For someone who’s confessed to a “deathly” fear of heights, Sacramento State University graduate Cary Williams-Nunez sure doesn’t act scared.

Williams-Nunez recently braved mechanical bulls, high-flying helicopter stunts and the chance for embarrassment on national television to compete on the reality show “Fear Factor.” The episode aired last Monday on NBC and featured a total of six contestants all vying for $50,000 in prize money.

Although she wound up losing the cash prize by failing to choke down a smorgasbord of bull spine and spleens, Williams-Nunez came away pleased with the experience.

“It was awesome,” she said. “I’d do it again in a minute.”

Besides sinking her teeth into the bovine buffet, Williams-Nunez had the chance to overcome her fear of heights during a stunt that involved jumping from a fast-moving inner-tube onto a shaky rope suspended from a helicopter. Contestants then had to climb as high up the rope as possible while snagging a series of flags before falling into a lake.

While Williams-Nunez conquered the rope and her fear of heights, the stunt left her with a bruise half the length of her body and proof that the show is harder than it looks.

“Everybody thinks that because it’s reality TV that it’s staged,” she said. “But everything you see is real. It’s really that high and it’s really that hard when you hit the water.”

In order to become a contestant on the show, Williams-Nunez went through an elaborate process that started last November. After making a tape of herself for the application, she wrapped the video in a leopard-print package and sent it off to the producers of “Fear Factor.” Apparently, the creative approach turned some big heads at NBC and soon Williams-Nunez was doing follow-up interviews and conference calls with the show’s executives. However, there was one hurdle that remained before she could finally be selected.

“(The producers) said the season was already full,” she said. “So I added on to my tape. I told them that I’d do anything, that I would take anybody on — just talking some smack.”

Ultimately, the show’s producers finally decided they wanted Williams-Nunez as one of the contestants and told her to show up in Santa Monica for five days of filming last December. The whole process took about two months, an incredibly short amount of time considering that some of the other people on the show had waited for as long as a year to be accepted.

Williams-Nunez, who owns Prime Time Boxing Club in Del Paso Heights, had wanted the chance to win $50,000 for a group of young boxers that she sponsors. And while other players on “Fear Factor” may have been doing the show for the publicity exposure, she says that it was all just for the kids.

“I did it for (the youth boxers),” Williams-Nunez said. “Whatever comes with it, comes with it.”

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