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Report: Actor told outlandish tales on talk shows

Web posted May 5, 1998

 The growth of trash TV concerns media watchers

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- A struggling Los Angeles-based actor says he knows the talk shows are faking it. He's helped them do it several times.

New York native Tony West says producers for five daytime talk shows, including Jerry Springer, invited him to create and tell outlandish stories, The New York Post reported today.

West said the producers knew he was an actor before his appearances on shows hosted by Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, Richard Bey, Sally Jessy Raphael and Maury Povich.

He said they paid him appearance fees - ranging from $150 for Maury Povich to $500 for Springer - and took care of his flights, accommodations and other expenses.

Last month, Rolling Stone magazine and the syndicated show ``Extra'' reported that many of Springer's fights are staged and guests are coached. His producers denied it, but Springer said some of the allegations were probably true.

```The Maury Povich Show' would never put a guest on the air with the prior knowledge that the guest is either misrepresenting who they are or that their story is a fabrication,'' said spokesman Gary Rosen, adding that West signed a release indicating the story he told on the show was true.

A Ricki Lake spokesman said the same thing.

The Jerry Springer and Sally Jessy Raphael shows could not be reached for comment, the Post reported.

West acknowledged that he signed waivers before taping some of the shows.

``It was a disclaimer for them that they wouldn't be sued. It didn't say anything about the story being true,'' he said.