Well, I can thank Fear Factor for providing some of my most death-defying moments on television. Unlike the execution chamber scene on Days of Our Lives, or the scenes where Sami was fighting for her life after being struck by a car driven by Austin, the Fear Factor segments were for real. They were really for real! One slip on that high-rise building, and the only thing between me and a close-up view of the street-level concrete would have been the strength of the safety harnesses.
How did my appearance on Fear Factor come about? I met the producer of the show at an NBC party, and I told him how much I loved the show and how grossed out I was watching a recent episode. He must have appreciated my attitude, and sure enough, he invited me to be on an upcoming celebrity episode of the show.
Actually, before Fear Factor, you may have seen me on a few game shows, most notably The Weakest Link. If you saw that program back in March 2002, you’ll remember it as a Battle of the Soaps—some of us from Days of Our Lives competed with cast members from Passions—all of us playing for our favorite charities. And it was so much fun!! From Days, I was joined by Matt Cedeno (ex-Brandon), Jim Reynolds (ex-Abe), and Jason Cook (Shawn). And it really went down to the wire. I fought my way into the final round and ended up playing against Jim. And let me tell you, I got pretty concerned near the end. The championship was decided on my final question, which was: “What does the ‘T’ in ‘ROTC’ stand for?”
Oh, please! I had absolutely no idea!
I took a few seconds to collect my thoughts, and must have raced through a dozen or more words that started with “T”. Still no clue. The only word that made any sense was “Training.” So what the heck—I took a deep breath and gave it a try!
Amazing! It was the right answer! All of my friends and Dave back in the green room must have been working overtime sending mental-telepathy messages my way for me to get that one right!
James was so nice about it—he was genuinely happy for me. I was so excited to be able to send a big check to the charity I was playing for—the California Highway Patrol 11-99 Foundation. I won $68,500 for the foundation, and every penny went to these wonderful CHP widows and children who can certainly use the help.
Facing Down Fear
When I appeared on the celebrity edition of Fear Factor, I played again for the CHP families—and brought home another $10,000 for them. The other celebrities on the show—my rivals—were Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Richardson (of the Backstreet Boys), Ali Landry (Spy TV), Kelly Packard (Baywatch), and Alan Thicke. It was a wild ride for all of us—so outrageous…so thrilling…so terrifying. It’s the kind of show where your heart could end up in your throat if you’re not careful.
Now, if you remember the opening moments of each Fear Factor, there’s an announcement that the stunts were designed and supervised by professionals, and because of their danger, they shouldn’t be attempted by anyone at any time. A standard disclaimer, I assume, but with at least one of those stunts in mind, maybe I should have taken those words to heart. I absolutely came unglued at one point—but I’ll get to that in a moment.
So many people have asked me about Fear Factor (and still do!) that I’ll spend a few pages telling you all about it. If you saw the show, you may remember my opening comments, which were something like, “I don’t think my fans are going to be surprised to see me on the show, because my character Sami Brady on Days of Our Lives is a villain. She has drugged people, poisoned people, pushed people around, and tried to choke people to death! I’ve done everything on the show, so now I’m going to give it a shot in real life!”
How’s that for an opening?!
Well, I’m pretty competitive. In fact, I made a comment that the women on daytime television sometimes have a reputation for being divas, but I was going to break that stereotype for good and show how tough we really are! But the other celebrities on Fear Factor were just as confident—or in the case of Stephen Baldwin, downright cocky (sorry, Stephen, but it’s true!). In an off-the-cuff, macho monologue, Stephen proclaimed, “Here’s the deal. I don’t even have to compete right now because I’ve already won! Seriously, I might as well go take a nap, because I’m the winner.”
Stunt #1
I was absolutely determined to win the Triple Crown on the show, and my confidence level couldn’t have been any higher when we began at the foot of a Los Angeles skyscraper and peered up to its stratospheric, nosebleed-level heights. Joe Rogan, the host, explained that we were about to embark on a Spiderman-like stunt, climbing out of a thirty-sixth-floor window and inching our way around the outside of the building, tiptoeing on a narrow, one-inch-wide window sill and using overhead handholds along the way. We had three minutes to grab as many yellow flags as possible and transfer them one at a time from the starting point to the finish line. The four contestants who transferred the most flags in three minutes would advance to the next round. In other words, two of us would be heading home very soon.
