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AP, Daily Mail, Salt Lake Tribune

Reality Show Hit With Lawsuit, Accused of Pressuring Girl Into Participating

Mar 28, 2016  •  Post A Comment

The producers and network behind a reality TV show have been hit with a lawsuit accusing them of defamation, trespassing and inflicting emotional harm. The U.K. publication The Daily Mail reports that A+E Networks and the production company RIVR Media were sued by Utah woman Susan Nelson over the LMN series “Escaping Polygamy.”

Nelson, who’s a member of the polygamous Kingston group, reportedly has accused the show of pressuring her daughter into participating by offering her $5,000 an episode to appear on the show. The AP reports that Nelson is saying a cameraman and cast members “barged into her house without permission” and that the show defamed her in an episode recounting the incident. The episode aired in July 2015.

The Daily Mail report describes the girl as a “young adult” and adds: “In the show ‘Escaping Polygamy’ Jessica Christensen and Shanell DeRieuxas work to get young people out of polygamous homes if they want to leave. They also help those who have recently left. Christensen and DeRieuxas both left the Kingston group.”

The report adds that an attorney for Nelson said the daughter was pressured into leaving her family. The attorney, Dan Baczynski, is quoted telling The Salt Lake Tribune: “This is a young girl. They tell her she has the opportunity to be on TV. What young girl wouldn’t say yes to that?”

The lawsuit reportedly says the producers wanted the girl to appear “as an individual who has been convinced to leave her home.”

The Daily Mail adds: “Nelson’s daughter told her ‘that although she did not want to move out, she had already committed to RIVR Media that she would move in with some friends so she could participate in the television filming’ on Dec. 13, 2014, according to the complaint.”

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One Comment

  1. Truth is the best defense to defamation. I didn’t see anything in the story that indicated any facts were untrue.

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