Cheaters

Cheaters
Cheaters logo used from Season 2 through the present
Genre	Reality
Created by	Bobby Goldstein
Written by	Bobby Goldstein Josh Botana
Directed by	Ken Smith
Presented by	Tommy Grand (2000-2003) Joey Greco (2004 - present)
Narrated by	Robert Magruder
Opening theme	"Broken Hearted" by Bill Mason and Bobby Goldstein
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	90
Production
Producer(s)	Bobby Goldstein Ken Smith
Editor(s)	Jeremy Hechler Israel Cavazos Tim Wilkins Rhett Bakke
Running time	60 mins. (weekly episodes) 30 mins. (strip version)
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndication
Original run	October 21, 2000 – present
External links
Official website

Cheaters is a weekly syndicated reality TV show that documents people who are suspected of cheating on their partners. Investigations are headed by the Cheaters Detective Agency. Hosted by Joey Greco,^[1] the show airs on Saturday nights on The CW Plus and also airs on G4TV. The CW Plus airs two episodes: one one-hour long episode followed by one-thirty minute episode. A short 10-minute version of the show called Cheaters: Amazing Confrontations is available through on-demand services.

Episode structure

The show is taped mostly in North Texas around the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex as well as, to a lesser extent, the Greater Houston area. As of Late September 2009, Cheaters has started airing its tenth season of first-run episodes. A typical 30-minute Cheaters episode depicts a single complainant's case. A weekend edition of the show is also available, which runs 60 minutes and includes two separate cases.

Cheaters logo (Season 1)

The show's complainants can be either married or long-term significant others, and have also included same-sex couples. It begins with a brief interview of the complainant, detailing how the complainant met their partner and what has led them to believe that the partner is cheating. Next, narrator Robert Magruder describes the progress of the investigation of the partner (referred to as "the suspect" during the episode), including surveillance footage of the suspect's actions with their alleged paramour (dubbed "the companion") recorded by the show's private investigators.

When the investigation turns up enough evidence of the suspect's infidelity, the show enters its second segment, "the confrontation." The host meets with the complainant and shows them the evidence that has been collected; graphic footage from the investigators—for example, the suspect and their companion engaged in a sexual act—is shown uncensored to the complainant but is shown digitally blurred during the episode. This meeting takes place at a time when the suspect and their companion are being observed together elsewhere; the intent is to allow the complainant to catch the suspect in the act of infidelity. The host, the complainant, and a large group of camera and sound operators, drivers and bodyguards seek out and confront the alleged cheater. The confrontation often takes place in public, with the complainant and host both attempting to get an explanation out of the suspect for their behavior. Such encounters generally include verbal arguments and, occasionally, violence between the parties; the show's bodyguards are on-hand to protect any party to the confrontation.

The final segment, "the conclusion," presents parting thoughts from the complainant, the suspect and their companion as they depart the scene of the confrontation. Next, updates from previous cases, including interviews from suspects and their companions, are presented. Lastly, the narrator describes what became of the complainant, the suspect and the companion after the show.

History

The show, created by Bobby Goldstein, an attorney in Dallas, Texas, made its debut in 2000. Until early 2003, the show was hosted by one of its co-producers, Tommy Habeeb, who used the screen name Tommy Grand. Habeeb left the show due to a dispute with the production company.^{[citation needed]} Later, Habeeb settled the dispute out of court^{[citation needed]} and now hosts pay-per-view specials of raw Cheaters footage under a different name and often nudity plays a part.^[2]

2004 brought syndication reruns of previous seasons, edited into a half-hour Monday-through-Friday strip format with new intros with Joey Greco as host. In 2006, G4 began showing the strip version with faster-paced editing and music due to complaints that the show seemed boring and contrived^{[citation needed]}, as well as a different voiceover artist, for weekly airings on its Midnight Spank block.^[3]

The sexual encounters captured by the Cheaters' hidden cameras are usually displayed with heavy editing and verbal censorship in the broadcast version. Home video releases of several episodes, however, include uncensored footage. Cheaters is the backbone for other Bobby Goldstein ventures. Goldstein and Cheaters started a dating site called NO Cheaters Date (nocheatersdate.com).

In an interview on Court News TV.com Goldstein says, he got into law to escape the milk business. The grandson of dairy magnate Harmon Schepps, he says he also attended Baylor Law School.

Controversy

In 2002, the Houston Press tracked down several individuals who said they were paid $400 per show by one of the detectives of the agency to act on the show, and were paid $50 per referral to refer other actors.^[4] The show's private investigator denies that he staged anyone's scenario and further added that he does not need to do so based on the number of inquiries the agency receives.^[5] The producers of Cheaters currently have a legal disclaimer at the end of each episode, reiterating the reality of the show.

On December 16, 2005, four employees of the show were indicted on charges of restraining a woman. The charges were against the host Joey Greco, director Hunter Carson and two security guards. On November 9, 2006, the four were acquitted.^[6] In another episode, Greco was arrested at the scene of a bachelor party while helping a man confront his cheating fiancée. After Greco explained the situation about the couple to police, he was given a short talk about disturbing the peace and released with his copy of a written warning.

