The Real World: Chicago alum Tonya Cooley has filed a lawsuit against MTV over allegations of rape.
According to TMZ, Tonya is alleging she was raped and harassed by some of her fellow MTV reality stars during The Ruins Challenge back in 2009.
In the lawsuit filed against MTV, Bunim/Murray Productions, and others, Tonya alleges her Challenge costars Kenny Santucci and Evan Starkman “took another male participant’s toothbrush and rubbed the toothbrush around plaintiff’s genitals, including rubbing her labia and inserting the toothbrush into plaintiff’s vagina.”
Even worse, Tonya claims this all happened while she was passed out… and the rolling MTV cameras captured it all on tape.
According to the lawsuit, the show producers knew about the rape, and even replaced the toothbrush, though they never told her what happened.
Tonya claims producers turned a blind eye to incidents of sexual abuse experienced by she and other female castmembers, and encouraged male cast members to “inappropriately touch female cast members’ bodies, including in intimate areas,” while stripped of their bathing suits.
If you recall, Tonya was booted from the Challenge early on after slapping another cast member – Veronica Portillo. I blogged about that episode back in October 2009 and expressed my disgust with the way Kenny and Evan bullied a drunk Tonya.
Tonya is suing for unspecified damages. MTV has yet to comment on the suit. Tonya, who has appeared on multiple challenges, hasn’t done a challenge since The Ruins.
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