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Episode List | Episode Guide | Advice | Broken Hearted Lyrics | History | Home Video | Interviews | Maury Povich | Messages | Mission | News | Notes | Pictures | Quotes | Resumes

I have been taping the show since it began in the US and I have all the episodes. This list below is all the ones I have on VHS & DVD. I have extensive notes for each episode that I will add as time permits. Names are of the victims, in parenthesis are the cheaters. The third name is when they started adding follow ups.

Episode List

Season 1 - 2000-01

Season 2 - 2001-02

Season 3 - 2002-03

Season 4 - 2003-04

Season 5 - 2004-05

Season 6 - 2005-06

Season 7 - 2006-07

Season 8 - 2007-08

Season 9 - 2008-09

In Demand - 2006-08

Episode Guide

Complete details on every episode - part 1
Part 2

Advice

Tommy's Tips to see if your partner is cheating.

Is my mate cheating on me? It seems this is the question I'm posed the most and my answer is always the same: If you have to ask it, it's more than likely happening. But wait, don't panic! There are exceptions to the rule, so let's talk about what to look for. Most cheaters have a familiar pattern. They all think no one is watching, unless you have made it clear you are watching them. My suggestion is to stay calm and don't question or threaten them. Allow them to go about their business. Just watch and take notes.

Here are some things to watch for:
1. Work schedule changes, more trips are being taken.
2. Work attire changes, dressing up becomes more frequent.
3. Cologne is being worn or a change of cologne is worn.
4. When you call the place of work, you're frequently let off the phone quickly.
5. There are more late hours at work.
6. Attitude changes, including less patience and more anger.
7. A distant and unavailable presence of mind and body.
8. A trip straight to the bathroom to cleanup upon arriving home.
9. The cell phone is turned off when around you.
10. Exercise habits change/increase.

One last thing to remember, when you fell in love with your mate, he/she was your entire world. Don't let that change. Always stay interested, no matter what it takes. It is worth the time you invest.

Tommy Habeeb's 10 Ways to Sidestep a Scandal

1. Blame your anti-depressants.
2. Go on Oprah. Cry. Do NOT jump up on the furniture.
3. Cite "exhaustion," then secretly attend rehab clinic.
4. Refuse to take part in the "Blame Game." Then blame someone else.
5. Four words: "Movie of the Week."
6. Blame your addiction. ANY addiction.
7. Claim your accusers are "not supporting our troops."
8. Claim the "liberal media's gay agenda" is unfairly targeting you.
9. Say you were doing research for a book/movie... really!
10. Do something else even more scandalous.

Broken Hearted Lyrics

Cheating is a crime, it happens every day
There are people running around, soon they'll have to pay
Think nobody's watching, but you better think again
Another heart is broken, by the devil's oldest sin

So broken hearted (so broken hearted), strangulating pain inside
Broken hearted (broken hearted), waiting for the tears to dry
So broken hearted (broken hearted), hoping for the sun to shine
Broken hearted (broken hearted), if you want to play, be prepared to pay...yeah.

Cross your heart and tell a lie, stick a needle in your eye
For some beloved promise
Tell the whole world why, why, why
So you're sorry and you're cryin', ain't no sympathy in sin
So don't get caught red handed, in a game you just can't win.

So broken hearted (so broken hearted), strangulating pain inside
Broken hearted (broken hearted), waiting for the tears to dry
So broken hearted (broken hearted), hoping for the sun to shine
Broken hearted (broken hearted), if you want to play, be prepared to pay...yeah.
(Repeat)
So broken hearted (so broken hearted) 4x

History

Story 1

What if you were sitting in a restaurant one day and you saw a friend of yours smooching on someone that wasn't her husband? That actually happened to "Cheaters" creator Bobby Goldstein in 1995, but even though that occasion turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, he took that hypothetical situation one step further. "The notion came to my mind: What could I do with confronting people with a TV camera in public when they're doing something they shouldn't be doing?" said Goldstein in a telephone interview from Dallas. And he ran with that question by copyrighting his idea, sharing it with friends and enrolling in film school at Southern Methodist University. He met Habeeb through a mutual friend, and Habeeb took to "Cheaters" immediately. He told Goldstein: "Don't go back to college; I'll be your education." After the duo found financial backing, the networks started to sign. Goldstein was a lawyer for 12 years, so he knows how to guide the show around possible legal problems. - Corpus Christi Caller 12/22/00

