“Fear Factor” is getting a reboot, but the challenges are very Gen Z this time

Behold, the latest throwback to the glory days of the early 2000s: Fear Factor is being revived at MTV. One of the best shows to watch when you got home from school (or, if you came from a household that didn’t let you watch non-educational programming and rendered you a social pariah *cough*, when your parents weren’t home), we think most people who grew up in the 2000s remember Fear Factor both fondly, and with a bit of a cringe for all the truly upsetting things we saw the contestants do.

The reboot will air starting on May 30th of this year and is part of a new overall deal between Ludacris and MTV which means — yep — Luda himself will be hosting.

However, a lot has changed since Fear Factor was on, and the reboot will be shifting along with the times. Instead of making contestants eat bugs and intestines and basically making you want to vomit up your Dunkaroos and Sunny D, the reboot will focus on some more Gen Z fears.

"The new incarnation will flip the script on its targeted Generation Z audience and instead of gross-out challenges (like eating worms), will be more playful with the hope of providing a cathartic tension release along the way. The newly designed stunts are geared at tapping into visceral fears of today's anxious youth — such as couch surfing at 300 feet and waterlogging personal cellphones."

Considering the millennial generation faces dismal job prospects, skyrocketing debt, the promise of a collapsing ecosystem, and the lingering threat of a nuclear war, we think that MTV might be severely underestimating our generation’s capacity for tolerating tense situations but…we’re willing to withhold judgment because we’re VERY excited to have Fear Factor back in our lives.