On November 3, 2009, Inside Edition ran a news story reiterating the claim that the show was staged, citing several additional actors that said they were paid to appear on the show.^[7]. One of them appeared in the Greco stabbing episode and claimed that it was staged. Despite the episode depicting a male being placed under arrest for stabbing Greco, Inside Edition found that no actual arrest matching that description was made by the Rowlett, Texas police department, where the episode took place. In an interview, Goldstein denied that the episode was staged.

A follow-up on the story, which aired on Inside Edition the following week on November 9, 2009 Joey Greco was interviewed by investigative reporter Matt Meagher on the accusations in the earlier report. Greco declined to respond to Meagher's questions, citing that he cannot legally comment further on the incidents.

Bizarre moments

The show's recorded-live nature has captured a number of unusual incidents. In one of the most cited examples, host Joey Greco was stabbed by an angry suspect who was confronted on a boat.^[8][9][10] Greco recovered and came back to the show shortly afterwards. Jack E. Jett, served as a fill-in host briefly after the stabbing incident (and hosted the episode with the incident itself), and several episodes were recorded where Greco hosted, but other personnel led confrontations. The stabbing incident was later replayed when Greco appeared on The Maury Povich Show, and was ranked #2 by E! Entertainment's 101 Craziest TV Moments program. In a separate episode, Greco was burned when a suspect threw a burning stick at his head. During other episodes Greco and his team have been attacked by angry suspects brandishing unusual weapons, including a semi-automatic paintball gun and a replica katana.

The investigations of the suspects have occasionally revealed unexpected events and circumstances. In one of the few episodes where the suspect was found to be innocent, a wife suspected her husband was cheating on her in their home while she was away. Hidden cameras placed in the bedroom of the home revealed that it was actually their son having sex with his girlfriend in the home while both parents were away. In another episode, a boyfriend suspected his girlfriend was cheating on him. Not only was she cheating, but it was revealed that her companion was actually her own cousin.

The confrontations with the suspects are filmed live and, generally, in public view. The resulting events occasionally escalate and involve individuals unrelated to the case. For example, a wife suspected her husband was cheating on her with his ex-common-law wife. During the confrontation, the husband was caught without his pants and runs off to a laundry facility to steal a random pair of underpants from a dryer being used by an unrelated laundry patron. In another case, a complainant confronts his wayward girlfriend and her companion at a gas station. The companion becomes so enraged by the camera crew that he body-slams a cameraman into the hood of an adjacent car, whose owner confronts Greco on-camera regarding the damage to his vehicle.

While the show does employ bodyguards to prevent the parties from injuring one another, they haven't been able to stop every incident. In one episode, a lady suspects her boyfriend of cheating on her with her best friend/roommate. During the confrontation, the angry boyfriend punched her in the face, causing a large amount of blood to come from her nose. Paramedics were called and the boyfriend was arrested on assault charges. While in custody he ran from police. The cheater was also seen kicking and breaking a passenger-side window of someone else's car.

In possibly one of the most unusual moments of the series, the client was nine months pregnant at the time she contacted the agency. During the confrontation, she had suddenly gone into labor, and during the confrontation, gave birth to her child. The couple had decided to reconcile as a result.

There are many episode where the suspect is caught with a dominatrix. In one episode, a woman suspecting her husband of cheating, followed her husband to a hotel room. The crew and the woman burst into the hotel room to find the husband and a hired prostitute participating in Sadomasochism (S&M) together. The man pleads with his wife telling her he is doing it because he has "intimacy issues", but when the wife is disbelieving he is then followed running out of the room, still in full costume, and confronted by the woman. Annoyed by the camera crew, the prostitute made a quiet getaway.

On the Season 10 premiere, a girlfriend suspected his man of cheating on her, but as further evidence reveals, he's been with her fiance (the companion). The Cheaters crew and the complaintant storm in on an outdoor wedding, and while the girlfriend was wanting answers, his fiance bashes the groom and demands that he get away from her. As an end result, his girlfriend broke up with him and his ex-fiance called off the wedding.

DVD releases

Visual Entertainment of Canada has released several Best-of collections of Cheaters on DVD in Region 1.^[11]

In other media

• An episode of George Lopez called "George Thinks Vic's Fiancee is Lion About Being a Cheetah" in which George hires the cheaters crew to spy on Vic's young fiancee. It is revealed, not only she was cheating on him, but Benny was found by cheaters several times, resulting in her threatening them to leave her alone.
• The visage of Joey Greco appears in animated form in an episode of the Simpsons, Dial 'N' for Nerder. For this episode, the program is renamed Sneakers.
• Virginia hip hop duo Clipse mention Cheaters in their 2006 song, "Dirty Money," rapping "Two seaters / Back in the trunk, two fevers / Staying up to 2 A.M. to watch Cheaters."
• Joey Greco occasionally showcases several "Cheaters" clips on the television show Maury.
• The show was featured in the film Disturbia.
• On rare occasions, a few clips (including the bizarre moments listed) have been featured on E!'s The Soup.
• On the first episode of The Jay Leno Show Joey Greco hosted a fake episode of Cheaters featuring Jay Leno and Kevin Eubanks as a brief comedy bit.

References

External links

• Official website
• Cheaters at the Internet Movie Database
• Cheaters at TV.com