Parents Were Part of Fox TV Show

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” The Fox television network dropped an unmarried couple from its reality show ``Temptation Island'' after learning the pair had a child. <br><br>Fox and show producer Rocket

Wednesday, January 10th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” The Fox television network dropped an unmarried couple from its reality show ``Temptation Island'' after learning the pair had a child.

Fox and show producer Rocket Science Laboratories had decreed that no married couples or those with children could take part in the show, which places unmarried couples on an island with sexy men and women to test their fidelity.

But the couple ``misrepresented information about their background â€” specifically, the fact that they had a child together,'' Fox said in a statement Tuesday.

Background checks also failed to discover the information, the network said.

After the discovery, the reality show ended the pair's participation, Fox said. It did not identify the couple.

The show debuts Wednesday.

Fox's statement was issued after WorldNetDaily reported the parents' inclusion in ``Temptation Island'' on Tuesday. The Internet news site said the couple were removed from the show after about five days of shooting, sent to another island resort and given therapy.

The announcement brought further condemnation to a show previously attacked by some critics as an assault on fidelity.

``Now this brings into the picture someone who's completely innocent, a child,'' Mark Honig, executive director of the watchdog group Parents Television Council, said Tuesday.

Fox has been embarrassed before by the background of a reality show contestant. Last spring, it turned out that ``Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?'' groom Rick Rockwell had a restraining order issued against him by an ex-fiancee. His TV bride, Darva Conger, later dumped him.

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On the Net:

Fox: http://www.fox.com/frameset.html

WorldNetDaily: http://worldnetdaily.com

Parents Television Council: http://www.parentstv.org