Teen Pageant Queen Sues Wife Swap

A teen pageant queen who famously declared her sympathy for “people that are not gorgeous people” on ABC’s Wife Swap is suing the network, accusing it of staging scenes to "maximize public embarrassment." Alicia Guastaferro, 18, seen in the clip having her legs spray-tanned by her father, was depicted as allowing her mother to do her homework for her and receiving presents every day under a year-round Christmas tree. Now, she wants $100 million, the New York Daily News reports.

Guastaferro says she has been assaulted and received death threats, and that her humiliation over the 2008 episode forced her to switch schools, turned her from an honor roll student to a special ed student, and caused her to have panic attacks and suicidal tendencies. In the suit, she claims producers demanded she “act a little more spoiled,” and that scenes—including the spray tanning and the Christmas tree—were staged. PopEater notes that the family’s recent legal and financial troubles could have something to do with the pricey lawsuit.
(More Alicia Guastaferro stories.)