An installment of a reality TV program hosted by Joe Rogan that caused viewers to feel ‘literally SICK’ didn’t air in the United States.
While the series was named Fear Factor, nothing could fully prepare audiences or even Joe Rogan himself for the events that unfolded in a 2011 episode.
Fear Factor required contestants to endure a series of revolting challenges with the aim of winning a $50,000 reward. It originally aired from 2001 to 2006 before being canceled.
The show was revived in 2011 with Joe Rogan returning as the host, but its comeback was short-lived after Fear Factor created an episode titled ‘Hee Haw! Hee Haw!’ which was never shown on TV—although it eventually circulated online.
The centerpiece of the episode? A donkey, along with its semen and urine—what could possibly go wrong?
In this controversial episode, contestants faced a task involving a game of ‘horseshoes’ (throwing a horseshoe close to a pole), and those who performed poorly had to drink increasing amounts of donkey semen and urine.
Contestants had designated markings to indicate the quantity they had to consume, and regardless of how close they got their horseshoe to the pole, they still had to drink some amount of the nauseating substances.
The episode never made it to broadcast, and the show’s revival was halted shortly thereafter. Fear Factor was later revived for a third time in 2017 with rapper Ludacris as the host.
Participants who endured this revolting task described it as unbearable, with twins Brynne and Claire Odioso referring to it as ‘the hardest 15 minutes of [their] life’ during a 2012 interview.
You can watch the clip that resulted in the episode’s ban here, but be warned… it’s grim:
According to the twins, if a contestant vomited, they had to start drinking again, with one sister admitting she vomited into her glass and had to consume it again.
They mentioned it was so repulsive that even the camera operators became ill while filming the episode.
Discussing the show on his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, the former Fear Factor host remarked that it was ‘so hard to imagine that that was a real show’.
Viewers who watched the clip, which is available on YouTube, commented that the challenge ‘is not even a fear anymore, this is literally SICK’ and noted ‘no wonder it got cancelled’.
Others expressed that they wouldn’t attempt it even for a billion dollars and were bewildered that someone conceived the idea in the first place, while another remarked ‘no one’s a winner here’.
Reflecting on his role as host, Rogan described it as ‘the hardest thing I’ve ever had to watch’.