When it was my turn and I got up to the thirty-sixth floor, I remember looking at the street below and thinking, “My God, it’s so far down there,” but also telling myself that I could do it. It was pretty intense. It was so challenging. The wind was blowing hard, too, which sure didn’t help. But I truly believed that I could polish this one off with no problem. Once I was all hooked up, I stayed determined and resolute. I was completely focused on the task at hand.
Do you remember what happened? I maneuvered on my tiptoes during my entire time on that ledge. It was tough—real tough. After grabbing and delivering the second flag in less time than Kelly did, and giving a thumb’s up to the cameraman because I knew I’d done enough to stay in the game, I suddenly lost my grip and careened into the L.A. sky. Fortunately the safety harness didn’t forsake me. I dangled and bounced against the window panes on the lower floors until the crew could pull me in. It actually felt pretty cool hanging in midair, and I was so confident in the safety measures that I didn’t freak when I took the plunge.
That entire experience was so amazing, so exciting, so frightening—all at the same time. I remember Kelly saying that the stunt had been so intense that her arms felt just like Jell-O. I know exactly what she meant. More than anything, my calves were killing me, as if they were on fire! Ali Landry admitted that she had said a little prayer before she stepped out onto the ledge, with the street a distant 36 floors below! But this was Fear Factor, and none of us expected to be able to coast through it. Kelly and Alan were eliminated and went home after that first round. When I asked Joe who in the world came up with the ideas for these insane stunts, he said, “They have a whole team of freaks!” That sums it up.
By the way, Stephen continued to talk trash throughout that first stunt, and in fact he bet all of us $100 that he would get four flags—but he didn’t come close to four (he quit after only two!!). So here’s my message to Stephen: “I’m still waiting for my $100, Stephen! You know where to reach me!”
Stunt #2
We moved on to the second stunt, which I’ll never forget, and I do mean never! It still gives me the creeps just thinking about it. One by one, each of us had to lie down in a Plexiglas “coffin,” which the Fear Factor crew had divided into three sections. From the knees down, thousands of nightcrawlers were poured onto us. Then the middle section was filled with one hundred red and white snakes. And finally (get ready for this!) our head and face were bathed in 3,000 huge Madagascar cockroaches—crawling, hissing cockroaches that were as terrifying as anything I’ve ever seen (or had crawling all over my face!). The game called for each of us to find and grab the white snakes swarming over our midsection, and put ten of them into a nearby bin as quickly as possible.
Well, I went first (lucky me!). Before I climbed into the box, Joe must have sensed that I was already becoming rattled, and he asked if I was OK. With my voice quivering, I said, “Of course not! You lie down in this empty thing, and then they put these f—ing bugs on your head!”
I wasn’t acting. Man, I was really scared. Absolutely petrified.
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br /> I put on a pair of goggles, and as I stepped into the box, I was already very upset, even before the stopwatch started ticking. Stephen began singing “La Cucaracha” as all the little critters were poured on top of me (Stephen really is crazy!). I was wearing a pair of shorts, and I screamed and shrieked as the worms were emptied onto my legs. (“Oh, God, eeahh!”) Then the snakes. Then the cockroaches. The roaches were beyond disgusting, crawling all over the place (and all over my face). I’ve never seen so many hyperactive bugs in my life! I was dying to get started—actually, I was just dying!—and wanted to get this miserable experience over with as quickly as possible.
“Hurry up!” I shouted. “Hurry up!”
At long last, the timer was started, and I frantically tried to find the white snakes while also slapping the crawling cockroaches away from my mouth and nose. The hissing of the roaches was so scary, and I was starting to lose it. Shouting. Shaking. Panicking. I was a real mess. With those cockroaches all over me, I had definitely met my personal “fear factor.”
Finally, I got ten snakes off my midsection and into the bin. My time: 1:54.
At that moment, however, I really didn’t care what my time was. I just wanted to escape from that “coffin.” Really quickly. I began screaming for help in getting me out of the box, but I had to wait until all the snakes and other creatures were removed. So there I was for a few more seconds, with only the cockroaches to keep me company! I began pleading, “Get me out of here! Get me out! NOW!” My shouts were ear-splitting.
