This is pushing it now...

[ABSTRUSE]

Viewer Sues Over 'Fear Factor' Rat Episode

By JOE MILICIA, Associated Press Writer

CLEVELAND - A viewer is suing NBC for $2.5 million, contending that he threw up because of a "Fear Factor" episode in which contestants ate rats mixed in a blender.



Austin Aitken told The Associated Press he watches "Fear Factor" often and had no problem with past installments where the reality show's participants ate worms and insects in pursuit of a $50,000 prize — but eating rats went "too far."


"It's barbaric, some of the things they ask these individuals to do," Aitken said Thursday.


Aitken's handwritten lawsuit contends the rat-eating made his blood pressure rise, resulting in being dizzy and lightheaded — and vomiting. Because he was disoriented he ran into a doorway, "causing suffering, injury and great pain."


Asked why he didn't shut off his television before the rat-eating segment, Aitken said he couldn't do it quick enough.


NBC responded with a brief statement: "We believe that the claim is completely without merit."


Aitken, a 49-year-old part-time paralegal, said he wants to send a message to NBC and other networks with the lawsuit. He said he isn't concerned with winning a cash judgment in court.


"I just put any figure. You really think I expect to get $2.5 million?" he said.



Personallly I feel this show is ridiculous and anyone willing to watch it should suffer the consequences.

 

[TheEarl]

Agreed. Anyone stupid enough to find that entertaining deserves everything they get.

The Earl

 

[tolyk]

Yeah, I heard about that on the radio earlier today.. I just rolled my eyes.

 

[Guest]

 

[jamesofthedead]

I agree, but then I hate all reality TV shows with a passion I normally reserve for people who jump in front of me in the bus queue. Damn them.

Has anyone seen the current batch of 'celebrities' they rounded up to put in the Big Brother, it's got to be the biggest bunch of non entities in one place ever. Bez from the Happy Mondays, some pratt from Blazin Squad (brit 'rnb' act), Caprice and that hairy git off of Channel 4 racing.

Dear God.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

The thing that kills me is rats....not the pig rectums, not the eyeballs or the fricken cave spiders but blended rat.

WHo thinks up this shit? and where does one get animal parts, weird insects and who blended the rats in the first place?

 

[Lisa Denton]

The thing that kills me is rats....not the pig rectums, not the eyeballs or the fricken cave spiders but blended rat.

WHo thinks up this shit? and where does one get animal parts, weird insects and who blended the rats in the first place?

I only put em in the blender to kill em, then I didn't know what to do with the mess so I poured it into that coffee-pot at your cafe.


I think if this guy got dizzy and vomited and then ran into a doorway he should sue whoever made what he ate last, and the idiots who built a doorway right "THERE."


Also I have tried to watch some of these reality shows without success. Anyone who thinks any of that shit is reality is doing some really good drugs...................... and ought to share.

 

[SeaCat]

Two new warning labels needed here:

1) Do not drink beer while reading this board.

2) (For the beer can) Attempting to drink this beverage while laughing ones ass off can result in sinus pain.

Honestly, can someone sue this paralegal for injuries resulting from falling off a chair while laughing at his lawsuit?

Cat
The Marine Feline

 

[doormouse]

 

[Bridget69]

All reality shows should be slapped with a lawsuit for even existing.

 

[BlackShanglan]

*gasp*

"I ... I was so traumatized ... I couldn't ... find the 'off' button ..."

Shanglan

 

[carsonshepherd]

*gasp*

"I ... I was so traumatized ... I couldn't ... find the 'off' button ..."

Shanglan

I think I'd rather eat pig rectums than watch reality TV.

 

[SeaCat]

I think I'd rather eat pig rectums than watch reality TV.

How about some Rocky Mountain Oysters instead?

Cat

 

[carsonshepherd]

How about some Rocky Mountain Oysters instead?

Cat

We call them prairie oysters, but I've eaten worse.

(My BF's mom's turkey, for one.)

 

[shereads]

Before the blitz of reality shows, I read about the premise for Fear Factor and thought it was a good idea: With a sufficient incentive, could you overcome your fear of heights or fear of flying? Imagine the same thing done with some dignity, and without the gross-out factor that apparently gave them their enormous college audience. The first time I saw them making contestants lie down in a vat of worms, I zapped the show and never went back.

