♪ [ cheering and applause ] this is nightline. tonight, behind the blind side. the hollywood feel good story. you

think you know. >> you protect his blind side. when you look at him, you think of me. yes, ma'am. >> but super bowl champion michael oher, the real life star of the story from nothing to a super bowl champion. >> i'm in shock right now. >> now facing off in court with the people he once called family. >> when you watch that film back, all these years later, it's a little cringey. >> was it a good deed or a misdeed? plus, behind the scenes of taskmaster performer miracle, the smash british hit game show with over 800 million views on youtube thanks to its quirky comedy and nearly impossible to solve puzzles. >> this may, you have a maximum of 20 minutes. your time starts now. >> it's real escapism and it's nonsense, and it's not reflecting the scary world out there. >> could you impress the taskmaster and 9 to 5 dolly parton, the 9 to 5 singer and philanthropist working overtime

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>> thanks for joining us tonight, super bowl champ michael. or suing the family who took him in as a teenager. the hollywood version of his story

appealing to millions in the movie the blind side. but oher says the heartwarming tale on screen masked the dark motive behind the generosity of the family he once thought was his own. here's nightline correspondent austin singh. >> it was a story tailor made for hollywood. a wealthy white family taking in a black, at times homeless teenager guiding his football career from a high school standout to ole miss. to the nfl, the inspiring story the tuohy family and michael oher, a super bowl winning offensive tackle, was first a book by acclaimed author michael lewis and then a blockbuster movie, the blind side. >> coach, you've done a great job with this young man and the winner is sandra bullock and the blind side. >> sandra bullock winning an oscar for her portrayal of leigh anne tuohy, a steel magnolia.

not to be crossed. >> you threaten my son, you threaten me. you so much as cross into downtown. you will be sorry. i'm in a prayer group with the da. i'm a member of the nra and i'm always packing. >> but now michael oher claims he was blindsided by the movie. so many of us know and love. >> when you go into a locker room and your teammates don't think you can learn a playbook, you know that weighs heavy in an epic plot twist, no one saw coming or now suing the family who took him in the former nfl star in court this week alleging the celebrated tuohy family owe him millions. >> the case now in the hands of a judge, the retired nfl star questioning everything he thought was true or doubting his once close relationship with the tuohy family. >> he thinks i birthed him. it's gotten to the point where i think i birthed him. >> they just consistently referred to michael as their son and sometimes as their adopted son. and so that's what the

world believes, you know, that they adopted him in coming to terms with the damage he says the movie did to his life and career. the movie is something that will shadow michael or for life. >> people don't know anything about me. i mean, you might see something on tv and think, you know, but you got to get to know me as a person. you'll never know a person by watching a movie or reading a book. >> his lawsuit alleging that sean and leigh anne tuohy saw him as a gullible young man whose athletic talent could be exploited for their own benefit, and that the two he's claimed he was their adopted son when in reality he wasn't. >> he entered a conservatorship with the tuohys, which is wildly different than an adoption. >> the petition, accusing the tuohys of negotiating a movie deal where they would reap millions while or receive nothing. alleging the tuohys only negotiated payment for themselves and their biological

children, and that he received no payment whatsoever for the life rights to his story or ask for a full accounting of the money earned off the use of his story, and unspecified damages. >> michael sees it all as as sort of wrong from the start, or would not comment to abc news for this story, but he did speak to journalist michael sokolove, the story published in the new york times magazine. whether we agree with how he sees it, i think it's understandable that someone would feel differently as a 38 year old adult than they would as an 18 year old, or even a 26 year old. in the midst of trying to stay in the nfl 48 hours ago, a bomb dropped on our client's to say they were devastated by these allegations is truly an understatement. >> lawyers for the tuohys countering each family member, including or made an equal

amount of money from the film. >> imagine a pie divided by five. okay, we estimate each person received $100,000. each person in the family in court filings, the two is submitting an accounting statement of what they say shows the full payments to or for his equal share. >> a little over $138,000. the tuohy family also claiming or is trying to extort them. text messages they say are between them and the former nfl star. allegedly show or demanding they pay him millions. the tuohys filing also stating the use of the term adopted was always meant in its colloquial sense. it was never meant as a legal term of art. >> people use legal terms all the time. i'm going to murder this big mac, and a lot of legal terms become colloquial adoptions. not really one of them. >> the tuohys contesting his suit. >> this is a sad day. it's

