“Fear Factor” is the title of a television series presented to test the capacity of the contestants to succeed in hair-raising and gruesome experiences. In the present case, competitors were, inter alia, placed in a pen with hundreds of rats crawling over them. The task was to remove as many as possible rats within a certain time. In another instance, they had to climb into a tank to catch crayfish, which was also filled with other squirming creatures. The question was whether children would not get a wrong perception as to how one should work with animals.
The Commission held that the feature was not harmful in the sense that it would be likely to make children insensitive to animals. However, the Broadcaster should have warned viewers that frightening scenes were to follow and should have added a Parental Guidance 10 classification to the broadcast. Since this was not part of the complaint, however, it was merely added as an advice for future screenings, where appropriate.