought to Fear Factor the first time I hope to bring to it again—a background in competitive athletics along with being a standup comedian. This show is tailor-made for me,” Rogan said. “Once it was a reality, I got really fired up about it. It seems so strange that a show could be off the air for five years and come back.”
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