Posted 1/06/2005 05:37:00 PM by Douglas

This may be a frivolous lawsuit, but at least they're thinking.

Watching contestants eat dead rats on NBC's gross-out stunt show "Fear Factor" so disgusted a Cleveland man that he has sued NBC for $2.5 million, saying he could not stomach what he saw.

In a handwritten four-page lawsuit filed in federal court in Cleveland on Tuesday, paralegal Austin Aitken said, "To have the individuals on the show eat (yes) and drink dead rats was crazy and from a viewer's point of view made me throw-up as well an another in the house at the same time."

His suit added, "NBC is sending the wrong message to its TV watchers that cash can make or have people do just about anything beyond reasoning (sic) and in most cases against their will."

He said the show caused his blood pressure to rise so high that he became dizzy and light-headed, and when he ran away to his room, he bumped his head into the doorway.

With the flood of crappy reality shows on TV right now, I'm personally glad to see someone trying to chip away at that armor. You can't sue them because they're crappy, but if it caused you physical illness, then hey, it's a start. Maybe the guy was mad because he couldn't get on a crappy reality show, and figured this was the next best thing. Maybe that would make an interesting reality show? You get a dumb attorney and you try to figure out which one you're going to sue and on what grounds. The winner of the show gets to argue their case in front of a brain-dead, California jury.

It's not any dumber that "Who's Your Daddy."

But I think this line in the article really sums up the integrity of the plaintiff's intentions, and that he's not just out for the money:

In a brief telephone interview with Reuters, Aitken said, "I am not at liberty to discuss the complaint unless it is a paid-interview situation."

God Bless America!