Pennies for your Fears?

What’s the deal with that show Survivor, since when did poverty and hunger become cool? I mean I know that people are always trying to act ghetto nowadays, but Survivor is pushing it just a bit. Has anyone actually thought about the concept behind the show? It’s basically seeing how long one can survive in the Amazon, only rather than think logically and trying to build a raft of some sort in order to escape, the object of the game show is to outlast everyone in the hell hole that executive director Mark Burnett has selected. What’s more is that even once the contestants have arrived on the island or jungle, and realized what kind of crapshoot they’ve managed to get themselves into, they still refuse to leave. Rather they decide that they would prefer to attempt to win $100,000 all while risking malnourishment, hypothermia, and dysentery. Have people actually digressed to the point where they risk their lives for some cash, what are you gonna get today for $100,000 anyways, a boat? That won’t be as nice to have once the meningitis you gained from the island has left you permanently paralyzed from the waist down.

While I’m on the topic, who the hell thought up Fear Factor, the premise of the show is that people face their fears in order to win cash, not that much at that, only $25,000. At a quarter of what you can make on Survivor, this show is totally a stiff, unless of course your fear is being stranded on an island with strangers risking death and disease, which is quite understandable, then you’re victory is well earned, well about as well-earned as game show money can get. Also has anyone examined the events they have? It’s supposed to be Fear Factor, as in facing your fears, and I can’t speak for others but I have never actually feared eating pickled horse penis, matter of fact I never even knew you could pickle a horse penis. That’s the flaw with this show; it works under the belief that disgusted and afraid are the same thing. If that’s so then I’m also afraid of my mothers cooking, public bathrooms, and my father's back hair, all of which I’ve conquered, except for the back hair thing.

Lastly, Jackass. Now I love Jackass, I mean it’s by far the most fun I’ve had looking at animals and naked men, don’t ask. But I find that some of their stunts are disturbing simply for the sake of being disturbing. While I loved seeing Steve-O swim with sharks with a fish hook through his cheek, I don’t really need to see wee-man drinking horse semen. What’s the obsession with male horse reproductive organs anyways? Is it because they are easily accessible or simply because everyone is afraid of them? Well everyone, according to Fear Factor, is afraid of them.