Past shows included contestants
eating spiders and worms
Posted on 01/07/2005 10:59:21 AM PST by yankeedame
Last Updated: Thursday, 6 January, 2005, 10:12 GMT
US show sued for rat-eating stunt
Past shows included contestants
eating spiders and worms
A US TV network is being sued for $2.5m (£1.3m) by a viewer who says he was disgusted by watching contestants eat dead rats in a stunt show.
Austin Aitken is taking action against NBC over its programme Fear Factor.
He said watching the show caused his blood pressure to rise so high that he became dizzy and light-headed.
The legal assistant said NBC was "sending the wrong message to viewers that cash can make or have people do just about anything beyond reasoning".
The hand-written, four-page lawsuit said: "To have the individuals on the show eat and drink dead rats was crazy and from a viewer's point of view made me throw-up as well as another in the house at the same time."
Mr Aitken, who lives in Cleveland, said that after becoming light-headed, he ran towards the bedroom and knocked his head in a doorway.
A spokesman for NBC said it had no comment on the lawsuit, but confirmed the stunt show did feature a rat-eating scene in New York's Times Square on 8 November.
Past shows have featured viewers eating spiders and live worms.
The programme has been screened in the UK on Sky One.
And he could not change the dial. This joker ought to be fined by the judge for wasting tax payer dollars.
Austin, Do you know what the off button is for?
Definitely a "blue voter" in a red state.
One wonders what message is sent by the filing of bogus lawsuits?
I hope he wins...reality shows are brain$hit!!
Eating rats is sick, but there's no reason he couldn't have changed the damn channel.
With all the channels available these days this guy couldn't change the channel?
Change the channels dufus.
Quick, find the jury that awarded monetary damages to a lady who bought hot coffee from McDonald's. The restaurant had made the mistake of serving the plaintiff hot coffee after she asked for it.
And a blue county. Cuyahoga County (where Cleveland is) is deeeeeeep blue.
Wrong message? Right or not, it's true. Lots of people will do anything for the right dollar amount.
Had the coffee been too cold, she would have bitched about that and found something to sue for.
Hey the same thing happened to me watching Michael Moore and "Catty" Couric. Clearly I deserve lots of cash for my suffering... ah do I have to prove I saw the show? /sarcasm
I wonder what his FReeper name is?
I watched a kid last week on the 6o'clock news eat his boogers at the Pasadena Livestock Rodeo. I wonder how much I can get.
You know what can solve this...DON'T WATCH THE SHOW!
But you have to admit, the programming on TV these past few years, is getting outright disgusting.
Gee...I never would have thought of that!
< \idiot >
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