American cabler Bravo asks stars on the channel’s various reality shows to sign contracts relinquishing their right to sue the NBCUniversal-owned network if they contract a sexually transmitted disease during filming, Page Six reports.
According to Page Six:
We’re told that the stars on a number of Bravo’s reality shows have to sign an “STD clause” promising not to sue the network if they get one or more of a long, enumerated list of itchy infections while filming.
Sources familiar with the contracts say that Bravo washes its hands (thoroughly) of the potential diseases so that it doesn’t get sued if bed-hopping stars pick up something nasty while taking part in its shows.
Network insiders, meanwhile, assure us that such provisions are common across all networks, especially on dating shows.
Bravo has dominated the reality TV space for nearly two decades, with popular programming from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy to Real Housewives to Top Chef.
Indeed, networks have spent years performing STD screenings on cast members — every contestant on ABC’s The Bachelor and The Bachelorette must be screened for STDs, as one of the show’s stars put it bluntly.
“It’s the sexiest STD-free dating pool on Earth,” Bachelor winner Jesse Csincsak told HollywoodLife in 2011. “They make you pee in a cup and draw blood. If you have virus, you’re not going on the show.”
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