By Kelly Wilson, Tribune
Craig Querrey had one wish when he found out he’d be competing for $1 million on NBC’s popular reality show ‘‘Fear Factor.’’
He hoped he wouldn’t have to eat condiments.
"I wouldn’t even eat mustard for a million dollars,’’ says the 30-year-old Scottsdale resident. "I would rather eat a live cockroach than mustard.’’
Querrey and girlfriend Maria Hoidas, along with Ashley and Dean Molina of Gilbert, were among eight couples who recently taped seven episodes during a couples competition on the show.
The taping concluded in mid-November, and the first episode airs tonight.
"I wouldn’t have done it if it was $50,000,’’ admits Ashley Molina, 23, who works for America West Airlines.
"I didn’t want to have to eat a cockroach and I didn’t want to have to sit in scorpions,’’ she says. ‘‘That was my big thing. I probably would have cried.’’
The four East Valley participants are prohibited from saying too much about what they went through before the shows air.
But Ashley Molina reveals: "I conquered one huge fear. I hate spiders and I had to sit with a box of 200 spiders on my head. We had to lie on the ground and we had a box of 200 tarantulas.
‘‘I asked (Dean) if I could quit because it was a nonelimination (contest) and he said, ‘No, if we quit now then we’re quitting the whole show.’ So I did it. I went through it and it was horrible!’’
And then there are the gross food items that the show is infamous for. But worse than the taste are the smells, according to Hoidas, 28, who is in medical sales.
"Everyone that ate what you ate burps it up for the next five hours,’’ she says. "You have no appetite for a while.’’
The Molinas, who have been married for four years and were the only wedded couple in the competition, were watching an episode of "Fear Factor" last year and noticed the program was looking for couples. They attended a casting call in Huntington Beach, Calif.
"(The casting directors) took eight of us into a tent for an interview and they tried to get you sparking back and forth,’’ says Dean Molina, 34, owner of a plumbing company.
Hoidas and Querrey, who have been dating for 18 months, took another route: They filled out an online application and mailed in a video in hopes of grabbing the attention of NBC casting directors.
The video included footage of Hoidas kicking Querrey in the groin.
"How many guys would let their girlfriends do that?’’ asks Querrey, a sales manager at luxury apartment builder Mark Taylor Residential.
Although both couples say they would participate in the show again, Querrey admits that it was a lot harder than he thought.
"I’d watch the show and I’d think, ‘Ah, that’s a cakewalk,’ " he says. "And then once you do it, you’re completely exhausted."
Ashley Molina, who will be watching tonight’s show with her husband, agrees.
"It’s a lot harder than it looks on TV. It’s a lot more draining mentally and emotionally.
‘‘But if you put $100,000 in front of me and a car, I would probably do it (again).’’
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=34163
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