Fear Factor

[bugs4life]

All these years that Fear Factor has been on TV, I was never really a fan of them munching on the hissing cockroaches or whatever, but then of course they're just roaches. I saw something today that I think went a little too far
They brought out a big tub of probably 100+ Pandinus imperator all crawling all over eachother (of course, that's the Fear Factor style). They had the contestants transfer 5 of them into a separate container using just their mouths. That's not what really got to me though...for a "bonus prize" they had the contestants drink a mixture of blended P. imperator and something else...
Now, if for some reason a native tribe in Africa has the need to munch on these little guys, then fine, that's just their culture. But Fear Factor is all about cheap thrills and that gets me fuming. Where do they get the right to throw these beautiful animals into a blender just for something as disgusting as this?
I'm not trying to be a PETA activist (believe me, I'm not), but it peeves me to see people doing things like this for all the wrong reasons. There is NO way you could justify putting P. imperator into a blender!

 

[JungleGuts]

i agree, im not an overthetop person with these issues like you, but some stuff is just plan dumb and wrong.

 

[CopperInMyVeins]

I saw a clip from another episode of that in which a women had to eat a live Damon sp. Amblypygid. Not only that, they referred to them as "African Spiders". Never actually watched the full show, but from the clips and stories it seems pretty horrible. The whole thing just plays on the ignorance of the audience, unfortunatly large arachnids are pretty good at producing the shock they want.

 

[bugs4life]

I think they actually introduced them as "African Cave-Dwelling Spiders"
Idiots...(not you, the TV people lol)

 

[bugs4life]

oh yeah, and the above post was in reply to CopperInMyVeins

 

[Scorpfanatic]

African cave Spiders to be exact. i hate that show

 

[reacka]

personally, i don't have a problem with Fear Factor and them eating emps. you might hate me for saying that but i wouldn't do it. i wouldn't eat the roaches either.

 

[LucasP]

just goes to show the atrocities men will commit when nobody will stop them. If that had been a frog in a blender they'd have had their asses handed to them but people don't identify arachnids as being "valid" animals and thusly we have no laws preventing their abuse. It's just sad.

 

[thisgal]

Bottom line is that you can't please everyone. Find any little critter and someone somewhere has one as a pet. This happened to me in 6th grade (yeeeeeears ago!) when we were learning how to dissect an anole, and I had a few as pets. Needless to say, I didn't attend class that day.

 

[xgrafcorex]

heh yea that show is a winner but i did LOVE the fear factor with tyrone! he showed them who's the boss with those worms and that nasty stuff he ate.

 

[bugmankeith]

To them a cockroach is no different than a scorpion, and a scorpion is no different than a tarantula, they all have the same effect on people.

 

[LongDucDong]

Fear Factor blows. I hate that show for several reasons. I also started a verrrrry similar thread on the American Tarantula Society board, only to have the mods shut it down .

 

[~Abyss~]

Whoa please dont hate me guys but I think that the people eating the blended scorps is the same as you killing of roaches. (if you feed the to your scorp then ............Good for you) many of us love those little guys trust me I have three. I wouldnt eat them of course. If i was in fearfactor and they made me I would feel a little bad but I would do it to WIN . Anyways emps are cheap and in the bundle im sure they get them for cents each. And for those who think that killing an animal is wrong then how come im hearing very few on the roaches they eat or the mealworms. I think that we as scorp collectors just feel bad because we find scorps interesting and we love them. Just like here in the US we wouldnt eat dogs but there are parts in Korea that eat them.

 

[CopperInMyVeins]

Bottom line is that you can't please everyone. Find any little critter and someone somewhere has one as a pet. This happened to me in 6th grade (yeeeeeears ago!) when we were learning how to dissect an anole, and I had a few as pets. Needless to say, I didn't attend class that day.

Dissecting a preserved animal for the purpose of education is quite a bit different from throwing live animals in a blender for the purpose of entertainment. I've dissected animals myself, I have no issue with it, my boss has even dissected his own pet guinea pigs to try to find out how they died. Animals being dissected are at least contributing something, hopefully even giving people a greater appreciation for them. The scorpions dying on Fear Factor are dying in vain purely for shock value.

 

[bugmankeith]

I wouldnt keep a scorpion as a pet, but I wouldnt go and kill one either.

 

[~Abyss~]

I wouldnt keep a scorpion as a pet, but I wouldnt go and kill one either.

you wouldnt but you go to texas and the people there squish them the way I would a roach. Just saying i mean i wouldnt kill a scorp either

 

[CopperInMyVeins]

I think that we as scorp collectors just feel bad because we find scorps interesting and we love them.

Personally I find roaches really interesting too, they're a pretty amazing groupd of insects. It's just really convenient that they also make great prey items for other interesting animals, and at least their deaths are serving a useful purpose.

 

[8ball]

you wouldnt but you go to texas and the people there squish them the way I would a roach. Just saying i mean i wouldnt kill a scorp either

Lol, I almost had to beat someone's ass because of them trying to step on a scorpion infront of me once.

 

[8ball]

Personally I find roaches really interesting too, they're a pretty amazing groupd of insects. It's just really convenient that they also make great prey items for other interesting animals, and at least their deaths are serving a useful purpose.

Yes that's just nature's way with a little of our help to make the event happen, but fear factor's <edit> up putting them in a blender like that, wish I could shrink them and put them in a blender.

 

[~Abyss~]

Well if you think about it it's a usefull purpose to eat entertains us all (jk) and it still gets eaten