A former guest of the "Rachael Ray" daytime talk show is suing for purportedly suffering emotional abuse.
Christina Pagliarolo, 18, appeared on the show for a segment on overweight teens with high hopes for weight loss. The then-280 pound girl wanted to lose 70 pounds by her senior prom.
After starting out strong, the teen began to falter. According to a video clip from the show, Pagliarolo began gaining weight and canceling appointments with her trainer. Ray invited Christina and other members of the Pagliarolo family for what Ray called a "tough love table talk."
Now, Pagliarolo is firing back, and claims in her lawsuit that her trainer made her run non-stop, yelled and screamed at her, and forced her to hike in the mountains.
She was also allegedly put on a StairMaster, while her trainer kept heightening the speed until she fell off of the machine.
She then got yelled at for slipping off the equipment, TMZ reports.
Pagliarolo apparently sustained some serious leg injuries as a result of this fall, and is suing for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
It seems eating disorders have always been a tough topic to tackle for the Rachael Ray show. This isn't the first time Ray has encountered a suit-in 2008, the talk show host's former accountant said he was forced to step down from his job because he had an eating disorder.
He claimed his supervisor made comments such as, "anorexics are sick in the head," and "anorexics should not be able to work."
For now, the "Rachael Ray Show" denies any of this is happening, and a spokesperson told TMZ that they have not received the suit.
"We haven't received this purported lawsuit but if it does materialize we will defend ourselves against it vigorously and fully expect to prevail."
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