What Happened To Tori Spelling At Benihana?

If you have seen the Gilmore Girls revival trailer (and if you haven't what exactly are you waiting for?), you may have caught a particularly pointed pop culture reference at the beginning. It happens when Lorelai and Rory are chatting over a cup of their beloved coffee and signature breakfast food, Poptarts. The two are musing about a movie they watched the previous night that they can't recall the name of. Which, somehow gets Lorelai on the topic of Tori Spelling falling at Benihana, and how that would probably make for a juicy plot of a Lifetime movie.

Though I typically agree with Lorelai on many fronts, I'm not so sure Spelling's harrowing real life Benihana disaster would be particularly appropriate for a made for TV film. But, you know, there have been crazier films pitched, so maybe I'm wrong. If you're feeling a little fuzzy over the events of Spelling's fall at Benihana back in April of 2015, don't fret. It's not exactly easy keeping up with all of Lorelai and Rory's impossibly quick, witty banter. Rather than let this one go over your head, though, let's take a look back at the incident. You know, so you can dish about the trailer with your friends and pretend like you totally got that joke the first time you heard it.

So, what exactly happened to Spelling at Benihana? According to The Daily Mail via a source, the actor was at the restaurant for an Easter brunch with her family, "...when she got up to leave and tripped, falling backwards onto a scorching hot grill. She shouted out in pain from a large burn on the back of her right arm." Dean McDermott told The Daily News that she even got skin grafts due to the burn. And, in September of that year, Spelling went on to sue the restaurant. As per a September 2015 article from TMZ, the lawsuit "against the Benihana corporation" cites "general damage" done, "racked up medical expenses," and "wage loss" as the reasons behind it. In retrospect, this is and was no laughing matter, for Spelling at least. It does not appear that the suit has been resolved at this time.

Lorelai may be correct in her assumptions that there was far more drama to the story than at first glance, after all. And that could very well be enticing to the network that churns out melodramatic films. That said, with this knowledge in mind, it seems like it might be a bit too soon to make light of the fall and burn.