devastating to the family, and we hope that it doesn't have a chilling effect on others who want to help needy individuals. >> michael awes inspiring story of escaping an impoverished childhood in foster care. then making it to the nfl inspired millions. he was a first round nfl draft pick in 2009. >> the baltimore ravens select michael oher selected 23rd overall by the baltimore ravens, the tuohys were there by his side just months into his nfl career, the blind side phenomenon swept the nation. >> beautiful dress. if not for the movie, michael would have been as famous as most offensive linemen who toiled in the nfl, which is to say, not all that famous. it's a pretty anonymous position. shotgun! woo hoo! the movie made sean and leanne very famous. it cast them as heroes. the movie made michael famous,

but not in a way that he would have ever wanted. >> the tuohys becoming advocates for foster care and adoption. >> there's kids falling through the cracks of this society every single day, and they need our time. >> but in fact, the tuohys didn't legally adopt him. instead, they filed to be his legal conservators in august of 2004, when michael was already 18 and legally an adult. >> legally speaking, an adoption is the legal act or fact of taking another person's child into your own family as your own. a conservatorship is when you appoint an individual to take care of another person, either their financial or medical needs, because they're either incapacitated or a minor. >> the tuohys declined to comment to abc news, but in an interview with the daily memphian last year, sean tuohy said a conservatorship would allow her to play football for ole miss. the couple's alma mater, and that lawyers advised them that they couldn't adopt michael since he was over the

age of 18. however, it is legal to adopt an adult in tennessee. >> i think it's important to realize that they could have adopted him by law. instead, they chose this conservatorship. it's unclear why they did that. >> while orth thrived at ole miss and says he does not regret going there, he has long said parts of the movie weren't true. he spoke about it on the jim rome show last year. >> can i leave now? >> i'm honored to have the position that it's given me. but you know, you have to understand before i moved in with the family, i was an all-american. >> see, this just means that you're going to block whoever's in front of you or on your inside shoulder. if you're not covered by a defender. >> was it annoying that the movie portrayed it as if you had to learn to play football? >> yeah, that part right there. it really got me because no, it wasn't anything. it wasn't never like that. but i've always known how to play, to play the game of football or played for eight

seasons in the nfl, and retired in 2017 after suffering a serious concussion. >> after his retirement, his relationship with the tuohys began to deteriorate. >> michael's resentment had been building for a good many years, and i think it came to a head with the lawsuit just last year, at orr's request, a probate court judge dissolved the nearly 20 year conservatorship. >> the tuohy family, offering to remove all mentions of or supposed adoption from their websites and not to mention adoption in public speeches. on the day the lawsuit was filed, sean tuohy told a reporter for the daily memphian, we were going to love michael at 37, just like we loved him at 16. the legal battle between the two and orr continues now, or looking ahead to a future where he can chart his own path. >> you don't want to be seen as a miracle. explain to people what you mean by that. >> well, i shouldn't be a

miracle. and no kid, we shouldn't be miracles and we should have opportunities and resources to go out here and live a normal young adult child life, a teenager, and go out and be successful. >> our thanks to austin. for more on this story, watch the full impact by nightline behind the blind side, streaming now on hulu. when we come back, we're behind the scenes of taskmaster, the runaway british game show hit, finding its way across the hit, finding its way across the pond kyrizi. ♪ i've got places to go and i'm feeling free ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me ♪ ♪ control is everything to me ♪ and now i'm back in the picture. feel significant symptom relief at 4 weeks with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements. skyrizi helped visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining.

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>> welcome back. taskmaster asks

ordinary people to attempt extraordinary things. abc's stephanie ramos caught up with the stars of the runaway british hit. to suss out why so many are obsessed with accomplishing the impossible to please the taskmaster. >> and a sellout crowd. an iconic new york city comedy club. >> so excited. >> we tried to get tickets for the first round. we missed it, but we got them this morning. >> but who are they all here to see? seinfeld? >> nope. we came up from virginia just for this. >> kevin hart. try again. >> we're from baltimore and came up so we're making this happen. >> no, they're all here to see these guys. yeah. greg davis and alex horne. hello. hello, hello. >> it is my pleasure to please ask you to give a warm round of

applause to greg davies and alex horne. >> welcome. thank you. >> if you haven't heard of this duo, let me give you a quick intro. this is taskmaster, the smash hit show in the uk that's made the leap across the pond. how do i best explain what this show is about? it's like a game show. >> impress this mayor. you have a maximum of 20 minutes. your time starts now. >> no, wait. it's an obstacle. show. >> rosalyn. >> no, it's a singing show for a woman of her age up. no familiar with taskmaster, break it down for us. >> well, this is the taskmaster.

