# ABC Sued by Bratty Teen on Wife Swap? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 25, 2010, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726 "2010-03-25T11:00:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/21 "2010-03-25T14:38:49Z")
Who does she think she is, Lindsey Lohan? ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/22 "2010-03-25T15:00:44Z")
I hope she wins. The tape was obviously edited to put her in a bad light. Sure, she’s spoiled but otherwise something about her attitude says that she’s also appreciative. The few shots with her friends show her smiling and laughing. Even in the restaurant shot her attitude seems to be more about being picking than being entitled. My guess is that there was a whole lot of footage showing sanity sitting on the cutting room floor than the exaggerations that made the final edit. If you think that clip is an accurate portrayal of that young woman then you probably think those reality shows are accurate too. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/23 "2010-03-25T15:08:35Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > …The tape was obviously edited to put her in a bad light… While that’s true, you can’t edit a person into saying “I do feel sorry for people that aren’t gorgeous people.” ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/24 "2010-03-25T15:13:48Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > Just because some producer tells you to act like an asshole doesn’t mean you are obligated to act like an asshole. If this behavior is not her usual she has no one to blame but herself for allowing it to happen. When you’re a fifteen year old girl with your parents, the producers, the TV guys etc telling you that you have to say that shit? And given that 15 year olds aren’t so good at looking at the long-term repercussions of their actions? IF she was scripted to act like this (and I have my doubts) then, yeah. This strikes me as being something she’d be justified suing over (doubly so if she included going after her parents in the lawsuit as well.) ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/25 "2010-03-25T15:19:47Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > While that’s true, you can’t edit a person into saying “I do feel sorry for people that aren’t gorgeous people.” No, but you CAN tell the 15 year old kid “C’mon–it’ll be fun to say “I feel sorry for ugly people.” We’ll make you like this total _bad-girl_. It’ll be cool! And your parents signed a contract saying you _had to_ say what we told you to say.” I’m not saying that’s what happened. But it’s possible. And _if_ it’s what happened then yeah, the kid has a case, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/26 "2010-03-25T15:24:22Z")
I just watched the whole episode (it’s on YouTube in 5 parts) and I must say…the girl who is suing Disney does not come off nearly as bad as her parents. Her parents are absolutely wretched. Her dad is a downright jerk. They do the girl’s homework for her, and have a Christmas tree set up under which they place presents every day of the year. In the episode the daughter, while she couldn’t handle a day’s work as a waitress, at least seemed to do her best when learning to cook. Dad said “this is not a gourmet meal” and “this should be fed to the dogs.” The girl can’t read or write at a high-school level (she’s 15 in the episode). The parents’ say “people like to help attractive people. She’ll get a lot of help in life.” I feel bad for the girl who is suing Disney, honestly. Her parents have turned her in to a monster. I’ve seen _much_ brattier teens on shows like _My Sweet 16_ and _The Real Housewives_. There’s nothing on that show I just watched that doesn’t point to this girl being how she is that her parents didn’t 100% turn her in to. Then again, if she thinks the “character portrayed” on the show caused her $1mm in trauma…I guess she truly is a selfish brat at heart. But I wouldn’t be surprised if mommy and daddy convinced her of this. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/27 "2010-03-25T15:28:59Z")
“They told me to act like an ass and I did. Now people think I AM an ass! Waaaaaahh!!!” And…you’re too stupid to explain to people that you got paid to act like an ass? ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/28 "2010-03-25T15:50:08Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > The parents’ say “people like to help attractive people. She’ll get a lot of help in life.” > > [snip] > > […]But I wouldn’t be surprised if mommy and daddy convinced her of this. Yeah, I’m wondering if maybe this might’ve been the point- that because she’s convinced that she’s going to get ‘help’, that suing the mouse is just another way that she’ll be ‘helped’ in life. I mean, I suspect that as a lawsuit isn’t going to magically give her some dignity back, that the whole goal is the money. That money is a lot of ‘help’ in the world. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/29 "2010-03-25T16:18:15Z")
> [@ArrMatey](#): > > Yeah, I’m wondering if maybe this might’ve been the point- that because she’s convinced that she’s going to get ‘help’, that suing the mouse is just another way that she’ll be ‘helped’ in life. I mean, I suspect that as a lawsuit isn’t going to magically give her some dignity back, that the whole goal is the money. That money is a lot of ‘help’ in the world. Her parents probably told her that she’s bound to win because judges always side with good-looking people. Especially good looking women with a sob story :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/30 "2010-03-25T16:39:07Z")
> [@Khendrask](#): > > Considering this and some other comments about the viability of this lawsuit, perhaps the brat should sue her parents instead! Perhaps so. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/31 "2010-03-25T16:55:42Z")
This girl is the poster child for this book - [Living in the Age of Entitlement: The Narcissm Epidemic](http://www.narcissismepidemic.com/). I don’t doubt that she is having emotional problems; she was raised horribly by horrible people, and no surprise, she sounds like a horrible person, too. Regarding the suit; I don’t think you can sue for people showing you in the most negative light by selecting only the negative things about you. Isn’t there some old law that the legal defence against libel is if it’s the truth? So the producers showed only the bad; it’s still her. I don’t doubt that in her little bubble of unreal entitlement, she thought that being on tv would be the most wonderful thing in the world, and the reality wasn’t nearly as great as she thought it would be. Too bad. The only sympathy I have for her is that she has no skills to deal with anything negative (and that goes back to her parents again). ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/32 "2010-03-25T16:56:03Z")
