Johnny Knoxville turned ‘fear factor’ gossip into a breakfast ritual

Host of “Fear Factor: House of Fear” Johnny Knoxville opens with one of her favorite parts of filming the reality show: keeping up with the behind-the-scenes gossip about the contestants. He remembers reading daily updates during production, doing a morning routine over breakfast.

Season 1 aired its final episode in March, and Knoxville will return for a second season following the series’ renewal, giving it more gossip with a new set of players.

Johnny Knoxville Talked About ‘Fear Factor’ Gossip With His Wife

During the Deadline Contenders TV panel on April 25, “Fear Factor: House of Fear” host Johnny Knoxville and executive producer Michael Heyerman discussed the series, a reboot of the daring game show that originally aired from 2001 to 2006 and was hosted by Joe Rogan.

Unlike the original “Fear Factor,” the reboot requires the contestants to live together in a scary house where they can strategize and form alliances, adding an extra layer of drama to the already stressful challenges they face.

As Knoxville revealed, he picked up a new hobby while filming the 10-episode series. “One of my favorite things is first thing in the morning when we were filming, they would send out the gossip report – the ‘hot report’ of everything that was going on in the house. And my wife and I would sit at breakfast every morning, loving it,” he said during the panel, according to Deadline.

The host was invested in relationships

The original “Fear Factor” was a standalone competition in which a new group of three men and three women competed against each other in each episode. The reboot added an element of social strategy and had a player eliminated each episode until one was crowned the winner at the end of the season. This allowed Knoxville to get to know the players better and build relationships with them.

“I’ve never seen a host so invested in the hot sheet that comes out in the morning,” Heyerman said of Knoxville’s keen interest in players. “I was really invested in it. Who tries to make a friendship, who stabs someone in the back, is it a real romance or a showmance, did they kiss or barely kissed? I love it,” Knoxville explained.

Knoxville formed a relationship with some of the contestants, admitting he became emotional when some were eliminated. “I’ve become this person, but you can’t do anything about it. You build relationships with these people.”

Johnny Knoxville talks about his fear

Knoxville doesn’t seem like someone who scares easily, especially given his history of dangerous and often frightening situations throughout “Jackass,” where he regularly pushed himself through stunts that would intimidate most people. However, he revealed one thing about the show that scared him.

During the first season, the challengers had to face their biggest fears, including being shocked, being buried alive, and being stuck with dangerous animals and creatures, among others. “Snakes, fine. Spiders, fine. I don’t care about heights. But shared bathrooms in the house, it gives me anxiety. I don’t want to live with 14 people and have to share a bathroom. I’m going to go out into the woods before I do that. It scares me,” Knoxville shared.

The stuntman felt like a ‘perverted life coach’

In an episode of the “Books That Changed My Life” podcast released in January, Knoxville spoke about his experience on “Fear Factor: House of Fear,” saying his first thought in taking on the project was to make the contestants’ experiences “worse” for them. However, as filming began, his perspective changed and he ended up encouraging the players to conquer their fears.

Knoxville said he told them not to give up and to “at least try.” “I became like a really evil life coach,” he said, alternating between scaring them at one point and motivating them at one point. The actor said he ended up liking the contestants and had more fun hosting them than he expected.

Johnny Knoxville returns for season 2 of ‘Fear Factor’

A two-part follow-up special called “Fear Factor: 48 Hours of Fear” will premiere on May 14, where six contestants will complete challenges for 48 hours without sleeping. Fox also announced that “Fear Factor: House of Fear” has been renewed for a second season.

As reported Varietythe first episode of season 1 attracted 16.5 million viewers across various platforms. “Johnny Knoxville’s fearless and unpredictable energy makes him the perfect ringmaster,” said Michael Thorn, president of Fox Television Network. According to him, the team behind the series is now “thinking about new ways to increase the shock and awe quotient for season two.”

Season 1 of “Fear Factor: House of Fear” is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+.