by Staff
Brand Republic
20 Sep 2005
Extreme Makeover faces $1m lawsuit over 'ugly sister' suicide
NEW YORK - Reality TV series 'Extreme Makeover' may have gone too far in its pursuit for perfection when a young girl committed suicide after being urged to make comments about her 'ugly sister' for the ABC show.
A woman who was due to appear on the programme, which promises to transform participants' lives by radically altering their looks with plastic surgery, has said that it damaged her and her family, eventually leading to the suicide of her sister.
The lawsuit claims Deleese Williams was due to appear on the plastic surgery show and the ABC crew flew to Texas to interview her and her family, where the crew manipulated family members, including sister Kellie McGee, into making cruel comments about Williams' looks.
The night before her life-changing operation, ABC phoned Williams and told her she was being dropped from the show because her jaw reshaping surgery would not heal in time. Having heard the cruel comments made by her family, Williams' life changed and she eventually moved out of the family home.
The lawsuit says that Williams' sister had a hard time trying to forgive herself for the comments she had made. Four months later, McGee died from an overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol.
Williams' lawyer, Wesley Cordova, said: "'Extreme Makeover' found a family that was coping with issues and left them devastated, and one person died as a result."
Williams is suing the ABC television network for the emotional distress caused by her sister's suicide. ABC declined to comment.
The story will again call into question the emotional effects of taking part in reality series, after a string of "contestants" killed themselves after appearing on shows that are often seen to "make fools" of the general public.
In February this year, a 23-year-old contestant on 'The Contender', a US boxing reality show that featured Sylvester Stallone and shown on ITV2, shot himself in front of his girlfriend after losing a bout.
Carina Stephenson, a 17-year-old girl from Yorkshire killed herself after appearing in reality TV show 'The Colony'; and after being voted off reality show 'Expedition: Robinson', 34-year-old Sinisa Savija threw himself under a train.
Former 'Big Brother' contestants have often criticised the show's producers for subjecting them to emotional strain.
Tim Culley from 'Big Brother 3' moved to Spain after the series ended because of the baiting from the press and public. 'BB3' runner-up
Jade Goody became one of the hated women in Britain following tabloid press reports during her stay in the house -- although she has parlayed her notoriety into a profitable media career.
