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Fear Factor Episode 419 Original airdate: December 8, 2003

"I'm dreaming of a fright Christmas, just like a Fear Factor with snow." Yes, this was another epic Fear Factor holiday episode! A perfect little cul-de-sac with homes glowing with holiday lights and innocent snowmen greeted the six players. Soon the angelic illusion would be shattered! A "sled" suspended on cables over 100 feet in the air flew overhead as if Santa himself were guiding it. The players would each have to stand on the sled and pluck giant candy canes from the adjacent wires while the sled made its way from one end of the street to the other. The four players who gathered the most candy canes before falling would advance to day two. Lea, a "professional fitness competitor," went first. Would her brawn and balance give her an advantage? Lea couldn't even stand still on the narrow "sled" before it began moving. Sure enough, once the sled was put in motion, Lea fell. No candy canes. No Fear Factor prize. Lea was out. Daren climbed onto the slippery sled as an eerie fog rolled in. He squatted on it like it was a snowboard, but would eventually have to stand up. Finally, mid-way through the ride he stood up and started plucking candy canes. Daren maintained balance until the very end and had a total of six candy canes. Michelle, who was motivated to help her sister pay for her wedding, climbed up next and predicted she'd get 11 candy canes. She had trouble reaching over to the candy canes and couldn't knock the first few off. Seconds later she was knocked off with a dramatic flip off the sled. Michelle was out. Next up, Selena. She copied Daren's technique and managed to beat his tally by claiming eight candy canes. Julian, who spoke about himself in the third person, thought Julian would do well. He started in a squat position, but once he stood up had major balance issues. After only three candy canes, he fell off the sled. Only Brian remained. All he had to do was grab one candy cane to advance with the others. He grabbed one candy cane and leapt off the sled to capture the second. He had advanced.

"Oh the weather outside's delightful, but the treats inside are frightful!" Players arrived under light snowfall to an inviting cabin. Once they were in from the cold, they learned what "treats" awaited them. Actually, it was a traditional holiday gift exchange with a Fear Factor twist. In the brightly wrapped boxes underneath the sparkling tree were some of the most disgusting things in FF history. One player would choose a box and reveal its edible contents. The next player could either "steal" whatever the first player chose or get something of their own…and so on until everyone had a "treat." Selena was first and unwrapped a cod egg sack covered in ants. Yummy! Julian could either steal Selena's gift or choose his own. Julian stepped up and actually took Selena's icky cod. Selena chose a new gift, which contained a live worm sausage (i.e.: sausage casing stuffed with live red worms, earthworms and super worms). Daren decided to steal the sausage, so once again Selena sifted through the gifts under the tree. This time, she unwrapped a jar filled with six rotten squid covered in live flies. Would Brian steal or get his own gift? Surprisingly, Brian stole Julian's ant-covered cod sack. Julian had to retrieve the final gift from under the tree. Under the paper and bow were live dragonflies! Dinnertime!

Selena couldn't even bare to touch her rotten squid. Joe dumped it onto a plate as everyone covered their noses. Selena quit on the spot. Julian grabbed his first dragonfly and chowed down as the little critter frantically batted its wings. He only had twenty minutes to get all five down, and managed to do it. Next up, Daren's worm-filled sausage. You could hear the crunching as Daren took his first bite. He asked for the Fear Factor "chuck bucket" soon after, but didn't use it. As time ticked by, Daren decided to dissect the sausage and fish out the worms instead of eating like an actual sausage. He managed to keep everything down and advance to the finals. Ant-covered cod sack was next for Brian. It might as well have been a Subway sandwich the way Brian made it look. He was a bit gaggy at the end and his cavalier attitude worked against him. He had one minute to gag it all down and was still chewing when time ran out. He was more than a little upset and surely made Santa's "naughty" list with his bleeped out comments.

"Players scream, are you listening? All around, snow is glistening. A fiery sight, in the finals tonight. Fear Factor's winter wonderland." Daren and Julian watched from a snowy bank as a lake became engulfed in flames and Joe explained their final stunt. They would each have to brave the flames to dive below the frigid water and release five huge holiday ornaments dangling below the surface. The guy with the fastest time would win. Daren donned goggles and dove into the flames. After releasing the first ornament he resurfaced for air. This technique was eating up time. Finally, he had released all ornaments and surfaced with a final time of 2:46. Daren was exhausted and barely made it out of the water. Julian knew what he had to do. Julian snagged two ornaments before coming up for air. Then it was back down for number three. He tried to swim on his back to save energy, but it was wasting time. Ultimately, he couldn't go back down for the final two ornaments because he was so exhausted. Daren had won! He dropped and made a snow angel to celebrate.