Fear Factor is supposed to be about scaring willing human contestants—not scaring our fellow animals who have no choice in the matter. Yet that’s exactly what appears on Johnny Knoxville’s reboot of the series, Fear Factor: House of Fear.

So we’re going to scare the production straight by filing a formal complaint. PETA has requested that the British Columbia SPCA investigate Fear Factor: House of Fear, its host, and the show’s animal handlers for potential violations of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The law explicitly makes it illegal to cause an animal to be in distress.

The Stunts on the Show Aren’t Just Cruel—They’re Potentially Illegal

So far, the show has featured the following challenges:

• Contestants were confined from the waist up in a plexiglass box while live rats, pigeons, snakes, crickets, or geckos were dumped on top of them from a compartment high above in the ceiling. Several animals appeared visibly distressed. Rats frantically climbed over each other, pigeons fluttered erratically, and snakes coiled their bodies or attempted to climb upwards. According to an expert wildlife veterinarian, the animals could have suffered serious and painful fractures, joint dislocations, tendon or ligament damage, and other physical trauma.
• Contestants scrambled through a tank of water containing six live boa constrictors to collect dead rats to drop into a container, all while trampling some of the snakes in their path. Snakes are warm-blooded animals who are extremely vulnerable to temperature changes. Since water transfers heat much more effectively than air, the snakes submerged in water could quickly suffer from hypothermia. Multiple snakes in the water are seen climbing to the top edges closest to the lights illuminating the space, indicating that they were already hypothermic at the beginning of the scene and were seeking warmth.

Fear Factor Is Afraid of Losing Viewers—So Let’s Give Them a Good Fright

Rats are curious, social animals who love to play and cuddle. Snakes are sensitive, shy, and often solitary. Pigeons are devoted partners who mate for life and co-parent their babies.

Every single one of these animals experiences pain and fear, yet Fear Factor exploits them like stage props.

Today’s audiences don’t want to see humans terrorizing animals. YOU can help us amplify this message by flooding the production’s comments on social media and sharing this post far and wide! Let’s make it clear that while Johnny Knoxville and his contestants are there by choice, the animals certainly aren’t.