philly.com – AT THE 9TH annual Delilah’s Diamond G-String Competition, dancers used all kinds of props – swords, footballs, hula hoops, stripper’s poles and of course, g-strings – to prove their sex appeal in hopes of winning a $10,000 cash prize. Sarah Berry used a “half moon aerial apparatus” – but her thumb was amputated while she rehearsed before the July 20, 2011, contest, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Common Pleas Court. Berry, 35, of Roxborough, claims that Delilah’s Den, the competition’s host and creator, failed to ensure that the apparatus was properly designed, built, inspected and tested, and didn’t warn users of its dangers, the lawsuit says. She’s seeking more than $50,000 in damages for “pain and suffering, disfigurement, humiliation and embarrassment.” The digit disaster happened July 18, 2011, at the club on Spring Garden Street near Front, when a sharp edge on the apparatus – a crescent-shaped metal bar suspended from the ceiling – severed her thumb and she fell to the ground, according to her attorney, James D. Golkow. “The show must go on, so they had the show without her, because she had amputated her thumb by then,” Golkow said. “My client actually studied in school to train on this sort of aerial apparatus, with hopes of performing in Broadway shows and circus acts,” Golkow said.

Normally I’m a pretty understanding guy. If a person is wronged and someone else is at fault, I expect that person at fault to compensate the victim. Fair is fair, right?

Having said that, no way Delilah’s should be forced to give this chick a single red cent. Not one. Why? Because Sarah Berry was supposedly a trained professional in the art of slutty half moon aerial apparatus dancing — went to school for it and everything — and still didn’t check her equipment before the accident. Now I didn’t even go to Aerial Whore University and even I know rule #1 of any semi-dangerous G-string competition performance is to CHECK YOUR EQUIPMENT.

If Sarah isn’t going to take the time to respect her craft, equipment, and herself then Delilah’s shouldn’t spend the money respecting her severed thumb.