Ali Landry was holding my hand and telling me, “Just breathe!” Joe was trying to calm me down, too, saying “Nothing bad is happening to you. It just feels gross. You’re fine!”
“Please hurry!” I shouted. “I’m about to seriously FREAK OUT!! Get me out of here!!”
My motor was really racing. Finally, all the snakes were removed and I flew out of the coffin; I could have made the Olympic high jumping team with that leap. I mean, I was so close to totally flip-ping out. Once I was on solid ground, I hopped in the air a few times, trying to slap any remaining creatures off of me.
That was so petrifying. It took me a few minutes to regain even a bit of composure. I mean it, I was coming out of my skin.
Ali Landry held my hand, and said, “I’ve never seen anybody freak out like that in my life!” Trying to catch my breath, I remained pretty flustered and shaken for a while, and mumbled, “Those cockroaches are the most disgusting thing I have ever felt crawling all over my face. Oh, my God!…You think you have an idea of how creepy it’s going to be—it’s maybe 150 times worse!”
Joe seemed stunned by my reaction. “This is the most freaked out I’ve ever seen anyone on the show.” Maybe he was right.
Frankly, I could barely watch the others going through the same stunt. I began to get anxious all over again just seeing the crew pour the bugs and the snakes on Ali. She admitted later that she was afraid of snakes, and she ended up with a scratch on her nose from the cockroaches. But through it all, she stayed pretty calm. Tears came to my eyes while I watched her grab the snakes, one by one, and toss them into the bin. I backed into a corner, crossed my arms over my chest, and tried to keep it together. I admit it, I was bonkers by that point.
Unfortunately for me, all of the other players got their ten snakes into the bin faster than I did. Stephen’s time was something like one minute flat! I was crushed by finishing last. I just figured that I had done my best but would be on my way home—and after that experience, I thought maybe it was time!
But then Joe made me an offer. “Ali, since we’re playing for charity, if you eat one of these roaches, you can go into the finals.” He also promised me that if I ate a roach, he would, too!
Oh, no. Was he kidding? On the one hand, I was excited by the chance to move on to the next round. But I could still hear the roaches hissing. And I started to freak out all over again. I told Joe, “Dude”—(I say “dude” a lot; I’m a Valley girl!)—“Dude, I can’t believe you offered me this!”
As I collected my thoughts, I made him a counter-offer. I proposed eating a worm instead of a cockroach. (I have my dad to thank for my negotiating skills!) Joe and I finally settled on me eating three worms—and Joe still eating the cockroach.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I said. “This is so wrong!” I remember wondering if eating the worms would be bad for my health. I also didn’t want to throw up on national television!
The others were egging me on (“This is for your charity, Ali”). So I bounced the worms from one hand to the other for a few moments, then covered my nose and popped the worms in, one by one. Yes, three very wiggly worms. Three very slimy worms.
This is the question I always get—“What did the worms taste like?” Oh, God, they were disgusting! I chewed them as quickly as possible, feeling their nasty, sour juice squirting into my mouth (sorry if that was a little graphic, but it’s true!!). I leaped into the air with disgust. I coughed. I gagged. I desperately wanted to put this horrible experience behind me.
Finally, it was done. But it took me a while to recover from that one. A long while. I don’t know what I would have done if Joe hadn’t agreed to the “three-worm deal” instead of the cockroach. Meanwhile, as he had promised, Joe did eat one of the cockroaches, with each noisy crunch echoing off the walls. He looked like he might lose his lunch, but he got through it. I’m not sure I would have!
Meanwhile, Stephen Baldwin saw me go through all of this, and was stunned by what he had witnessed. Later, here’s what he said, word for word:
“This show is totally insane! Alison Sweeney is whacked! Sweeney’s the one I’m worried about now. If you can freak like that, come back and eat three worms, anything’s possible! That was one of the sexiest things I saw in my life!”
I guess that was a compliment. With Stephen, you never know.
By the way, after the cameras were turned off, I chucked up whatever was in my stomach, including the worms. I didn’t want to have nightmares, wondering what was crawling through my stomach that night!