According to her her mom got 20 thousand but she didn’t get jack squat. She was also coached in what to say and what to do, they told her to pretend like she got a christmas present every day and to constantly say “but i’m the most popular girl at school!” and that basically there is absolutely nothing “real” about the show. If that is true then i am completely in her camp, not to the tune of 100 million but she should definitely get something for her performance. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/33 "2010-03-25T17:04:45Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > That dumb bitch is one of the best arguments I’ve seen yet for the neccessity of parenting licences. And 50th trimester abortions. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/34 "2010-03-25T17:12:52Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Then again, if she thinks the “character portrayed” on the show caused her $1mm in trauma…I guess she truly is a selfish brat at heart. But I wouldn’t be surprised if mommy and daddy convinced her of this. I’d bet anything that she didn’t come up with the $100m figure herself. Parents? Maybe. Lawyer? Most definitely. Let’s not forget that she’s not the only one to profit from this. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/35 "2010-03-25T17:16:28Z")
I liked what [Salon](http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/reality_tv/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/03/24/wife_swap_teen_sues) had to say about it: > [@](#): > > But even in the likely event Guastaferro never sees a dime, how quick should we be to dismiss the claim that she’s “undergoing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and moderate suicidal tendencies, and has been hospitalized for panic attacks”? Think derisive attention and fragile adolescent psyches are a winning combination? Tell that to the families of the teenagers who actually have gone and killed themselves after being harassed online. > > Nobody’s forcing any adult to be a doofus on national television, but at a certain point, it seems reasonable to ask how much crap anyone, especially a young girl, should be expected to take. Since when does doing one deeply unself-aware television appearance mean a person deserves a perpetual deluge of scorn? > > * * * > > Much like the narcissistic princesses of MTV’s “My Super Sweet 16,” Alicia is both a star and a pawn. When she says on “Wife Swap,” “Appearance is everything in this world,” there’s little doubt that the show’s producers meant to portray her as anything but an easy object of ridicule. Gee, it’s sure easier to pick on pretty teenage girls than, say, the middle-aged white guys who ran the global economy aground. > > It’s true that in that oft-reviled episode, Guastaferro certainly seems every inch the kind of girl whose role models include Veruca Salt. But she also often appears cheerfully naive and painfully eager to please. And a scene in which she struggles to read the word “crutches” suggests that her transfer to the “specially supervised program” mentioned in her lawsuit would have been all but inevitable anyway. So while her suit may be ill-advised and unwinnable, her exploitation by a television network, the sad failure to protect her by her parents, and an online and offline community that never lacks for vicious trolls still seem an unfair burden for any high schooler to have to shoulder. She may have put herself out there for a little taste of fame, but just because you’re a beauty pageant junkie, it doesn’t mean you should spend the rest of your life being judged. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/36 "2010-03-25T17:18:05Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > According to her her mom got 20 thousand but she didn’t get jack squat. She was also coached in what to say and what to do, they told her to pretend like she got a christmas present every day and to constantly say “but i’m the most popular girl at school!” and that basically there is absolutely nothing “real” about the show. If that is true then i am completely in her camp, not to the tune of 100 million but she should definitely get something for her performance. Her parents are the ones that mention the present everyday. In the show itself and in a local newscast highlighting their appearance on the show. If it’s a lie, the parents themselves ran with it outside of the show (and the producer’s influence). ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/37 "2010-03-25T17:23:51Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > I liked what [Salon](http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/reality_tv/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/03/24/wife_swap_teen_sues) had to say about it: I don’t agree with them, because they’re too willing to absolve her of any responsibility, and they’re far, FAR too willing to absolve her parents of any responsibility. Her parents have a lot to answer for here. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/38 "2010-03-25T17:27:00Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > I liked what [Salon](http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/reality_tv/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/03/24/wife_swap_teen_sues) had to say about it: I can’t speak for others, but I’m always willing to review my position that someone is an asshole after they stop acting like an asshole. Until then, the original impression tends to remain in place. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/39 "2010-03-25T18:51:28Z")
I still haven’t watched the episode. The video that **Justin\_Bailey** posted makes me inclined to agree with people who’ve posted that the girl’s problems come more from her parents than from ABC. I will admit to having a kneejerk reaction to anyone who sues for $100million. When forming opinions about others I try and put myself in their shoes. I get tripped up when I start thinking, “Well if I were putting my family on Wife Swap…” I can understand how they lined up the first season of families, but is anyone watching that show and thinking, “that looks like fun!”? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726/40 "2010-03-25T19:04:54Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > \is anyone watching that show and thinking, “that looks like fun!”? As strange as it sounds to me, I don’t think the thought process goes any further than, “Get on tv! Cool!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sued-by-bratty-teen-on-wife-swap/533726.md?page=1)