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20/20
Air Date: Friday, May 04, 2007
Time Slot: 10:00 PM-11:00 PM EST on ABC
Episode Title: "N/A"
[NOTE: The following article is a press release issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.]

MYTHS, LIES AND DOWNRIGHT STUPIDITY� JOHN STOSSEL AND ELIZABETH VARGAS EXAMINE POPULAR MYTHS ON "20/20," FRIDAY, MAY 4, ON ABC

Plus: Brian Ross' Exclusive Interview with the "DC Madam"

John Stossel sets the record straight in another of his myth-busting reports airing on "20/20," coinciding with the paperback release of his New York Times bestseller, Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity. The answers may well be the opposite of what you expect -- or may be exactly what you do expect from Stossel, whose against-the-grain reporting often stands conventional wisdom on its head. "20/20" co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas contributes with some myth-busting of her own. "20/20" airs FRIDAY, MAY 4 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Separating fact from fiction, some of the myths Stossel and Vargas explore include:

� Gun control makes us safer

� Stress causes grey hair

� Ethanol from corn will save the earth

� Second marriages are more successful than first marriages

� Opposites attract

� Dropping a penny from a tall building could kill someone

� Most burglaries occur at night

� You shouldn't eat out on Mondays

� When gambling, there are ways to beat the odds � and win

� Foreign aid cures poverty

Plus: In an ABC News exclusive, Brian Ross interviews Jeane Palfrey, dubbed the DC Madam � the woman charged in a federal indictment with running a high-class Washington, DC call girl service. Palfrey, who claims she ran a legal operation that offered sexual fantasy but not "illegal sex" of the kind described in the indictment, speaks candidly about running such a service in the nation's capital. "This was a sexual fantasy service," Palfrey tells "20/20." "Occasionally a client would want to go to the Kennedy Center or go to dinner, but generally speaking they went straight to the homes, or they went straight to the hotels," she says.

The fascinating look inside an escort service also includes a report on the wide range of women who worked for Palfrey, as well as the newsletters she regularly sent offering criticism, beauty advice and warnings about undercover police during the 13 years her business was in operation.

Additionally, Palfrey provided ABC News with phone records from her business going back four years. Ross and his team have gone through the list of numbers to ascertain if there are any names of newsworthy interest among them.

"20/20" is anchored by Elizabeth Vargas and John Stossel. David Sloan is executive producer.

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