http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/347520p-296543c.html
The producers of "Extreme Makeover" promised Deleese Williams "a Cinderella-like" fix for a deformed jaw, crooked teeth, droopy eyes and tiny boobs that would "transform her life and destiny."

But when the ABC reality show dumped the Texas mom the night before the life-changing plastic surgeries, it shattered her family's dream and triggered her sister Kellie McGee's suicide, says a bombshell lawsuit filed in L.A. Superior Court.

As part of the premakeover hype, producers coaxed McGee and other family members to trash Williams' looks on videotape, the suit alleges. When they suddenly pulled the plug on the project, and the promised "Hollywood smile like Cindy Crawford," a guilt-ridden McGee fell apart.

Read the rest of the article and tell me what you think is going on here. I don't think her family should have been that mean to her, but I hardly think they were looking out for her best interests by trying to get her on the show. They were probably tired of looking at someone they considered to be ugly, and they couldn't see her for anything else.

Legally, does anyone know if Extreme Makeover has a loophole in their contract saying that participants may be dropped without much notice? If they do, this lady couldn't have much of a case.

Wow. I'm not sure what the answer to your question is, skylark, but that sure was a depressing article!

That's very sad, but I don't see why the show should be blamed. Obviously something was unbalanced with that woman in the first place, if she seriously felt she had to kill herself because of it.

Anyways I never really agreed with that show...it's so awful...I can understand wanting to fix things like teeth that are rotting away, or if you lost a breast to cancer and want a fake one put in (like one woman on a show did) or something like that....but really shows like these make people feel uglier and feed off of people's insecurities. It makes me sick.

I haven't seen the show, so I'm just guessing based on what people have told me and having seen A Makeover Story on TLC.

What a disgusting show!!!! I can't believe that such trash is actually aired. And all that coaching that goes on before made me feel absolutely sick. Of course, the people who accept to take part in such trash have their responsibility in this. No-one forced that woman to insult her sister like that. She did it voluntarily.

No person who is not already depressed or off-kilter would kill themselves for something like that. The dead woman must have been border-line already.

I don't think that family are going to get very far with that case. From what I've heard about the contracts for reality tv shows, they have all manner of clauses that cover just about every eventuality and allow the producers of the show to do exactly what they want without the contestant having much redress.

If anything does happen with this case, the producers of the show will probably just use the usual excuse that they trot out in these cases, being that people have free will and no-one forced them to go on the show bla bla bla (which is unfortunately true) and all the while divorcing themselves of the responsibility for manipulating some naive, insecure and vunerable people.

With family like that who needs enemies?

I started this thread months ago. Does anyone know how the lawsuit is progressing?

Nope, this is the first I've heard about it. From the original article:
...a horrendous tale of pain and humiliation that began when she applied for the reality show in December 2003 and had to submit a "full body shot" video showing "all of the body parts that need help."
Looks like she's even trying to blame them for her own actions before they agreed to anything.

She's not even ugly.

Soooo not the point. :wall:

Wow. I'm not sure what the answer to your question is, skylark, but that sure was a depressing article!

agreed---sooooo sad--just awful:cry:

peace and love

jenn:guitar:

I like that show :sealed: If they asked me to be on it, I would.
/randomness

If people don't like what these shows are doing, then they should stop watching them. 'Reality' tv is absolute rubbish. It's disgusting.

<<<<puts fingers in ears. Can you just for once lighten up and have some fun in this world?:stinkeye:

They'll never be able to prove causality on any of those points.

I used to think people who chose plastic surgery were shallow idiots (and I'm sure most are), but many of the people I've seen on Extreme Makeover have been horribly, debilitatingly ugly. I can understand why these people would want the surgery because I'm sure their appearance really does affect their lives in a major way.

Hmm... if you search google images for "Deleese Williams", there's a lot of articals associated with the images...

Like one here: http://www.moviepoopshoot.com/news/sep05/79.html
but they're all back in Sept 05, or thereabouts.

I guess it'd all depend on whether or not the contract had a "the recovery doesn't fit our timeline for our show spot" clause. It'd of had a screwy clause that basically said something about "if we kill you, it's your own bad luck, you allow us to do so freely" type of thing (one clause I was given once [won't say for what] had a "we cannot be held responsible for any death, whether accidental or intentional" in it)

..(one clause I was given once [won't say for what] had a "we cannot be held responsible for any death, whether accidental or intentional" in it)
:eek:

lol. I had to sign a form with a similar clause on it when I went to the North Korean border.

As for the lady... .. I dunno. I don't think the family really has a leg to stand on.

:eek:

Yeah, that clause was a bit scary, but the job itself involved things that could be potentially dangerous, so I figured that was what they meant by "intentional" death (ex: told to open a car door while moving, but something went wrong)

The producers of "Extreme Makeover" promised Deleese Williams "a Cinderella-like" fix for a deformed jaw, crooked teeth, droopy eyes and tiny boobs that would "transform her life and destiny." But when the ABC reality show dumped the Texas mom
I can't side with either her or the show.

o Her photo doesn't depict her as ugly or deformed in any way
o She has a husband and kids

If she feels that she needs various cosmetic surgeries to "transform her life and destiny", it seems likely to me that her problems are more than skin deep. I also agree that her sister had to have already been unbalanced to have offed herself.

As for the show, if they do burn/trauma victims, or people with severe congenital/developmental defects, that's one thing, but from this case at least, it seems that at least part of their focus is feeding and feeding on an obsession with Hollywood-style plasticine cookie-cutter looks.