Everything’s not coming up roses over at ABC’s “Bachelor” franchise.
While the reality dating series’ goal is supposedly to find love matches, behind the scenes the producers have been involved in some not-so-rosy legal matters.
Last month, “Bachelor” producers slapped a lawsuit on spoiler king “Reality Steve” Carbone.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Bachelor” blogger Steve Carbone allegedly used questionable tactics in order to get spoilers for his website, Realitysteve.com, including offering a contestant a monetary incentive to breach her contract with the show. The blogger has long contended that he gets spoilers from multiple sources each season– and that they come to him with the information and not the other way around. He has also claimed that since he does not have a contract with ABC, he is not in violation of anything.
In a statement on his website the blogger recently included a series of communications from his lawyer, which stated his legal position: “For your clients to sue Mr. Carbone would be unnecessary- at best a waste of the parties time and expense and at worst, an illegal slap action attempting to deny Mr. Carbone’s First Amendment rights.”
Meanwhile, a former “Bachelorette” suitor is getting ready to sue “Bachelorette” producer Mike Fleiss. Jesse Csincsak, the pro snowboarder who won “Bachelorette” DeAnna Pappas’ heart back on Season 4 of the reality dating show, has posted an article about his impending lawsuit on his website.
While Csincsak says he has not yet filed any papers, he is reviewing his rights and plans to file his lawsuit any day now. He claims that he has a case of “interference” against the “Bachelor” producer, whom he alleges had another producer contact some of his business associates and tell them not to work with him.
Although Csincsak claims that producers’ tactics have cost him thousands of dollars a month in income, he says his lawsuit is not necessarily about money. Calling it a case of “leave me alone,” Cisncsak said of his claim, “It’s about rights.”
But these recent legal tiffs aren’t the first “Bachelor”-related lawsuits.
Back in 2003, producers sued season 4 “Bachelor” Bob Guiney for breach of contract. According to MSNBC, Guiney and his record company, Wind-up Records, were sued after he promoted his “3 Sides” CD and music video, thus breaking the exclusivity clause in his “Bachelor” contract. The lawsuit against Guiney was eventually dismissed.
And in 2003, “Bachelorette” Trista Rehn was sued by her former agent-for a cut of her wedding proceeds! According to EW.com, the blushing “Bachelorette” bride was sued by her former agent for a cut of the $1 million fee he claimed to have negotiated from ABC to air her wedding to Ryan Sutter. The lawsuit contended that Kevin Allyn was owed $200,000 — a whopping 20 percent of the fee the Sutter’s earned. ABC picked up the $1 million tab for the wedding.
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