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EAT AFRICAN CAVE-DWELLING SPIDERS

In Las Vegas you have to play big to win big. No one knows that better than Fear Factor contestant Krisandra Johnson who took a huge gamble when she agreed to eat the live African cave-dwelling spider.

FEAR FACTOR: What was going through your mind when Joe revealed the African cave-dwelling spiders?

KRISANDRA JOHNSON: When Joe first introduced the stunt, I was completely terrified. And I didn't think that I would even be able to do it, to be honest. I was terrified. I tried to picture what the worst possible thing could be, and that was the worst possible thing times a hundred. Never, in all my life, did I ever expect anything like that, ever. I mean tears came down my face. Mind over matter did not work that night, for me.

FEAR FACTOR: Why did it take you so long to pick up a spider?

KRISANDRA JOHNSON: When Joe said go, the hardest thing for me was to touch them in the first place. I just want to touch them to see if they would squirm or if they wouldn't move or what they would do. I was terrified to even touch them, because they just felt disgusting. They felt kind'a rough and they had those long tentacles. They had the little claws like crayfish, and the little mouth that just chomped. I didn't know if they were gonna bite me or what they were gonna do; so I was just terrified to touch them. It took me forever.

FEAR FACTOR: What was your technique for eating the spider once you were able to pick one up?

KRISANDRA JOHNSON: Finally, when I just grabbed it, I was so jumpy. I closed my eyes and I plugged my nose, because I didn't want to taste anything, and I didn't want to see it because it just freaked me out. The first time I put it in my mouth, I spit it right back out because it just crunched. It was just disgusting, and there was juice and pus and it went back on the table and since I'd gotten that far, I just knew that I had to do it. I just used my front teeth, 'cause I didn't want to put it in the back, and it bit me. It bit me up on my upper lip and inside my mouth. I just chewed it, and I just closed my eyes and I chewed it and I chewed it and I chewed it. Little parts of it were still in my teeth, and it was hard shell mixed with mush.

FEAR FACTOR: Did you feel like you had something to prove to the other contestants?

KRISANDRA JOHNSON: I mean there were people around. It was the guys. I was playing with the big boys, you know. I had to show them I can do it, too. 'Cause they probably didn't think that I could. So I picked it up again and I put it in my mouth and I just closed my eyes and I just crunched.

FEAR FACTOR: Did the taste of the African cave-dwelling spiders make you nauseous?

KRISANDRA JOHNSON: I unplugged my nose and it tasted like dirt and tree bark. It was so gross. I didn't gag on the first one. The second one I gagged and I thought I was gonna lose my cookies everywhere, in front of everything. Not only did I embarrass myself with tears coming down my eyes, but I was gonna lose my cookies in front of everybody.