‘Fear Factor’ discovers a way to even bug cupid

With Valentine’s Day approaching, even NBC’s “Fear Factor,” still hosing down the set after last week’s “Gross-Out Edition,” might be expected to get a bit warm and cuddly in honor of the occasion. And sure enough, there’s some serious smooching going on at 8 tonight in a special “couples” episode.

At least it looks like smooching from a distance (which is always the safest way to watch this show). But these poor souls aren’t kissing; they are transferring mouthfuls of large (and quite lively) Madagascar roaches from guy to gal in a squirm-inducing competition for cash.

“There were a few times they were biting my lip,” sniffles one woman afterward, a smattering of roach remnants still dotting her face.

Host Joe Rogan only smiles, and with the ratings that “Fear Factor” racks up, the former “NewsRadio” star has good reason to smile. The series’ grab bag of high-flying and deep-diving physical stunts, along with a weekly buffet of unthinkable menu items, has turned it into one of the more durable reality-TV franchises.

Usually it’s three buff men and three buxom women vying for the $50,000 grand prize, but this week, in honor of Valentine’s Day, there are four couples competing. Two of the twosomes are married types and the other two are long-term daters.

In addition to the bug rustling tonight, the contestants must free their mates from a locked and submerged enclosure, and see how long they can hang from their partners’ hands while suspended 120 feet above the rocky ground.

But the heat of competition can bring out a very different side of people, and judging from the comments that follow some of the performances, one or two of the relationships may have been on rocky ground by the end of that long ride home.