Carolyn Jennings may not have won the crown, but the West Virginia University senior broadcast journalism major proved she could stare fear in the eye on NBC ’s special Miss USA edition ofFear Factor.

The episode, which aired before the Miss USA Pageant Monday (April 12) night, challenged contestants to three grueling rounds of extreme stuntstransferring flags from one end of a giant, tilting platform to the other without falling off; eating slimy sea cucumbers; and holding onto a bar attached to a moving helicopterunder the supervision of professional Hollywood stunt coordinators.

One of six contestants chosen to battle it out for the title ofMiss Fear Factorand $50,000 for their favorite charitythe Erie, Pa., native was determined to show the world thatfear was no factorfor her.

Pageants are extreme,she said.Any person who has ever done them knows the most competitive people do pageants. As Miss West Virginia, it’s my responsibility to come here and prove how tough I am.

In January, Jennings taped the show in Los Angeles, where she hoped her extensive beauty pageant experience would give her a competitive edge. Even though she didn’t win, she was excited to make it to the final round.

Just being cast for the show in itself, she said, was a feat. To be considered forFear Factor,she had to fill out more than a dozen applications and submit a video about herself. For the video portion, she enlisted the help of friends and the WVU Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism.

BesidesFear Factor,Jennings made numerous other guest appearances leading up the Miss USA Pageant, includingThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno,Jimmy Kimmel LIVE andOn Air with Ryan Seacrest.Photos from some of these guest spots are on the Web athttp://www.nis.wvu.edu/newsroom/.

To view clips from the Miss USA edition ofFear Factor,go tohttp://www.nbc.com/Fear_Factor/index.shtml.