03/24 Episode - Miss USA 2003

[John]

NBC BRINGS OUT THE BEAST IN BEAUTIES AS SIX CONTESTANTS FROM 'MISS USA 2003' FACE THEIR FEARS AS COMPETITORS ON 'FEAR FACTOR'
Published: March 14, 2003

BURBANK, Calif. -- March 14, 2003 -- American beauties know no fear on NBC’s “Fear Factor” (Mondays, 8-9 p.m. ET) when six contestants from NBC’s upcoming “Miss USA 2003” beauty pageant vie against each other - not for a crown, but for a cash prize of as much as $50,000 and the self-satisfaction of facing their fears.

“Fear Factor” does not take it easy on the beautiful contestants, as they must eat fermented squid guts after finding them buried in containers of thousands of pounds of fish guts and surf on top of a tanker truck as it barrels down a desert road. To prevent the judges from giving the women an unfair advantage (or disadvantage), their names and states cannot be revealed until the telecast.

In a typical “Fear Factor” episode, six contestants (three women and three men) on the reality series are recruited from across the nation to see if they have the guts and determination to face their most primal fears when confronted with a series of challenging stunts under the supervision of professional Hollywood stunt coordinators. In each pulse-racing episode hosted by Joe Rogan, contestants compete against themselves, extreme challenges -- and each other -- in the hope of taking home a cash prize of up to $50,000 at the end of the hour.

NBC will inaugurate its first broadcast of the Miss USA beauty pageant live from San Antonio, Texas on Monday, March 24 (9-11 p.m. ET). Hosted by Billy Bush ("Let's Make a Deal") and Daisy Fuentes ("House of Style"), the gala event will introduce a few new twists - including allowing viewers to go online (http://www.nbc.com/Miss_USA/) and choose the winner of “Miss Photogenic.”

John de Mol ("Big Brother") and Matt Kunitz ("Dog Eat Dog") are the executive producers of “Fear Factor,” from Endemol Entertainment USA.

[John]

In this special episode hosted by Joe Rogan, a half-dozen contestants from the "Miss USA 2003" competition - which immediately follows this episode of the hit reality show -- must decide if they have the guts and determination to face their most primal fears when confronted with a series of challenging stunts under the supervision of professional Hollywood stunt coordinators. To prevent the judges from giving the women an unfair advantage (or disadvantage) their names and states cannot be revealed until the telecast. As with every "Fear Factor" pulse-racing episode, these brawny-yet-brainy beauties compete against themselves, extreme challenges -- and each other -- in the hope of taking home a cash prize of up to $50,000 at the end of the hour. John de Mol ("Big Brother") and Matt Kunitz ("Dog Eat Dog") are the executive producers of this series from Endemol Entertainment USA..

[Deep Dish]

The stunts were great:

1. Holding your breath upside down underwater.
2. Diving into thick fish scale cloudy water to retrieve 1 of 8 canisters containing raw squid and then having to eat about a cup's worth of the goo.
3. Surfing atop a speeding, serpentining tanker truck, seeing who could go without falling the longest. This is one of the most daring stunts I've ever seen performed, btw. Normally when a competitor falls, they fall straight down and are left hanging in the air. Here, you lost your balance, fell, then freakin' slammed into the side of the speeding truck!

The competitors were all Miss USA pageant contestants so there wasn't a lot of that trademark trash-talking, which I found took a lot away from the program. I mean, the beauty queens sure gave each stunt their all but it so apparent these ladies are very careful about what they say before they say it. They were also markedly less hoochie than usual and fake boobs were on hiatus. Not to be outdone, however, the producers made sure 2 of the stunts involved wearing bikinis and the third skin-tight trackpants.

Joe, to his credit, did a great job as usual working with what he had. I don't remember who won because between Joe calling them their real names and Miss _____, I got confused. Ok, I just checked the NBC site and it was Miss Louisiana.

[John]

"markedly less hoochie"

[Paulie]

I figured Minnesota won the Most Photogenic prize due to her appearance on this show, huh?

And what was with North Carolina cheating by dropping squid bits back into the water and spitting them out and so forth?!? I was incensed...mainly because I was pulling for more screen time for Michigan.

Louisiana looks like my cousin.

[JR.]

Originally posted by Paulie
...mainly because I was pulling for more screen time for Michigan.

Heh, interesting choice of words

[Paulie]

Um, yeah. Next.