You have to sign away a lot to get to Paradise. In the midst of an ongoing story surrounding an incident in which two very intoxicated Bachelor in Paradise contestants, DeMario Jackson and Corinne Olympios, engaged in a sexual encounter that raised questions about consent, Warner Bros. has found no evidence of misconduct and closed its investigation. However, Olympios’s lawyer has pledged to investigate further, and now CNN Money has obtained the extensive contract contestants must sign to appear on the show, shedding light on how, exactly, Olympios could seek legal recourse for the disputed incident at hand.
When contestants sign the contract, they agree to allow producers to do whatever they want to them and their image, which allows the show to edit story lines freely. According to CNN, the contract also “requires that participants refrain from unlawful behavior or harassment, and to acknowledge that the producers do not encourage ‘intimate or sexual’ contact with other contestants on the show. But the contract also tries to free the producers from any responsibility if a contestant is injured, even if that injury comes from unwanted sexual contact.†In essence, whatever happens, the studio is safe.
According to legal experts who spoke to CNN, the broader terms of the contract aren’t necessarily enforceable, and could not stop criminal proceedings if they arise from an incident that took place on set. One part that is enforceable, however, is a provision that contestants who might want to sue the producers would give up their right to a jury trial and subject their claims to arbitration hearings, which are confidential. That means if Olympios did end up going forward with a suit, it would take place behind closed doors, without the possibility of an appeal. Suddenly, the weirder elements of UnREAL don’t seem so far-fetched.