Stacey Stillman Speaks

No. ... Although, during the show, I was surprised to see Mark in our camp as much as I did. I saw him go up to others, but I figured he was just saying the things he was saying to me. Things like, 'Good job. Keep it up.' Plus, I was so distracted with the sheer hunger and difficulty of it all that it never occurred to me. I didn't want to believe it when Dirk told me. [Stillman alleges in her complaint that fellow contestant Dirk Been was asked by Burnett to vote Stillman off the show]. I just wanted to put the experience away and move on. I just wasn't able to.

It sounds like you struggled with the idea of filing the lawsuit for a while.

Yeah. I knew what the public reaction would be. I've got many strikes against me. I am a lawyer. I filed a lawsuit. I'm the bitch lawyer from TV, and I frankly don't want to fight this [out] in the media. I'm not giving soundbites to counter CBS's little statements, which are just digging into me every day.

Have you been surprised by the public response to the lawsuit? There's been some harsh criticism out there.

Well, it's brought up some old wounds. Here's the ironic part. I never would have been able to do it had I not been reamed over the summer for how I appeared on the show. CBS itself prepared me for this. I have a strange calm now, knowing I'm doing the right thing and I have the proof. These people need to be stopped. I also think that if this had happened to Colleen or to Gretchen, people would be outraged. But it happened to me, a lawyer. It's almost as if, I dare enforce my own rights, and I'm terrible. Lawyers themselves have been writing me hate mail, saying that I confirm everything bad about the profession. I've gotten a lot of nasty emails from the public in general, calling me a sore loser. It's hard to explain in an interview that I'm not a vindictive person.