“Extreme Makeover” sued over suicide
When Deleese Williams, 30, of Conroe, Texas, was thrown off the television show Extreme Makeover at the last minute, her sister killed herself. Now Williams is suing ABC.
She claims a TV crew tricked her sister Kellie McGee into making cruel remarks about her looks before the makeover.
ABC cancelled the appearance, saying her jaw would take too long to heal, and her sister was left distraught about making the remarks, she claims.
Extreme Makeover follows people having drastic plastic surgery and Mrs Williams was due to have work on her teeth, eyes and breasts.
Her legal action said “Deleese Williams is considered ugly” and said a doctor promised her “a Hollywood smile like Cindy Crawford”.
Programme-makers visited the contestant’s family in Texas before the makeover was due to start in January 2004.
The legal action claims they manipulated Ms McGee into saying unkind things about her sister’s looks on camera.
But the contestant was told hours before the makeover was due to begin that it had been cancelled.
When she returned home from Los Angeles unchanged, Ms McGee became so upset over what she had said that she killed herself, the legal action states.
“Sometimes Deleese blames herself for Kellie’s death,” it says. ABC was unavailable for comment. — BBC News
Suing won’t bring your sister back, and you’ve become today’s Stupid Person of the Day.
On a similar tangent, this is related to a thought I’ve had about reality TV for a long time.
They take a big group of people, and remove the non-charismatic ones, then the ones that don’t get into the “drama” thing (which is usually the smallest trim), and proudly display the sub-group on TV.
There is no doubt in my mind that they push people into socially flaring scenes, because… well, what is the TV show supposed to be about?
Surely it’s supposed to be somewhat interesting, right?
“Stop being polite and start being real” if I remember correctly.
It’s too bad that they stop being human and start being cave people.
Comment by Jason — September 22, 2005 @ 7:40 am
It’s a sad situation but there are deeper problems than an ABC employee forcing comments about the sibling. The application states what they are looking for and I saw an episode where they explained the kind of person/persons they wanted for the show. I think it’s common sense that ABC is looking for individuals who have charisma because people want to be moved and filled with hope or they would stop watching the show. Just for the record, I would love an extreme makeover (need it!) but if I don’t get picked even after the first step, I tried and would still live my life to the fullest even if my sister said I was an “it” instead of a “she” which is probaly what she would state. In reality she doesn’t define me, I do. I would live my life trying to find another way to fund my plastic surgery if that is what I wanted (priority in my life), but blaming ABC is wrong because they have changed and transformed many people’s lives positively and I am all for it! Unfortunately the good they’ve done out weighs this tragic loss which is deeper than “comments.” I’d hate to see the show cancelled dued to a lawsuit.
Regards,
In Miami
Comment by Maria Rodriguez — January 1, 2007 @ 9:29 pm