NBC.com

MEAT LOCKER

What is tied up, numb and red and white all over? Emmy Stamatelatos and Anika Knudsen after competing in Fear Factor’s NY vs. LA Meat Locker stunt. Do you ever wonder what it’s like to dunk yourself face-first into a barrel of slime and guts or have to dig your way through a sub-zero snow tunnel in a bikini? Find out what these two competitors had to say about it in the newest Tale of Fear.

FEAR FACTOR: How did it feel shoving your face into a barrel of lard and cow parts?

EMMY STAMATELATOS: When you’re in there, the texture is so thick, it just sucks you right in like you’re going against it somehow.

ANIKA KNUDSEN: The lard was so thick that it just sucked you down there, and it wanted to just keep you there. You had to really force your way out of it. It was nasty going back in there the second time, but I got the wrench the second time and I was really happy about that. I wasn’t going to come up for air until I got it. I was willing to hold my breath for as long as it took.

FEAR FACTOR: Do you think given the circumstances, that the New York team had a distinct advantage over the LA team?

EMMY STAMATELATOS: Joe stresses that we’re from New York and that we can handle the ice. We can handle the ice, no problem. But in New York, we’re not idiots, we use shovels. That was definitely a challenge. All of a sudden, you say to yourself “Okay. Your hands are getting numb and then more numb...” Then it gets to a point where you’re literally like “ hypothermia!”

FEAR FACTOR: How did you convince yourselves to move on even though your entire bodies were numb?

EMMY STAMATELATOS: You couldn’t feel anything! But you just kept struggling to get through. I was going at the bottom with my whole body, when I should’ve gotten the top first. I felt like I didn’t get the whole top. I didn’t mind the ice part, just afterwards. The pain was excruciating!

ANIKA KNUDSEN: I thought the ice was going be the easy part. But when I went over to the ice and I started digging, my arms and hands were almost immediately numb. I had to hold one wrist with the other hand just to keep it going. So, I just kept scooping and shoveling the ice out with my arms even though they were like dead weight against my body.