NBC.com

Episode 201
January 8, 2002

Season two of Fear Factor kicked off with six new players arriving in a lonely stretch of desert. As they stood, shoulder-to-shoulder on the desolate highway, Joe explained that their stunt was coming to them. From behind the players, a red biplane approached, gained speed and buzzed over their heads! The players reacted with a mix of excitement and apprehension.

Joe explained that each player would ride in the cockpit while the plane traveled at speeds up to 100 miles per hour. When the plane reaches an altitude of 4,000 feet, the player will climb out onto the wing, retrieve a flag and get back into the cockpit. The timed event will eliminate two players.

Patricia, a petite, former Miss Teen USA, is up first. The others scoff at her, and the wind seems as if it might blow Patricia off balance. However, she winds up wing walking in under a minute! Christy is unable to beat Patricia's time and is instantly eliminated. Diana, a feisty nursing student from Illinois, is psyched to beat Patricia's time. She wows everyone with a time of 25.5 seconds. Now the boys are getting nervous. Kevin, a police officer who is used to staring fear in the face, shimmies out the wing and back in record time - 16.7 seconds. Garret, an aspiring singer, surprises everyone (including Joe) by beating that time. His time: 12.5 seconds. Jason is squirming. He has a plan to beat Kevin's time and stay in the game - but he gets hooked up on the wing, which slows him down. Kevin is eliminated with a time over 25 seconds.

A cave sets the stage for day two. Picture a fish tank, filled with water, plums and dozens of slimy, squirmy water snakes - oh, and one big constrictor snake! The person with the least amount of plums "plucked" from the water using only his or her mouth, will be eliminated. Patricia makes it look easy and retrieves 15 plums. Diana, however, is freaking out since snakes are her biggest fear. She only manages to get three plums out in the allotted two-minute time. Afterwards, she breaks down crying. Garret only has to get four to stay in the game, and that's exactly what he does. Despite getting almost his entire body in the small tank, Kevin is only able to get one plum - saving Diana from elimination.

The next day, Joe greets Diana, Patricia and Garret on the third floor of an outdoor parking structure to explain the final stunt. They will each drive a specially equipped car off the edge of the structure and into 12,540 cardboard boxes that have been stacked as a "landing pad." Whoever jumps the car the farthest takes home the cash. Garret gets suited up and strapped in to jump first. He launches off the edge and is swallowed up by the boxes. The car literally disappears! His final length was an impressive 63 feet, six inches. But Patricia has a higher power! She puts her faith in herself and floors it for 72 feet, four inches. Can Diana - who once aspired to race cars - beat that? She gives it her best shot, but comes up short with 69 feet, five inches. Patricia wins!