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Holidaymaker sues after TV 'monster' joke
Published: 13 Sep 12 11:36 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20120913-44947.html
A holidaying pensioner who stumbled into camera shot of a casting show in just his swimming trunks is suing German TV channel RTL after being made fun of by the show’s host and dubbed “the monster from the deep”.
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The Austrian man named only as Herbert P. was on holiday on the Maldives in November 2010 when RTL was filming its Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS) "Recall" show there, the Express newspaper reported on Thursday.
The pensioner reportedly wandered into a restricted area of a swimming pool behind the judges' panel, and RTL aired the footage with a “humorous voiceover” and a horror film soundtrack.
"And now - gruesome, dangerous, ravenous - the monster from the deep," the voice said as Herbert P. was seen climbing out of the water.
Bohlen then added, "He looks like a beer bottle." Herbert P.'s identity was only masked by a black spot superimposed over his eyes.
Herbert P. said his life became traumatic after the incident, because people began ridiculing him. "Even my partner's boss talked to us about it," he told the Austrian Kurier newspaper. "And my cousin, who I have not heard from for a long time, called from Germany. Everyone was making fun of me."
He has since sought psychiatric help. "When I came back from holiday I was the happiest person," he said. "Then I couldn't sleep, I was awake every night, just because of this stupidity."
After Herbert P. complained, RTL paid him €9,000 compensation, a sum it described as "very generous" to the Kurier.
But the Austrian is now suing the broadcaster for a further €21,000. A court psychiatrist has already testified that the TV show caused psychiatric harm to Herbert.
RTL would not comment on the court case on the grounds that it was still ongoing.
The Local/bk
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Your comments about this article:
that seems ony fair. Being ridiculed like that on national TV just because you weren't aware that somebody was filming you... and RTL is lucky that this isn't the U.S., where you can be slapped with a million dollar lawsuit for slander.
I was just stating fact; typically for this kind of thing, TV networks in the U.S. don't get away with the equivalent of 30,000 euros... my point was that that kind of money is pretty much a slap on the wrist for RTL...
No need to go primate feces on me just because I brought up your precious U.S. of A., especially not when all I wanted to point out was that in other countries slander carries much heftier compensation, and for the most part rightly so.
Seems more like I stumbled upon some kind of inferiority complex on YOUR part.