The Pretenders: Peter Burns, Michael Mancini and Taylor McBride
Year: 1997
Ailment: Rage epilepsy
Symptoms: Blackouts and sudden, uncontrollable fits of rage and physical violence
Why The Devil Made Them Do It: Peter's pulled his share of shady pranks, but this stunt was actually engineered by Michael, who was gunning for Peter's position as chief of staff. He found a willing accomplice in Taylor, who warned Peter to treat her better.

The REAL Deal      When Jane Mancini (Josie Bissett) discovered a lump in her breast in 1998, she assumed the worst and panicked. She found an unlikely ally in Michael's ex-wife, Megan, who held her hand throughout the ordeal. Jane visited her doctor and then had a biopsy. When Michael found out what was happening, he was also very supportive. After sweating it out, Jane learned that the growth was benign. She was in the clear, and viewers had learned an invaluable lesson about the importance of early cancer detection.

How They Pulled It Off: Michael and Taylor drugged Peter's nightly cocktails, which knocked him out. When Peter regained consciousness, sometimes in remote locations outside his home, Taylor claimed that Peter had roughed her up, forcing her to seek shelter behind locked doors. Michael convinced Peter to have an EEG. Then, Michael announced that Peter was suffering from rage epilepsy, a rare form of temporal lobe epilepsy. Michael advised Peter to avoid tension by abandoning some hospital obligations. The schemer then arranged for Megan to expose Peter as a batterer. Before the board could fire Peter, Michael convinced his "patient" to resign and have Michael appointed chief of staff. Unmasked: Peter had a second EEG, which revealed no trace of brain abnormality. He confirmed his suspicions about what had occurred by eavesdropping on a phone conversation between Taylor and Michael. Now genuinely enraged, Peter beat Michael up. He pondered tossing Taylor off a cliff, but thought better of it and instead exacted humiliating revenge by dumping her at the altar.