Eating bugs bad for you?

[kidder]

I don't watch this show normally, but I did catch an MTV spring break episode a year or so ago, where the contestants were drinking bile and eating intestines.  I also chanced upon an episode while channel surfing once, where a guy was trying to eat screaming cockroaches and cut his tongue on their hard shell when chewing it up.

So I heard about this stunt from the last fear factor, "The Grab and Grind."

Where one person lays under a tray of bugs, worms, roaches and other squirmy stuff with their mouth directly under a meat-grinder.  The other person picks up mouthfulls of the bugs and spits them into the grinder and then cranks the grinder.  The person underneath has to catch the ooze in their mouth.  I'm not sure how they win, but I don't think they actually were suppose to swallow it.

Here is the linky:
http://www.nbc.com/Fear_Factor/gross/424_grab_and_grind.shtml



Then I wonder if any strange new diseases will be born of these gross stunts.  Like: http://www.nap.org/pdf/origin.pdf



So I Google'd for an answer and found this:
http://www.komu.com/html/htmlPepper/HandoutMarch04Chastain.htm



Anyone have any theories?  Is the bug-eating for real on Fear Factor?  Or, does anyone even care?(quite likely)

[Pineapple]

From one of those links you provided:

"ERICA: Well, the first couple of pieces that came down were just kinda brushing off my cheek and I couldn't really catch it 'cause he didn't put a lot in there. After him taking three of 'em, uh, three big mouthfuls in there and grinding, that's when it started coming out and Joe was just like, "Keep it in your mouth! Keep it in your mouth! Keep it in your mouth! You know, fill it -- fill it up! Fill it up!". That's all I got to say. It's just disgusting for it to come down. Some of the pieces were really, uh, hard and they were hitting your face and in your mouth. Uh, ew, it was gross. It was gross. "

I really do not think TV could get any more stupid. Are we really this bored?

[WayAbvPar]

QUIT WATCHING REALITY TV, and this inane bullshit will go the fuck away.

[Arcadian Del Sol]

If Yakov Smirnoff were here, he'd say that in communist russia, television watches you.

thats' if he were here

[toma levine]

Next week they'll be going with the same bit, except they'll be grinding up puppies and kittens.

[Shockeye]

If Yakov Smirnoff were here, he'd say that in communist russia, television watches you.

thats' if he were here

He's too busy in Branson.

[kidder]

QUIT WATCHING REALITY TV, and this inane bullshit will go the fuck away.

I try.  It will not go away.  Reality TV is everywhere.  Someday it will get it's own channel like the "The Gameshow Channel", or "TV Land".

Next week they'll be going with the same bit, except they'll be grinding up puppies and kittens.

It is getting harder and harder to find something shocking.  Isn't it?

[DarkDryad]

to answer your question and not rant and rave about stupid tv shows. All insects they have are farm raised and have never been exposed to the diseases you are thinking about so no they wouldnt be carriers of anything but yummy yummy protien and tasty goo.
We had to eat insects and whatnot in ranger survival training and even though they are teh gross they are surprisingly good for you.

[Shockeye]

I try.  It will not go away.  Reality TV is everywhere.  Someday it will get it's own channel like the "The Gameshow Channel", or "TV Land".

The future is now.

[schild]

I try.  It will not go away.  Reality TV is everywhere.  Someday it will get it's own channel like the "The Gameshow Channel", or "TV Land".

The future is now.

That doesn't look like 24 hour "Big Brother" or "American Idol." It looks more like 24 hour bullshit patriotic masturbatory documentaries about the firefighters at Ground Zero or troops we may have sent to Bratislava. Is that even a place? Either way, No.

[Paelos]

Do Lesbian webcams count as reality TV? If so, I'd sign on for that idea next.

[El Gallo]

I know a few people who ate cicadas in various ways during our infestation of them early this summer.  Apparantly a lot of people did.  I passed.

As for eating ground up bugs on TV, well, that's one more wall between civilization and Japan that has been washed away.

[HaemishM]

I've seen Fear Factor and I have yet to see what the Fear is all about. Gag Reflex would be a better name for the show, and if you sold ad banners on the web site, your hits would be worth a fucking mint.

Imagine it, Gagreflex.com.

I will now go throw up lunch.

[Shockeye]

I'm hoping this will be on the next season of Fear Factor.

Here's an in-depth article courtesy of our friends at the BBC.

[schild]

I'm hoping this will be on the next season of Fear Factor.

Zee goggles, etc.

[ajax34i]

Agree, Fear Factor is mostly about doing gross stuff, with some physical prowess stunts in between, all while having the women show as much skin as possible.  

What kind of protective suit consists of heavy helmet, heavy buletproof vest, and exposed bikini bottoms, legs, and feet?  Also, they always sneak the odd underwater panty shot, or closeup boobies shot in there, and as far as I know they've never had an all-male team episode.

Plus, their male audience can have their thrills in relative privacy, since women will be grossed out of the room.

A winning formula, I would say.

[kidder]

Edit: double post.

[kidder]

to answer your question and not rant and rave about stupid tv shows. All insects they have are farm raised and have never been exposed to the diseases you are thinking about so no they wouldnt be carriers of anything but yummy yummy protien and tasty goo.
We had to eat insects and whatnot in ranger survival training and even though they are teh gross they are surprisingly good for you.

Insect farms.  Is that regulated by the FDA?  Makes sense though.  Even if they get the contestants to sign release agreements.  If one of them contracted the next version of the Hanta virus, that release agreement wouldn't be worth the paper it was written on.  Farm raised creepy-crawlies would be the safest bet.

[Nebu]

For any of you with a fascination for this sort of thing.