Derring-Do Returns to Prime Time

NBC’s “Fear Factor” returns for its second season tonight at 8 with its squirmability quotient still unquestionably potent.

A son-of-”Survivor” clone that distills that CBS show down to its immunity-challenge essence, “Fear” was a surprise hit in its own right last summer. The premise of having six young, attractive adults--three men and three women--vie each week for a $50,000 payoff by engaging in stuntman derring-do and gross-out encounters with our friends from the animal kingdom evidently struck a chord with viewers.

Or struck something.

The show, ably hosted by comedian Joe Rogan, helps familiarize us with contestants by offering some bio info and brief interview segments. But unlike “Survivor,” which has weeks and weeks to let its cast’s foibles burrow their way into your consciousness, “Fear Factor” has only an hour, and new contestants each episode.

What personality does come out is usually displayed while trash-talking the competition during the three stunts.

Tonight’s show opens with the contestants scrambling along the wing of a 1941 biplane as it cruises 3,000 feet above the desert floor at 100 mph. The closing stunt involves sending a car careening off a parking structure onto stacks of cardboard boxes three stories below.

But it’s the centerpiece segment that will be water-cooler fodder the next day at the office. The setup: A small fish tank is filled with water, and a couple of dozen plums are placed in it. But before the contestants are asked to go bobbing for fruit, 50 slim, slithering water snakes are added to the mix. Fifty-one if you count the ball python.

Has a TV show’s “don’t try this at home” disclaimer ever been more unnecessary?