As irrational and completely bizarre her fear of pickles are, Maury is a codpiece for pulling that on her unexpectedly... But she did choose to go on the show, I don't know. Not cool to mock someone's fears, no matter how irrational they are.

Side note- every time I go into a restauraunt, I order a plate of pickles before my meal. You should see some of the responses I get- one Friday's waitress recognized me as "that girl with the pickles, right?" I'm not kidding.