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The actions contestants have brought against producers cover a wide range of claims and are not all governed by the same laws. State law claims involving reality television shows include common law and statutory right of publicity claims, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud, trademark infringement, and even violation of civil rights. Much of the recent focus in these cases, however, has been on claims that producers and broadcasters have violated the plaintiffs’ common law or statutory rights of publicity. 40 Contestants have also sued for defamation based on “frankenbiting,” 41 (such as the BBC Castaway case 42 and Fox’s Temptation Island case 43). As previously mentioned, the networks’ response is that in signing their contracts, the parties consented to any reputational results. The Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) also sued over “frankenbiting,” insisting that this extensive editing is actually writing the show and, therefore, should be done by union members. 44 Other common claims are privacy and right of publicity, 45 racial discrimination, 46 breach of
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William Archer, Getting Real Reality TV Shows Continue to Be Sued by Unwilling Participants and Wannabe Producers, L.A. LAW., May 2012, at 28. 41 Frankenbiting is the rearranging of dialogue and sequences of events to make the situation more dramatic. The WGA argued that this is a form of writing for reality shows. See, e.g., Newsday, ‘Frankenbiting’ Scares up Reality Controversy, CHI. TRIB (July 21, 2005), http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2005-07-21/news/0507210334_1_bachelor-producer-showrunners-reality. 42 Joel Ugolini, So You Want to Create the Next Survivor: What Legal Issues Networks Should Consider Before Producing a Reality Television Program, 4 VA. SPORTS & ENT. L.J. 68, 75-76 (2004). 43 Jennifer L. Blair, Surviving Reality TV: The Ultimate Challenge for Reality Show Contestants, 31 LOY. L.A. ENT. L. REV. 1, 22 (2011). 44 Newsday, supra note 41. 45 See, e.g., Nieves v. Home Box Office, Inc., 817 N.Y.S.2d 227 (App. Div. 2006). 46 Reality TV Show Subject of Breach of Contract Lawsuit, PAYTON & ASSOCIATES, LLC (Oct. 25, 2012), http://www.payton-law.com/blog/2012/10/reality-tv-show-subject-of-breach-of-contractlawsuit.shtml.