SHAKE, RATTLE AND HURL TEST YOUR 'FEAR FACTOR' AT UNIVERSAL.

Byline: Jerry Rice Staff Writer

Mix together some octopus bits, pigs' knuckles, lumpy milk and sauerkraut and what do you have?

A Fear Factor Smoothie, which is part of the latest attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Based on the popular NBC reality show, ``Fear Factor Live'' opened Saturday, putting park guests to the test in a number of extreme, bizarre and gross ways.

``We're going to take ordinary people and put them in extraordinary situations,'' says Scott Trowbridge, vice president of creative development for Universal theme parks. ``People are going to be very surprised at what we're going to put them through.''

Well, they won't be too surprised if they've been watching the TV show, which enters its sixth season this fall and is famous for stunts that make you wanna go ``ewww.''

``We realize that once you've had a bug or pig spleen, there are only so many parts of an animal and so many bugs that you can eat,'' says Matt Kunitz, executive producer of the TV show. ``So, the gross stunts are becoming more intricate and physical.''

The stunts in the live show may not be as elaborate as they are on television, but they promise to be just as challenging and, perhaps most important, fun to watch.

Contestants audition for the chance to take part in the 30-minute shows at a booth near the attraction. The auditions will be videotaped and some of the answers will be used during the show. Also, age, height and weight restrictions will apply, and participants will need to sign a release form.

Up to 18 park guests will be used for each performance, and there will be as many as eight shows a day during the peak summer months.

``We're not looking for extreme athletes,'' Kunitz says. ``We want people you wouldn't normally think are going to actually be up there. We want to see people freak out. That's where the drama is. If you cast a whole bunch of extreme athletes, you're not going to get that.''

If you're too chicken to be a contestant, you can still take part in the show. Selected audience members will make the stunts more difficult by shooting ``air cannons'' or doing other things. The audience also will pick the ingredients for the Fear Factor Smoothie used in the show.

In between each of the on-stage stunts, volunteers from the audience - including kids - will face some of their own fears, such as eating chocolate-covered bugs or letting emperor scorpions crawl on their heads.

``We have all kinds of ways to bring the audience into the action, so they can get as up close and personal with 'Fear Factor Live' as they want to,'' Trowbridge says.

FEAR FACTOR LIVE

Where: Universal Studios Hollywood, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City.

When: Opened Saturday.

Tickets: $53; $43 for those under 48 inches tall. Purchase a full-price single-day admission ticket and receive a pass to return during the rest of 2005 for free. Promotion ends July 31. Information: [phone], [phone]; www.universalstudioshollywood.com.

Can you stand it?

Think you've got what it takes to become a ``Fear Factor Live'' contestant? If you get picked, here's what you may experience:

Stunt No. 1 - Hang 'em High

Six contestants stand, harnessed, atop two horizontal trusses, 30 feet in the air. A small platform protrudes at their feet and a thin trapeze-like bar, suspended by two cables, hangs before them. On the count of 3, the platform falls from beneath them and the contestants attempt to hang on as long as possible. At that time, four audience volunteers will blast the contestants with ``air cannons.'' The first two to fall leave via the ``Fear Factor Live'' walk of shame, and the other four continue to ...

Stunt No. 2 - Recipe for Disaster

The contestants are locked in shackles suspended from overhead and they need to free themselves by spinning around as fast as possible. Once detached, they sprint across a giant rotating turntable until they reach a tank filled with eels slithering above a collection of flags at the bottom. The first two contestants to grab a flag and secure it to a pole suspended above the spinning turntable, and then drink a mixture of blended ingredients, move to the final challenge, which is ...

Stunt No. 3 - Shock and Roll

The final two contestants are placed on tables and connected to a shock console outfitted with electrical wire contraptions. (Think Frankenstein's laboratory.) The contestants spin a wheel on each shock console that sends an electrical jolt to their opponent. The first to spin the wheel the fastest and withstand the most intense levels of electricity wins. The loser is then launched backward via an elaborate ``fly by the wire'' rig that ignites a dynamic pyrotechnic explosion.

- J.R.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Karyn Miller finds out what it's like to have scorpions crawling over her face during a sneak peak for ``Fear Factor Live.''

(2 -- color) Merry Simkims doesn't like what she just drank.

(3 -- color) Producer Sandra Allen whips up a ``Fear Factor'' shake that would never make it on the Jamba Juice menu.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

Box:

Can you stand it? (see text)