Nothing to fear but fear itself (and maybe snakes)

Sandy High School grad appears on Fear Factor

By Garth Guibord and Shannon Proulx

The Sandy Post, Aug 23, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Contributed photo / NBC

Sandy High School graduate Sara McTeigue (second from the right, back row) and her partner, Jeremy Scott, represented the Marines on the military edition of "Fear Factor." Host Joe Rogan stands center.

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Imagine being launched through the air onto a cargo net that hangs from a helicopter 100 feet above the ocean.

But you can’t just hang there – you have to grab 10 flags on the net as quickly as possible before jumping off the net into the waters below. Oh, and you have to do it at the same time as a partner.

That’s exactly the situation in which Marine Sgt. Sara McTeigue found herself. The 1995 Sandy High School graduate was one of eight contestants to appear on the military edition of the NBC hit television show “Fear Factor.”

McTeigue and her longtime friend, Staff Sgt. Jeremy Scott, represented the Marines against duos from the Navy, Air Force and Army. All of the show’s contestants had served in Iraq and competed in spine-tingling stunts aboard the U.S.S. Hornet aircraft carrier for the chance to win $50,000.

It wasn’t long, unfortunately, before the Sandy native and her partner bowed out of the competition. In the first stunt, Scott got tangled in the cargo net and grabbed the least number of flags – an offense that ended the team’s run on “Fear Factor.”

“It was just a stroke of bad luck,” Scott said. The eventual winners of the episode, the Navy team, received $50,000 and one year of mortgage payments, while McTeigue and Scott walked away empty-handed.

Regardless of the competition’s outcome, McTeigue said the experience was one she won’t soon forget.

“The adrenaline rush was so high, and the anticipation was unbelievable,” she said.

McTeigue said she knew that if the two of them didn’t place first, the other teams would try to eliminate them because of the Marines’ reputation for being strong, tough and the best.

“Even though they didn't win, they represented their branch well,” said “Fear Factor” executive producer Matt Kunitz.

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