The Ledge - The End of Candid Camera?

Harsh reality: Unwitting traveler takes 'Candid Camera' to court

By Laura Barcella
Court TV

"Okay, where's the candid camera?" Philip Zelnick demanded on June 15, 2001, when an airport security official in Bullhead City, Ariz., instructed him to climb atop an authentic-looking, but phony, X-ray scanner machine.

It seemed fishy, but Zelnick, 35, complied with the request of the "security official" — actually show host Peter Funt. By the time the stunt was done, however, Zelnick appeared in no mood to "smile!", as the show's guests are often entreated to do. Instead, he sued.

In a suit filed against Funt, "Candid Camera," the PAX television network, the airport and the Mojave Country Airport Authority, Zelnick claimed he incurred bruises and bleeding after becoming stuck in the faux scanner. Though identical in appearance to scanners reserved for carry-on luggage, the fake scanner did not emit real rays.

According to his lawyer, Andrew Jones, Zelnick's thigh was pinched in the machine, forming a red, fist-sized "raspberry." His leg was also punctured by a pen inside his pocket.

"It wasn't a deep wound," Jones told Courttv.com. But "anxiety, distress, and humiliation" were after-effects of Zelnick's experience.

Zelnick sought an unspecified amount in damages for battery, negligence, false imprisonment, misrepresentation and infliction of emotional distress. Prior to the trial, Jones hesitated to speculate about an outcome, saying, "I am hoping for a verdict that will be fair to my client."

Six other unsuspecting travelers took a trip down the conveyor belt that day. None, aside from Zelnick, suffered any injuries, and "Candid Camera" broadcasted the stunt — sans Zelnick footage — as planned.

To Zelnick and his lawyer, the ill-fated gag was a classic example of reality TV gone wrong.

"This was forcing someone to do something he didn't want to do," said Jones. "It was an attempt to humiliate [Zelnick] openly, so that people could laugh at him on TV, for personal profit and gain."

Lawyers representing the show could not be reached for comment, but in a statement released on CandidCamera.com, the company had a very different take on the incident. Responding to Zelnick's complaint, the statement asserts that although a bruise was visible on the man's thigh after he emerged from the machine, "no blood whatsoever was seen by anyone at the airport."

In response to a New York Times article alleging that host Peter Funt "did not express particular sympathy" for Zelnick, the company expressed a "relative lack of sympathy for a legal action that seeks to exaggerate and alter the facts of the incident." Exaggerated or not, Zelnick's complaint against "Candid Camera" — a 54-year-old dinosaur of reality TV— is, according to its Web site, the first the show has incurred.

But Zelnick is not the first unconsenting player in a staged TV stunt, and his complaint is not unique for the genre.

In February 2003, Kara Blanc of Los Angeles filed a suit for severe emotional damage against the Sci-Fi Channel, home of the Shannen Doherty-hosted series "Scare Tactics." While Blanc was on her way to a swanky Hollywood party, the show sent an "alien" — actually an actor in a monster costume — to accost her. The creature feigned an attack on Blanc's two companions, who were in on the joke — and who were later slapped with a lawsuit as well. The intent was to scare the wits out of Blanc, and catch her fear on camera. It worked.

Jill Mouser filed suit against CBS in January 2003 after being injured in a stunt for a reality TV pilot — which never aired — entitled "Culture Shock." Held upside down in a contraption called the "harness of pain" for 40 minutes, Mouser's complaint alleged that she endured shock and long-term suffering.

And in April 2002, James and Laurie Ann Ryan sued MTV producers and actor Ashton Kutcher for a hidden-camera hoax in which a phony dead body was planted in the couple's Las Vegas hotel bathroom. The prank was intended as fodder for a Kutcher-hosted MTV series called "Harassment," which the actor once described as "guerrilla 'Candid Camera.' " It recently debuted in a celebrity-oriented incarnation as the hit "Punk'd."

As for Zelnick, his lawyer hopes that taped footage of the fateful scanner ride, in which a grumbling Zelnick passes through the X-ray machine several times, will hold enough evidence to sway Monday's courtroom. According to Jones, "the segment speaks for itself."

The Los Angeles jury, comprised of five men and seven women, found "Candid Camera" and Peter Funt liable for negligence, false imprisonment and intentional misrepresentation, but cleared them of claims of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The jury awarded Zenlick a total of $300,000 in punitive damages, with Peter Funt and the show ordered to pay $150,000 each.

Unhappy with the verdict, Peter Funt and "Candid Camera" plan to seek a new trial. In a statement on CandidCamera.com, Funt is quoted as saying, "We expressed our regret over Mr. Zelnick's injury within moments of the incident and offered compensation. Clearly the jury was not impressed with claims relating to his injury... I firmly believe that this award will be dramatically reduced on appeal.

$300,000.00 :eek: :eek:

Gee, I could use a stint on that show! I wonder if this will open the door to a flood of new suits by people on reality tv.