Senior Morgan Garofalo took a deep breath, reached out her index finger and tentatively touched the largest of the scorpions crawling in front of her.

Redlands student and former Fear Factor intern Arthur Edmonds picks up a scorpion as alumni John Grant watches.

"It didn't really feel like I thought it would," Garofalo said, smiling with relief after she finished the stunt. "It was really soft. I didn't expect that at all."

Garofalo faced the scorpion tank at the end of a Homecoming and Family Weekend mini-course lead by John Grant, a 1982 Johnston graduate and key location manager for the reality TV show "Fear Factor," which airs Monday nights on NBC.

On the show, contestants compete in a variety of stunts. During one regular segment, they eat a variety of stomach-turning foods considered delicacies in other countries.

Grant said fans can expect the show's producers, which have previously asked contestants to swim with alligators and eat animal intestines, to get increasingly outrageous.

"I can't talk about exactly what will happen," Grant said. "But it definitely gets crazier."

Grant said he enjoys his work with the show. Still, he says some of the stunts make him queasy. He finds the Fear Factor Buffet segment particularly grotesque, since all of the items used are cooked in the show's offices.

"We test everything," Grant said. "We smell all those smells. It seems like it really all smells the same when it is being cooked. It's a smell you never forget."

Staff members are paid an extra $100 when they test out a new item, Grant said.

"It becomes a circus in the office - people running all over, seeing the reactions of the person who is trying it," Grant said. "We definitely have fun, and I think it shows on the show."