It is so disgusting how top rated reality show reflects the present human behavior. Fear Factor is one of those shows who proliferates the primetime TV of such cringe-if-you-may display of human flaw. There is one clear motivation for every contestant in the game and that is, to grab the $50,000 grand prize, and if you possess the ability and the proper thickness of stomach, chances are, you end up as the winner.

I don’t have to narrate step-by-step the object of the game. I’m sure all of you people who have TV sets in your home have come across this show-—it’s so damn popular as other reality game shows have followed their footsteps as well as Joe Rogan’s infamous “motivational” push over the contestants.

Stunts are okay; hand, body and eye coordination are essential in surviving the world around you. Agility and quick thinking may save anyone from disaster such as earthquakes, fire or terrorist attack. Sports competition also develop this type of competition, but eating worms and cockroaches is another thing.

In third world countries, it is understandable for the people living below poverty line to grab anything that will give them food on the table. Kill for food, kill to survive. But these contestants of Fear Factor are far from being hungry and poor. You can see immediately in their physique of well built footing, as most of them are successful in their own rights. There is also one episode where celebrities were to compete in the game. How come they allow themselves to do humiliating stunts or expose their naked body on national TV for the world to see?

Is $50,000 enough for anyone to eat worm and cockroaches? Rotten squid, decomposing rat and a heap of maggots? Last time I checked on one episode, a couple of contestants were arguing whether the woman will agree to go bald as one stunt would call for her to shave her beautiful hair. The guy was so frantic in pushing his partner to grab the moment and quit having second thoughts as Joe Rogan play devil’s advocate in reminding them the money.

“How do you think would I look like when I’m bald? I’m tall and no hair, I would look like…” (Demonstrating herself like a scarecrow) “Would you still love me then?”

The couple end up disqualified as the woman walks away from the stunt amidst her husband’s red-faced attempt to persuade her to shave her head. Kudos for her! She had her dignity still intact, but I don’t know if they are still together after the show.

People who can do anything, like eating live maggots or cockroaches for the sake of money will do anything to take hold of their ambition. It may sound like a positive trait but I think it isn’t. If they can eat shit for the prize of 50 grand, can you imagine what they can do for 100 grand? Dignity is one factor humans possess that makes them apart from animals.

I have witnessed a mother pimping her four year old daughter to pedophile; a woman who let her husband treat her as a punching bag because she was so financially dependent on him; a beggar eating left over rotten food on a trash can; all because they are pushed by situation where they cannot escape the predicament life has thrown on them. But nothing was so dreadful than a person in a well-off status in life eating maggots while scantily clad in a bikini facing the national TV. Stating how they badly wanted the 50 grand in between burp of fine blended fly slurpee while wiping away the roach’s gooey remains on their face.

What are you willing to do for 50 grand?