Temptation Office
A court in Paris has ruled that contestants in l’Ile de la Tentation, the French version of Tepmptation Island, should be treated as employees and are entitled to full employment rights.
The three participants who brought the case have each been awarded €8,176 in overtime after the court determined that they had effectively worked 24 hours a day for the entire 12 day period. They were also awarded €817 each for not being given a holiday, €500 for unfair dismissal, €1,500 for the wrongful termination of their contracts and €16,000 in damages for being employed illegally.
Television executives sought to play down the ruling, claiming that it would not apply to other shows. But Maître Assous said: “From now on they are going to have to apply the full employment legislation. The right to strike, for example, is enshrined in the constitution in France. That means that a contestant in a reality TV show can legitimately go on strike.”
I’d quite like to see reality show contestants go on strike - anything that might kill off this dire genre has to be worth a try. Where is the National Union of Uninteresting Celebrities when you need it?
Wednesday 12 Mar 2008 | Paul | TV
