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A seemingly sympathetic interview detailed the young woman's fears and suspicions; then, the camera follows a private investigator, who in turn tracks and surveils the boyfriend or husband or girlfriend or wife who is under suspicion of committing infidelity. We, the audience, are treated to grainy footage recording the dalliance with the other woman or other man. Creepily, the betrayed lover is encouraged to call the deceiver so that we can see his or her verbal betrayal in real time — dialogue like, "Honey, when are you coming home?
It makes for devastating viewing — especially as the format escalates, with the investigators revealing the surveillance video, bugged text messages and transcripts from eavesdropped phone calls to the betrayed partner. Finally, the cameras follow the action as she is asked to confront the betrayer and his paramour — which, in my viewing of two episodes, resulted in the young women attacking one another physically, while the hapless "cheater" looked on, aghast.
The person targeted by the investigator is called, on camera, the "suspect" — even though he or she is not doing anything illegal. The weekly syndicated hidden camera reality television series airs on the stations CW Plus and G4TV — and has such a massive audience, and now community "Cheaterville" , that almost half a million people "like" the Facebook page.
Cheaters is a product that was launched — by a Texas lawyer with no background at all, as he himself notes on his own bio, in TV or film production or distribution — just before the Patriot Act changed our views of the fourth amendment.
Bobby Goldstein, an attorney from Waco, Texas, rolled out the series in ; its offices are now in Dallas. You could not dream up a piece of pop culture better designed to normalize the surveillance society.
What is alarming is how directly the series models a blurring, or mission creep, from television surveillance into inviting ordinary citizens to accept and even embrace the role of surveillance and spying in their daily private lives. The investigations are headed by the "Cheaters Detective Agency" — a real investigative agency. This does not just pay a starring role in a series; it actually also advertises on the homepage of the TV show, and the site makes it so easy to invite an investigative team to stalk or surveil a lover or spouse that the one-page application can be filled out in minutes.
In , the TV franchise expanded with the debut of its associated "Cheaters Store", which is even scarier: 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 and in rare cases, others that may also be involved after the show. The show was created by Bobby Goldstein, an attorney in Dallas , Texas.
It made its debut in The original host of the show was actor Tommy Habeeb aka "Tommy Grand" In , G4 began showing a version edited with a faster pace to each segment. VH1 has begun airing reruns, as well. With the premiere of its 13th season, the show began airing in i definition , with Clark James Gable hosting and a change to updated graphics. The format in the very beginning has also changed to having the announcers read before clips of the episode are shown.
On the show's fifteenth season finale, longtime host Joey Greco hosted the second case of the first run episode, remaining as host in subsequent episodes. As of October , Cheaters has started its seventeenth season. On June 2, , longtime Cheaters detective Detective Gomez posted on his YouTube page that they will be filming new episodes of Cheaters and will begin to show new episodes in September after a long hiatus.
On December 16, , four employees of the show, the host Joey Greco , director Hunter Carson and two security guards , were indicted on charges of restraining a woman. On November 9, , the four were acquitted. After Greco explained the situation about the couple to police, he was given a short talk about disturbing the peace and released with a written warning.
On November 3, , Inside Edition reiterated the claim that the show was staged, citing several more actors who said they were paid to appear. One of them appeared in the Greco stabbing episode and claimed it was staged.
Jan 3, It's called Cheaters Spy Shop, and sells all sorts of surveillance gear for recover deleted information; mobile software that will send a person all the show's host, Joey Greco, is surprised at who is going to the spy shop. Cheaters is a weekly syndicated American hidden camera reality television series about It has been hosted by Tommy Habeeb, Joey Greco, and Clark James Gable. . In addition the Cheaters Spy Shop was launched in September to sell items used on the show and has been promoted in episodes beginning in the.
Despite the depiction of 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. Greater Dallas EMS was a private transfer ambulance in the Dallas area but would have never been dispatched for a emergency.
Physician—patient privilege would prevent the hospital that treated Greco from releasing records to Inside Edition. A website that sells spy goods.
It's called Cheaters Spy Shop , and sells all sorts of surveillance gear for suspicious minds, including recovery sticks that can pull up anything currently on the iPhone and even recover deleted information; mobile software that will send a person all texts and pictures being sent, web history, call logs, and GPS location every 30 minutes; and even motion-activated hidden cameras that record any movement and activity in high resolution. You put them in your pocket to get evidence of harrassment for the H.
But it isn't as simple as signing on and spying away. The laws regarding surveillance devices differ from the state to state and there are various ethical questions surrounding their use by average citizens, according to Mark Rasch, a lawyer who specializes in computer security cases.
People think they're legally allowed to spy on their spouses and it's probably not true, depending on how it's done. A former attorney who has worked his share of divorce cases, Goldstein says he made sure to cover himself legally. Walton says a perfect example of his company's legal cover comes with the devices that allow customers to track a cell phone. Although the spy shop is an offshoot of a show that catches "cheaters," the show's host, Joey Greco, is surprised at who is going to the spy shop.
Walton says that the two groups who seem to be buying the products the most are women worried their man is cheating, and parents who want to make sure their kids aren't sexting or getting inappropriate photos themselves. Plus, these products are situational -- you only buy them when you need them. Goldstein sees the Cheaters Spy Shop as a sound business venture and a way to help the show's fans who aren't able to get on the show.