ABC/CRAIG SJODINEver read about an upcoming twist on one of your favorite shows and wonder who spilled the beans?
Well, the producers of The Bachelor are having none of it, filing their second lawsuit in two years against Stephen Carbone, purveyor of the reality-TV scoop site RealitySteve.com.
This time, according to court documents filed Dec. 21 and obtained by E! News, they allege that he has breached a previous settlement agreement by unlawfully obtaining information about the show's 17th season, which premieres Monday.
Plaintiffs NZK Productions and Horizon Alternative Television contend that Carbone has utilized their confidential information to make a for-profit website and that he had to have obtained "at least some of the confidential information" by soliciting details from cast and crew members who were contractually obligated to keep quiet.
Carbone, who has denied tapping sources who were under contract, appears to have already found the silver lining.
"I continue to spoil their show every season, they're pissed about it, so this is how they respond. What's funny in all this is, by suing me, they're admitting that my spoilers are correct," he wrote today on his website in response to media coverage of the suit. "Do you honestly think if I gave away the wrong ending, and wrong eliminations, and wrong details about the dates they would sue me? Of course not."
According to the complaint, Carbone started posting season-17 spoilers back in September, including scene-by-scene descriptions of the first five episodes—a violation of the agreement the defendant entered into on May 31, 2012, as a result of their first legal go-round.
The Bachelor producers are asking for $75,000 in damages for alleged intentional interference with contractual relations, as well as $10,000 per alleged violation of the settlement.
Writes Carbone: "I'm exploring all my legal options at this point, including a counterclaim. They are the big guys and I'm the little one and they are trying to squash me. I don't see that happening since I did not violate our Agreement, nor did I intentionally interfere with any contracts, which is what their latest complaint is stating."
UPDATE: A studio spokesmen tells Entertainment Weekly that the lawsuit has been dismissed and resolved amicably.