Did Fear Factor make Joe Rogan, or did Joe Rogan make Fear Factor? Well, the answer is a little bit of both.
Rogan was Fear Factor’s first host when the show launched in 2001. He continued to work on the show for the first 7 seasons, until the show was eventually dropped by NBC.
Before Fear Factor, Rogan had played a key role in the TV sitcom NewsRadio, working with Dave Foley, Andy Dick, and Phil Hartman, but the first season of Fear Factor reached a level of success that his previous show never came close to.
For Rogan, Fear Factor served as a launching pad toward new opportunities. The show was where he became a household name, with the broad public in America.
In the years after his first stint with the show, he launched his now famous JRE podcast, and starred in the movies Here Comes The Boom and Zookeeper.
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Joe Rogan’s Start in Fear Factor
Prior to the show, Rogan’s career was successful but all over the place. He was serving as a UFC commentator, doing stand-up comedy, working on his sitcom The Joe Rogan Show (never came about), contemplating writing a book, working on a cartoon, and releasing a comedy album.
The call from Rogan’s manager, Jeff Sussman, gauging his interest in the show, appeared to come out of nowhere. At first, he resisted because he thought a show like Fear Factor would never make it for a rather tame NBC audience.
But, with a nudge from his manager, the idea of hosting Fear Factor began to become more and more appealing to Rogan.
Joe Rogan’s Fear Factor years: 2001-06, 2011-12
For Fear Factor, Joe Rogan was the perfect host. He provided comical satire and the right amount of bravado to push contests past their limits, both physically and mentally.
Rogan completed 7 seasons with Fear Factor, the first six being grouped together from 2001-2006, and the 7th season, being a revival from 2011-2012.
On June 11th, 2001 the first episode hit airwaves on NBC and was a huge success in households across America. Apparently, seeing people get in snake cages, eat cockroaches, and jump out of helicopters is very appealing to Americans.
During Rogan’s first stint with Fear Factor, he continued to do other things, like in 2003-2004 when he co-hosted The Man Show with buddy Doug Stanhope in 2003-2004. He also appeared on Chappelle’s Show, doing a mock Fear Factor challenge with Dave Chappelle’s character Tyrone Biggums.
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What was Joe Rogan’s Fear Factor age?
Joe Rogan hosted Fear Factor‘s all seven seasons from age 33 – 44 years old, although there was a four year gap from 2007-2010 when there were no seasons/episodes, until the revival in 2011.
When Rogan’s first episode of Fear Factor aired on June 11th, 2001, he was 33 years old, just two months exactly before his 34th birthday on August 11th.
Rogan continued to host Fear Factor until he was 38 years old, on the show’s first stint. When the show returned to air on December 12th, 2011, the show’s revival, Rogan was 44 years old.
One significant difference between Rogan then and now, is that he actually had a full set of hair:
Joe Rogan Regretted Returning to Fear Factor
On JRE episode #1390 with Tim Dillon, Rogan admitted that he regrets returning for the revival of Fear Factor in 2011. Part of the reason, he said, was because the “deal was big” and he didn’t have as much money then.
Rogan had two young kids under 2 years old, and he felt like the money was too good to turn down. Also, he said that he would hate to see somebody else do the show, as he had been the show’s only host.
Rogan immediately regretted coming back for a few reasons. In order to get more viewers, Rogan felt like the show was doing riskier stunts, some that were pretty uncomfortable to watch.
Eventually, Season 7 of Fear Factor got cancelled because of some grotesque stunts…
Joe Rogan Fear Factor Highlights
*Episode 6 in season 7 of Fear Factor, called “Hee Haw! Hee Haw!”, eventually led to the show’s demise.
This episode got Fear Factor cancelled by NBC, because of an incident involving a donkey. Two contestants, twin sisters, were forced to drink a certain amount of “donkey juice”, based off where their horseshoe throw landed. Check it out for yourself:
*In 2004, Chappelle’s Show featured a Fear Factor skit involving Dave Chappelle and Joe Rogan, playing himself. Chappelle played his infamous character Tyrone Biggums, who is homeless, and aced through the challenges.
*Although Rogan usually watched from the sidelines during bug eating contests, these contestants talked him into eating a cockroach:
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