Stunt #3
By comparison, the third and final stunt was a breeze. We had to enter a steel cage, which was then padlocked and lowered into a large tank of cold water. Our challenge: Grab a ring of keys, find the right key to unlock the cage, throw open the door and swim to the surface and to a nearby buoy. Stephen went first, and he was pretty awesome. He completed the stunt in an incredible twenty-four seconds. He was moving so fast and so frantically that he cracked his head on the cage and was bleeding from the forehead when he came to the surface of the water. But twenty-four seconds—that would be tough to beat. Yet I still felt confident.
Kevin Richardson fumbled and groped with the keys and lost his chance of winning (his time: forty-three seconds). Ali Landry was next, and seemed to panic once she was underwater and the keys didn’t work right away. After a few moments, she jettisoned herself through the cage’s emergency exit and was disqualified (while the safety divers came to her rescue).
Then it was my turn. I stepped into the cage, gave the thumbs up, and was lowered into the tank. I began working quickly. After just a few seconds, I had opened the lock. With still a little time to spare, I swam furiously to the surface, but made a fatal error: I hadn’t thought about where the buoy was when I came out of the cage. I burst through the surface of the water, but had no idea which way to swim. After a few more precious seconds passed, I finally splashed my way to the buoy. My time: twenty-nine seconds—five more seconds than Stephen. He won $50,000 for his charity; I won $10,000 for mine.
After all was said and done, Stephen was still shaking his head. Going into the last stunt, he remained steadfast that I was the only one he was worried about. “If you can bug out, recover, come back, eat three worms, that’s hard core! Alison, I think you’re terrific. I think you’re a rock-solid righteous chick!” Then he added, “Win or lose, this kid is what it’s all about!”
That was nice of Stephen to say. But, Stephen, you
still owe me $100, buddy!!
Looking back, I’m so proud of getting through all three stunts (especially the second one!). I can’t say I loved every minute of it (think worms and cockroaches!). But I’d do it again if they asked me to! My time spent bonding with the cockroaches was later repeated on Fear Factor’s “Best Of” show, featured as one of the program’s most outrageous moments! The executive producer of Fear Factor, Matt Kunitz, put it this way: “Alison Sweeney is one of my all-time favorite Fear Factor contestants. Even though she was horrified and gave us one of our most outrageous ‘fear’ moments, she finished the stunt and proved that fear was not a factor for her!”
Chapter 17
Show business is in my blood. I’m sure you’ve figured that out by now. Even though I’ve been an actress almost all of my life, I hope that in terms of the length of my career, I’m barely out of the starting blocks, and that this is only the beginning.
Since I’ve been on Days of Our Lives, I’ve received more awards than I ever could have imagined. As I write these words, I’ve won the Soap Opera Digest Award four times, as well as the Breakout Performer of the Year Award from Soap Opera Weekly, and the Best Bad Girl Award from Inside Soap (the Australian magazine). My head is still spinning from the twenty-ninth Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in 2002, where the fans themselves voted me an Emmy as America’s Favorite Villain. (For all of you who cast your votes for me on the Internet, I’m still saying “thank you”!)
Those awards sure mean a lot to me—just being nominated is such an honor—but with my schedule and the demands on my time often so unpredictable, I’ve sometimes made those awards programs a little more tense and exciting than they need to be. I’ll never forget my first Soap Opera Digest Awards show, where my older brother Sten was my date. We were running so late (my fault, not his!), and when we finally arrived, the ushers rushed us in, right at the moment my award was announced! I had barely sat down when my name was called as the winner, and I had to get right back up and accept my award. I was a little out of breath and a bit frazzled when I reached the stage, but fortunately my acceptance speech was coherent and resembled the English language for the most part, and I somehow remembered to thank everyone who I wanted to thank. Everything worked out, but what a close call! By the way, I’d like to be able to tell you that I learned my lesson that year, and that ever since I’ve been punctual for the annual show—but that would be a lie! I’ve been late to every Soap Opera Digest Award show when I’ve been a nominee—yes, every one of them—and I’m sure I’ve raised the blood pressure of the show’s producers as the clock ticked and they wondered where in the heck Alison Sweeney was—again! When I’ve been only a presenter on the show, the pressure’s been off, and I’ve always breezed in with time to spare, ready to hit my mark. But as a nominee, the award show “curse” seems to take me over, and being a late arrival has become something of a way of life. Go figure…
All The Days Of My Life (so Far) Page 21