Rachael Ray Show Sued by Overweight Teen For "Emotional Distress" From Trainer

"The Rachael Ray Show" has been sued by a teenage girl who agreed to be featured in an episode about overweight teens.

Christina Pagliarolo, who weighed in at 260 lb, is claiming she was humiliated in a brutal workout during which she was yelled at and screamed. The resulting litigation inflicted "anxiety" due to "negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress," TMZ and examiner.com report.

The "Rachael Ray Show's" personal trainer made her run "like Forrest Gump",  yelled at her, and made her take a hike in the mountains. The most serious incident, according to Christina's claims, stems from the trainer putting her on a StairMaster and continually cranking up the speed until she could not keep up fell off the back of the machine. Christina claims the trainer then yelled at her for falling.

This isn't the first time the show has been sued. An anorexic ex-accountant for the Rachael Ray Show sued in 2008 for discrimination due to his disability. He was asked to leave because he told his immediate boss that she'd created a "hostile work environment" for him. 

Last night, the producers for the Rachael Ray Show said in a statement "We haven't received this purported lawsuit but if it does materialize we will defend ourselves against it vigorously and fully expect to prevail."

Commenters around the Web are calling the claims "ridiculous" and "Reminiscent of the first lawsuit against McDonald's for obesity by VOLUNTARY patronage." One commenter who had seen the segment said "I could tell she wasn't going to stick to it. If she really wanted to lose weight she would be thrilled with how intense her trainer was (this is coming from a fatty). They should have selected someone for the segment who was ready, this girl wasn't. What a waste."

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