A New York judge has dismissed a $10 million lawsuit brought by a reality show contestant against Viacom over the show "Dating Naked."
As reported on Deadline Hollywood, a Supreme Court judge in New York granted Viacom's motion to dismiss the $10 million suit brought by Jessie Nizewitz, an ex-model. She claimed the production companies and the distributor promised her that certain body parts would not be exposed to the show's viewers.
Instead, she claimed in court papers filed August 14, 2014 that her genitals were not properly censored or blurred out and were exposed to millions of TV viewers during a naked wrestling scene.
In addition to having the motion dismissed, Nizewitz was ordered to pay court costs.
After the case was filed last August, Viacom and co-defendants, Lighthearted Entertainment and Firelight Entertainment responded in October with a motion for dismissal. The defendants said in court papers that Nizewitz violated her contract by filing the lawsuit.
Nizewitz' attorney, Matthew Blit of Levine and Blit, PLLC and Nizewitz disagreed with Judge Anil Singh's decision. The plaintiff said she had received multiple verbal assurances that certain body parts would not be shown on TV.
The defendants did admit that there was an editing error that rendered Nizewitz' body parts visible to millions of viewers of "Naked Dating," but her signed contract contains a clause that verbal agreements are superseded by the signed contract.
Defendants were represented by Elizabeth McNamara of Davis Wright Tremain LLP and Edward H. Rosenthal of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein and Seltz PC.
"Dating Naked" airs on VH1 and was recently renewed. The show is presently casting for Season 2 participants, who are "tired of being single," and are ready to make themselves "vulnerable" and "fully exposed."
