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Chase Hoyt and Chelsey Crisp
Best Friends Winners

Who were you expecting to be your toughest competitor? Did that hold true?
Chase: I thought it was going to be both Dextria and Dorothy because of their attitude coming in. They were very focused, and to sum it up, they had a good poker face going in. It did hold true because as it turned out, they were our foremost competitors all the way through the final stunt.

Chelsey: Matt and Sam, because they had the right attitude going in. They were both absolutely there to win and also there to have a good time which is the same mentality that Chase and I had going into it. And they were very physical, they were ready for the competition on all levels. It held true. I know there is no second place on Fear Factor but in my mind they were right behind us.

What stunt was the most challenging for you and why?
Chase: That's an easy question to answer, definitely the second stunt, eating the bugs. Over a hundred live African Stink Beetles? ...I think that should answer your question. It was the hardest because of the mental component. I had to put myself into another place in order to complete that stunt. I convinced myself that I was Jeremiah Johnson (character from a movie)...I convinced myself that if I didn't eat these bugs that I would die. Apparently the human body's will to survive is pretty strong.

Chelsey: The second stunt by far because it was such a complete mental block to eat something like that, and it does involve a physical challenge...you have to convince yourself to pick it up and put it in your mouth. You'd be surprised how hard it is to go against your instinct to pick something up that you naturally would run away from.

Did you have any phobias going into the competition?
Chase: Yes, Chelsey and I both agreed going into the competition that the only thing that we would have a hard time with would be eating anything alive. Give us stunts up in the air, drop us off buildings, anything physical and we knew we could accomplish it, however the idea of eating anything that we had to catch was a whole knew concept that we didn't want to endure.

Chelsey: Yeah, the only thing I'm really afraid of is spiders. Actually, my biggest fear going in was eating something that was alive, and of course that is what we ended up having to do. Going in, my biggest fear would have been eating live spiders, but I never even considered the possibility of leeches, and the leeches were so much worse! It was pretty bad. Thank God we won, because if I had to do that for free I would have been pretty upset.

Other than winning, what was the best part about your Fear Factor experience?
Chase: You know, it would have to be the anxiety before each stunt. That feeling of preparing yourself to do something outrageous and really putting yourself on the line, taking a risk, that's a feeling that one cannot replicate so that when you get the opportunity to feel that, it's nice to embrace it.

Chelsey: Going with Chase was very cool. To get to do something like that together was awesome. We are both very busy so we don't get to spend as much time together as we want to. It was time well spent.

What will you do with the $50,000?
Chase: Thanks to Capital One we turned that 50 grand into 70 grand. And now with that money to split, I'm going to take my share and invest it in real estate.

Chelsey: I don't know yet, still hasn't hit me that such a large check is coming my way. Just may take my boyfriend on vacation...

Did having a partner encourage you or make you nervous because you had to depend on someone else?
Chase: Chelsey and I both work off each other's energy and having her there with me through the stunts helped me along the way because we made it (cliche as it sounds) a team effort. Because I knew that Chelsey had to accomplish the same things I did, it made the whole competition that much easier. No one wants to go down alone and going through such a powerful experience is better shared with someone who is close to you.

Chelsey: It was a combination of both. But we both feel having a partner was a large reason for our win. It's one thing when you are just depending on yourself but another when your very best friend is involved...it makes the stakes that much higher while also making it a little more comfortable and that much more fun.