'Island' couple sues Fox show
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LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles couple booted off "Temptation Island" because they have a 2-year-old child sued the show's producers, claiming defamation of character.
Ytossie Patterson, 34, and Taheed Watson, 29, filed suit in Superior Court Wednesday. The two were kicked off the show - designed to tempt emotionally committed but unmarried couples into straying - when it was revealed their relationship produced a child, a fact they allegedly hid from producers.
The two seek unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.
Fox Television Studios and Rocket Science Laboratories, both in the Los Angeles area, were named as defendants. A spokesperson at Rocket Science declined comment Wednesday.
Patterson and Watson claim producers always knew they had a child, but decided it would boost ratings if that information came out during an episode.
They also claim that an episode in which producers chastised the two for the alleged revelation was "condescending and humiliating," according to the suit.
"The footage was edited to exclude plaintiffs' responses to the producer's accusations, and falsely portrayed plaintiffs as mischievous and immoral, that they had in fact concealed the existence of their own child and that they had nothing to say about it in the face of this disgraceful tongue lashing," the lawsuit stated, adding that what the audience was shown was "edited and manipulated."
Patterson and Watson have been together 5-1/2 years. The three other "Temptation Island" couples decided to stay together at the show's end in February.