Denise Martin, a contestant on “Survivor: China,” scammed the show’s producers when she sobbed on air that going on the show caused her to be demoted from lunch lady to janitor at the Massachusetts public school where she works. Mark Burnett, the show’s creator, gave her $50,000 to compensate for her troubles.

But the school’s superintendent says the job change was actually a promotion. Custodians are paid more than cafeteria workers at the school, and she was informed of the raise before she left to film the show in China:

“Although Mrs. Martin was a cafeteria employee prior to her selection as a contestant, she asked to be considered for a promotion to full-time custodian, and was promoted to this position on March 30, 2007. This promotion came with additional benefits and a higher salary. Following her leave, she then returned to this same position.

“Regretfully, the Douglas Public School District was inaccurately portrayed as failing to be accommodating to an employee during what the District viewed as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity.”

I thought custodians were supposed to clean up messes, not make them.