Victims Seek Last Laugh on TV Pranksters

June 27, 2003 -- The original Candid Camera was never like this. Today's reality shows are pulling pranks on people that are more daring, more outrageous, and scarier than ever before — and everyone is fair game.

Watch Jami Floyd's full report on 20/20 this Friday at 10 p.m.

In the jargon of the new TV trend, you can be the subject of a scare tactic, you can be "Ex'd," and you can be "Punk'd" — like celebrity Justin Timberlake was.

The pop idol was visibly shaken when he believed he was being evicted from his home for failing to pay back-taxes — a prank set up by the MTV show Punk'd.

In an episode of Scare Tactics, a young woman camping in the woods with friends is terrified after seeing a masked man with a machete peer into the cabin. She's upset and frightened — and then, her friends not only tell her it's all a joke, they also tell her she's on a reality television show.

Humiliation for a Laugh

Welcome to the world of ambush TV — a whole new breed of reality television where the star of the show — and the butt of the joke — is an unsuspecting victim. Nearly a dozen new hidden-camera shows use the same M.O.: pick a target, humiliate them, terrify them, turn their world upside down, then laugh about it.

"This new kind of programming is designed to be shocking.  This new kind of programming is designed to be … just about over the edge," said Bob Thompson, who heads up the Center for Popular Television.

One hot new show that skates up to the edge with this hidden-camera technique is the Jamie Kennedy Experiment.

In one episode, Kennedy works with a co-conspirator — Scott — who sets up his family with a big surprise.

Scott tells them this is his wedding day, and then introduces Kennedy — dressed in drag — as his "bride."

Kennedy said the prank went on for 45 minutes before he told Scott's family, "You've been Ex'd!" That's what Kennedy calls the moment of truth — when the hoax is revealed.

"I love to see real people's reactions to weird situations," he said.

But do entertainment and television ratings justify subjecting people to such mean tricks?

Kennedy admits the concept is a bit cruel. "I think you're right.  If you think about it, you're taking real people and putting their lives in this weird vortex for 30 minutes.  I mean that idea … that's kind of mean."

MTV's Punk'd ratchets up the cruelty quotient another notch. Ashton Kutcher exploits his celebrity status to play nasty tricks on his famous friends. The set-ups are so credible, they fall for it every time.

‘Morally Bankrupt,’ But Funny

Thompson says he thinks some of the shows are morally bankrupt, but says there's a simple reason for all of this nasty ambush TV: it sells. "If we had lions and Christians devouring each other in the … Coliseum today in America, you would sell it out. People would go. I think that's an absolute no-brainer."

Another no-brainer: cost. Ambush TV is cheap to produce, and that's why television executives like it. There are no A-list actors on the clock, no sets, no lighting. But what the shows lack in production value, some make up for in sadism.

Take an intro to Scare Tactics, for example. "If you're like me and you enjoy seeing the pain and suffering of other people, then you've come to the right place," says Shannen Doherty, the host and chief prankster.

In one hoax, Doherty has a kid believing he has shot someone. "Oh my God!" she says. "What did you just do?" She then lets him in on the joke, saying, "Do you know what we're shooting? We're shooting Scare Tactics, man, and you're on it!"

Doherty says it's all in good fun. "I have never seen one prank go wrong.  I've never seen someone not have an amazing time."

But one guy who was told he had entered a room contaminated by dangerous radioactive materials didn't appear to be having such an amazing time. He stripped down to his underpants on national TV — though he didn't know that part yet — and was led to believe he was in mortal danger.

"The show would not be fun if we were hurting people," Doherty said, adding, "The show would not be fun if these people were saying, 'Oh my God, what did you do to me?' "

But that's exactly what this guy was saying — he was visibly frightened.

Doherty said, "The only thing I'd be freaked out about if I were him was the rip in his underwear."

"Scare Tactics is an awful, little creepy show.  At the same time, its awfulness and its creepiness is what makes it so incredibly entertaining," Thompson said.

Doherty says Scare Tactics isn't the meanest show on TV. She insists that the show isn't simply "looking for the best reaction at someone else's expense" for better ratings.

"Let me say this, without sounding cocky," she said. "We don't need to do that to get good ratings, I think that we have me to get the good ratings."

No Joking Matter

The ratings are good. Viewers in big numbers apparently share Doherty's sadistic pleasure. But is the payoff worth the victims' pain?

Some victims say they've been so traumatized by these pranks, they've decided to file lawsuits against the shows.

Defending Scare Tactics, Doherty notes that subjects on the show must sign releases giving producers complete control of the videotape they've just shot.

But what state of mind are you really in to be thinking straight, let alone signing legal documents, right after you've just been traumatized?

Thompson said there should be some sort of additional legal protection for the subjects of these pranks. "There should be like gun laws. There should be a 72-hour escape clause from your release form where you can at least go home and think, 'Should I, or should I not have done that?' "

That kind of second-guessing has led a half-dozen ambushed victims to hire media-savvy attorney Gloria Allred. "Can reality shows do anything and everything they want to make a profit?" Allred said. "My answer is: No. There are limits and we're going to help them understand."

It's the dirty little secret of the industry: quiet settlements and public cases against ambush TV shows are flooding in, says Candyce Miller of the Insurance Information Network of California.

"They've become the lawsuit du jour in the entertainment industry," Miller said.

Who Will Have the Last Laugh?

For reality television, lawsuit insurance has always been a cost of doing business. But with ambush TV comes greater risks, which means more insurance — if you can get it at all.

"There are insurers saying, 'This may be a part of the market that we really don't want to dip our toes into,' " said Miller.

Jamie Kennedy said he doesn't think about lawsuits and insurance.  "I would never want a lawsuit," he said. "We've never had one."

But he has one now. Just after his interview with 20/20, Allred "Ex'd" Kennedy.

One of Kennedy's "experiments" apparently failed.  Allred's latest ambush client is suing him for infliction of emotional distress.

"We're seeking general and compensatory damages and punitive damages to send a message that this kind of conduct will not be tolerated," Allred said.

Jackass, The Man Show, even the new Candid Camera are all getting a little reality dose of their own: lawsuits.

Doherty says she's not concerned about being sued; she says she's covered. While Doherty may be protected, her producers aren't.

A Los Angeles woman subjected to a Scare Tactics prank says she was so traumatized that she had to go to the hospital. Now she's suing.

Too many costly lawsuits from pranks like this, and these show may price themselves out of business altogether. The last laugh may be on ambush TV.