Unfortunately for people who hate that kind of television, males of college age are one of the audiences that advertisers are most willing to pay for, and reality television costs virtually nothing to produce. No writers and actors to threaten a strike, no production values, lots of willing contestants, and the prize money wouldn't buy the producers' lunch. It's not going away.

 

[carsonshepherd]

They should make a reality show where people have to go to other family's houses for holidays and eat their yucky food.

 

[shereads]

I'm not surprised there's a lawsuit against Fear Factor, but I thought the first one would be over a death or serious injury. It seems inevitable.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

I'm not surprised there's a lawsuit against Fear Factor, but I thought the first one would be over a death or serious injury. It seems inevitable.

I bet the release form the contestants have to sign is about the size of War & Peace. And do you seriously think any of those contestants have the brains to have a lawyer review the release before they sign it?

 

[matriarch]

I bet the release form the contestants have to sign is about the size of War & Peace. And do you seriously think any of those contestants have the brains to have a lawyer review the release before they sign it?

They have brains?

Wow.

That's novel.

 

[Guest]

Hate to make this political, but when non-sense like this gets publicized, people think "Wow-there is a problem like the Presdent says. We need tort reform."

What they don't understand is that tort reform is meant to make business less accountable for their actions; limiting the publics ability to hold corporations liable when those corporations put their profits ahead of consumer safety.

 

[Guest]

 

[Colleen Thomas]

In civil suits, the governing principle is supposed to be that of the Prudent man. That is to say, in the situation, whatever it may be, the jusy is supposed to ask itself what would the prudent man do? If the answer is that the prudent man would not have been inthe situation or would have acted radically different than the plaintiff, the decision should go to the defendant. If in the situation, the plaintiff acted closely to the way the prudent man would, then negligence is implied.

I am highly in favor of amending the law to make a plaintiff filing a frivilous lawsuit Liable for half the amount he/she is sueing for should they loose thier case and a jury find the suit totally groundless in a separate trial. I would also favor making the lawyers who push such cases liable for the other half.

There are so many of these suits whre I wonder why the judges even allow them to proceed past the pre trial motions. I mean really. I'm fat and it's McDonalds fault! I put a cup of hot coffee between my legs while driving and scalded myself, it's Dunkin Donuts fault for not putting a warning on the cup that it was hot!

When did personal responsibility for your actions cease to be a governing rinciple?

 

[matriarch]

In civil suits, the governing principle is supposed to be that of the Prudent man. That is to say, in the situation, whatever it may be, the jusy is supposed to ask itself what would the prudent man do? If the answer is that the prudent man would not have been inthe situation or would have acted radically different than the plaintiff, the decision should go to the defendant. If in the situation, the plaintiff acted closely to the way the prudent man would, then negligence is implied.

I am highly in favor of amending the law to make a plaintiff filing a frivilous lawsuit Liable for half the amount he/she is sueing for should they loose thier case and a jury find the suit totally groundless in a separate trial. I would also favor making the lawyers who push such cases liable for the other half.

There are so many of these suits whre I wonder why the judges even allow them to proceed past the pre trial motions. I mean really. I'm fat and it's McDonalds fault! I put a cup of hot coffee between my legs while driving and scalded myself, it's Dunkin Donuts fault for not putting a warning on the cup that it was hot!

When did personal responsibility for your actions cease to be a governing rinciple?

*applauding*.

Hear, hear !!

 

[jamesofthedead]

Indeed, well said.

Anyone hear about the guy who bought a motor home and while driving it home decided to test out the cruise control while he went in the back to make a cup of coffee. This was while he doing 50 on an American interstate.

Shockingly, he was quite surprised when it crashed, nearly killing him and totalling the vehicle beyond repair.

He sued the company who had made the motor home for not putting in the manual that you still have to steer when cruise control is on. I think he won but I'm not sure.

You've gotta love Americans, if only for the entertainment value of their antics.

(This may well be a myth, can't remember where I heard it)

 

[rgraham666]

When did personal responsibility for your actions cease to be a governing rinciple?

To all intents and purposes, it's been missing for a long time. People like taking the credit but not the blame.

It's even worse in our society where expertise rules and being an expert means you are always right in your field of knowledge. If a person is wrong about something inside their field of expertise, and since their power and ego come from their expertise, being wrong weakens their claim to power and damages their sense of self worth. So they are always right.

Ergo, No one is ever at fault.