hello. and i'm the taskmaster assistant. okay? and i am with the comedians who have to do tasks to impress this guy. so it's five comedians taking very silly tasks very seriously, and he will judge them. and one of them wins. are you ready? >> the show is the brainchild of alex horne, a comedian and musician turned game show guru. it's fun, isn't it? >> it's quite fun. >> oh, but he needed someone with a real panache to make it work. hello. enter. greg davis. >> you did ruin my night. stop it. >> a former school teacher turned actor and comedian. >> it's a chance for me to flex my massive comedic muscles. you know, alex dreamt the show up and then brought me in and gave me the authority. and it's for him. and his therapist to work out why. but that's the dynamic. i am in charge. it's very strange how how once we're in that studio, i really do believe

i'm a despotic authority figure. yeah, it's quite fun because i'm not at all in my life. >> that charming mix has made the series a smash hit at a time when it's hard to get one season of a tv show made. taskmaster is in their 18th season on uk's channel four, and they have become a viral phenomenon onlin, with more than 800 million views on youtube and millions more on tiktok, many of them coming from right here in the u.s. you're on youtube, tiktok clips everywhere with millions of views. what do you make of that? that the show's expanded here in the u.s. and has its own following? >> yeah, it's pretty peculiar. we think you can almost track it back to the covid year of people sort it out as a comfort because it's a real escapism and it's nonsense, and it's not reflecting the scary world out there. it's somewhere you can go and just enjoy other people's misfortune and nonsense. >> we're quite simple humans and

we weren't expecting and we've been wandering around new york for the last couple of days and been utterly amazed. every time someone has come up to us and said they know the show and they love it, they've recognized you. we've got free cheesecake yesterday. >> oh, god. >> so what exactly is a task? >> perform a miracle. >> most miraculous wins. you have one hour. your time starts now. >> perform a miracle. >> well, that's easy enough, isn't it? >> well, they very impress this mayor. you have a maximum of 20 minutes. your time starts now. >> you have a maximum of 20 minutes. >> you easily impress peter. no, no, that's quite tough. >> i've never had to impress a man before. i know i go from rags to riches, from the interesting write and perform the most suspenseful soap opera cliffhanger. >> i know he's in there.

>> donna to the absurd. >> i've got a favorite one for me personally, which is it took a few seasons to pluck up the courage to do it. they open up the envelope and it said give alex a special cuddle. the most special cuddle wins. >> oh no, i knew it. >> most special cuddle wins. >> you have 20 minutes. my time starts now. >> his brain is so strange. i think i would love to have some medical tests done on him because he never repeats himself and he constantly churns out and confounds expectation with the tasks. >> a lot of it's chat gtp just type it in for all its hijinks. >> what really makes taskmaster sing? >> i saw you translate a poem from japanese. it looks so tricky, but you did it with the ease is that it's a show for everyone, and anyone can find themselves here with a favorite character to root for, or a favorite task to rewatch. >> i've got children and i think

it's very rare now for families to sit down and watch a program together at the same time, and this is definitely one where you can watch, like your mum watches the program and my kids watch the program and we get contacted by people who say it's the only thing that brings us together once a week. and i really love that. that's the most sort of rewarding thing to hear back that all generations can enjoy it. so i'd go for that. >> our thanks to stephanie. and when we come back, dolly parton helping her neighbors recover from hurricane helene. >> helene. healing. healing. healing. you came in here and healing. you came in here and broke us oh no. bye, bye cough. later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing at the movies!? hashtag still not coughing?! ahh! mucinex dm 12 hour doesn't just quiet coughs, it treats coughs caused by excess mucus at the source and controls them for 12 hours. it's comeback season.

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>> and finally, tonight, dolly parton again extending a helping hand to her tennessee neighbors. >> these are my people. and this is my home in an area hit hard by hurricane helene. >> the musician and philanthropist making a big announcement. >> just from my own bank account, i'm donating $1 million today. >> in addition to that, she says she'll donate another million through her businesses and serenading the crowd with a new spin on a classic. >> healing, healing