Dr. Phil is a real dirtbag. He has his staff lie about people & misrepresent what is going on, and he even has them unlawfully detain people. I've seen a few times where someone tried to walk off and later on they come back on stage and he chastises them & they have commented that they only came back because his staff wouldn't let them leave. But he said that wasn't true and that the staff weren't doing that. He even threatened to call the cops on people and have them arrested if they tried to leave.
They had an actor from Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the show & Dr. Phil was a complete jerk to him. He didn't take him seriously & the show edited the footage to make it look like he walked off and left because he was asked about his alcohol use. The actor angrily blogged about it later & said that they cut the part where Dr. Phil was being a total dick to the actor's mother & *that* was the reason he walked off the stage. He also confirmed what others have said- that they would not let him leave. They sort of told on themselves by filming him trying to leave the building & they kept blocking him & stopping him. They cut out some of the parts & made a big deal about him having changed clothes (he said when he first tried to leave they told him he wasn't allowed to leave with the clothes they let him wear for the show, so he changed in to something else, gave their clothes back, and tried to leave but that they kept blocking his path and holding doors shut). He eventually made it outside & they continued to follow and film him. One of the producers or staff got him to sit down in a diner to talk & claimed he said some things that he later denied. There was no footage of it so I think the show was lying.
Awhile later, the actor sat on a curb in public and slashed his wrist. He survived though, but he was dumb enough to go back on Dr. Phil (who- after getting a lot of negative feedback from fans) was much nicer. But he's still a creep & an egotistical jerk. My mother likes to watch his show.
On the judge shows, if the show pays them $ but they are told they won, do they still get the full amount they were awarded in the lawsuit? Or do they have to take a loss?
