{alltv} Producer says she was fired for not being British

Monday, October 18, 2010

{alltv} Producer says she was fired for not being British

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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – A former producer of "The Biggest Loser" has sued the companies of the hit NBC show for discrimination, claiming she was fired because she's not British.

Amanda McFadden, a "challenge producer" on the reality weight-loss series, claims Reveille and 3Ball Prods. terminated her employment because an executive producer preferred that her job be filled by a fellow Brit.

"Loser," paradoxically one of the few hit U.S. broadcast reality series not based on a British format, was experiencing some turnover earlier this year. According to the complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, a supervising producer was fired and replaced, and McFadden was asked to re-interview for her job despite three years' experience managing various activities on the show. She says she was promised that the interview was just a formality and that she passed up another job opportunity to stay with "Loser" for $2,350 a week.

Shortly thereafter, McFadden says she was fired and told that it was because Reveille's Mark Koops wanted to change the entire challenge department. But according to the lawsuit, in reality, Koops, a U.K. citizen, wanted to replace her with someone British. McFadden claims other "Loser" producers were shocked that she was fired and one "confirmed to (her) that he had been undermined by Mark Koops who insisted on replacing her with someone he personally picked, even though the job had already been promised and offered to (McFadden)."

McFadden says she later found a replacement job but wants $32,200 in damages, as well as money for pain and suffering and medical expenses.

Reaction from the producers was not immediately available.