Television producer Mark Burnett sued for $70 million

Executive television producer Mark Burnett is being sued by his former business partner Conrad Riggs for $70 million. Burnett, a British television producer, is best known for kick-starting the reality television genre in the United States. He's been on the producer and creator train for shows such as Survivor, The Apprentice, Rock Star, The Contender, Martha Stewart Apprentice, Pirate Master, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, On the Lot (with Steven Speilberg), and more.

So, why is he being sued for the big bucks? Read on past the jump.

It seems Burnett booted his business partner Riggs and stopped paying him in 2007. Riggs claims that he is owed the $70 million because he was promised 10% of the profits and was owed five million when he was "squeezed out" of the company this past April.

Riggs claims credit for helping Burnett pitch Survivor, his huge CBS success story and one of the longest running reality shows on network television. As a matter of fact, Riggs says he came up with the ultimate pitch for the show which started Burnett on the way to producer stardom. Burnett's wealth is estimated at a half a billion dollars and Riggs is suing for the 10% from those mighty big pockets.

Mark Burnett and his people aren't making any comments at this time. Somehow I don't find that surprising.