A teenage beauty queen who was portrayed as a spoiled brat on the US reality show Wife Swap is suing the ABC network for $110 million.
Alicia Guastaferro, 18, said she suffered panic attacks and suicidal tendencies since appearing on the program, in which she notoriously declared, "I do feel sorry for people that are not gorgeous people."
Guastaferro claims in the suit that the ABC and its parent company Walt Disney deliberately staged scenes in the show to "maximise [her] embarrassment", the New York Daily News reports.
Guastaferro said she was forced to change schools after the 2008 program because she was constantly ridiculed by other students and had even received death threats.
In opening scenes of the episode — where Guastaferro's mother changes places with a dowdy ultra-feminist — the then 15-year-old is described as a "perfect pageant princess" whose family spends more than a $100,000 per year to turn her into the ultimate beauty queen.
Guastaferro is shown in her bedroom surrounded by trophies and her tiaras.
"If you don't have the best clothes, the best hair and makeup and the best tan, you're not gonna win the pageant," she tells the camera.
Guastaferro claims the show's producers staged certain scenes, such as her father spray tanning her legs, to make her look more spoiled.
Other scenes Guastaferro objected to showed how her mother did her homework for her and kept up a Christmas tree year round so she could give her daily presents.
The suit said Guastaferro agreed to appear on the show after being paid $22,000, but the show's producer's did not obtain the teen's permission to film her.
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