- A recently released Fear Factor: House of Fear episode was filmed in Metro Vancouver and involved local animal handlers.
- The episode has raised serious animal welfare concerns and prompted the VHS to file cruelty complaints.
- In future episodes yet to air, further incidents of stressful and inhumane treatment of animals are depicted.
- The first episode involved putting contestants in enclosed containers and dropping rats, pigeons, geckos, and snakes onto them from above.
- The chaotic conditions presented a clear risk of significant stress, suffering, and injury for the animals.
- Other episodes show further concerning treatment of animals, including a contestant in a closed container with snakes and a dead rat in the contestant’s mouth.
- The Vancouver Humane Society (VHS) has filed a cruelty complaint with the BC SPCA, and has written to various decision-makers, including the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC); the show’s production company, Endemol Shine North America; and the show’s Canadian broadcaster, CTV.
- The VHS is calling on CTV to stop airing Fear Factor: House of Fear.
TAKE ACTION: Join the VHS in filing complaints with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council; the show’s production company, Endemol Shine North America; and urge the show’s Canadian broadcaster, CTV, to stop airing Fear Factor: House of Fear.
Depicting animals as props in entertainment sends the wrong message about animal welfare.
Putting animals in stressful, high-risk situations is cruel and normalizes using animals for human entertainment at the expense of their welfare.
The practices shown contradict humane handling.
Animals are dropped into containers and onto frightened contestants and other animals, escalating panic and risk of injury. This does not model calm, careful, welfare-first handling, and it undermines the animals’ complex care needs. It’s especially troubling that local handlers would participate in, or endorse, this treatment.
The principles of One Health, One Welfare recognizes that human, environmental, and animal health and well-being are interconnected.
Fear Factor: House of Fear fails to uphold standards for:
Welfare: Animals and contestants are placed in highly stressful conditions without knowing what will happen next. One contestant is filmed repeatedly saying they want to leave the enclosure and is ignored, while animals cannot consent to their involvement in filming.
Health & safety: Both humans and animals are visibly distressed. Stressed animals are more likely to bite and scratch and to shed contagious viruses and pathogens that can pose a health risk to people. Concerningly, the contestant in the container with rats is filmed stating that the the rats were urinating and defecating in the enclosure, highlighting this risk. When people are in distress and afraid, they may throw or harm animals in attempts to get away from them.