Story 2

"I've told so many lies about this, I don't even know which one is the truth. In 1995 I was straying from my own marriage, which is still intact, when I had something like a vision. I was wondering if my wife was having me followed, which she wasn't, but had she been, it would have made for a great display of what I call emotional techtonics. And then it hit me instantly and simultaneously 'What a great idea for a TV show!'" - Bobby Goldstein 2001

Story 3

"A man who looked "just like his uncle" walked into the same restaurant in which I was dining. The  woman with the man didn't look like his aunt. I started chuckling with how I could make some hush money with this. Then of course recognizing that extortion and blackmail was unlawful, I came up with a legitimate version of a way to do this and it turned out to be a TV show." - Bobby Goldstein 2002

Home Video

    What would you do after witnessing shocking footage of your deceitful spouse, faithless girlfriend or backstabbing roommate, caught on tape betraying your confidence? Or imagine devoting yourself to a thirty-year marriage only to have Cheaters' detectives catch your two-timing husband living a double-life with an exotic dancer! Watch the tangled web of lies unravel and real-life dramas unfold before your very eyes. You'll soon discover why Cheaters is the most controversial show on television!
    Join host Tommy Grand in an OUTRAGEOUS expose that catches perpetrators red handed in some pretty sticky situations! Watch as detectives with hidden cameras stake out the wayward and amorous. Things really heat up when furious partners confront their lovers on national TV. A shocking spectacle that captures the best elements of Cops and Jerry Springer. Unlike those court shows, Cheaters lets you be the judge! If you are sneaking around, watch out...Cheaters is watching you!
    The videos present the show with foul language and nudity intact, yet this in inconsistent and some episodes still block out nudity. The VHS tapes have two episodes, with some cases containing a bonus section that has uncensored footage and phone call audio. Tommy's intros to the sex are hilarious. He is so serious and tries to pass this pseudo porn off as educational. He says things like "Only when you see this uncensored footage can you know the extent of the pain inflicted on the victim!" Notes by Mike Eder.

Interviews

Mike's exclusive email Q&A with Joey Greco 2/07.

What is your favorite episode?

One does stand out, but it was more on the humorous side of things. There was a case where we caught a gentleman at a bowling alley with his paramour (a rather substantial
woman), who after being confronted, had the presence of mind to box her pizza in a to-go container before running away. (Constance Washington 86-2)

Have you ever met Tommy Habeeb?

I have had the opportunity to meet Tommy once and that only recently. We were both in NY shooting a package for The Maury Show, and met briefly backstage.

I found a copy of your Hip Hop Shop VHS and thought it was fun.

I'm glad you enjoyed the workout! Yeah, you never know what might show up from your past! You're talking a long way back in the rear view mirror, but I'm sure it provided for a laugh. I have lots of great memories from that project.

Joey Greco Interview by Wayne Chinsang 2005

WC: So does the show take you around to different spots?

JG: Occasionally it does. Since I've been with the show we've done some cases in New York and Florida, and I know they've been to Oregon in the past. When you look at it from a production standpoint, to ship out a crew they'll have to have more than one case in a specific area. If we have two or three cases in an area it makes more sense, because you just never know what you're gonna get. So it's always good to have a backup plan. That way you might hit two out of three, and you're in good shape.

WC: That way you don't ship a bunch of people for nothing.

JG: Yeah, to sit around on their phone waiting for something to happen for a week. We're not that kind of a production.

WC: Right. So how did you get started with the show? Obviously, there was a different host [Tommy Grand] prior to you coming on. I read that you went to school and graduated with a degree in psychology and education.

JG: That's correct. I actually have a bachelor's in psychology and a master's in education counseling.

WC: So how did you come to do this?

JG: Long or short version? Well, I am an actor, and my agent called up on a Saturday night and said, "Would you be interested in hosting a television show?" Well, what actor wouldn't want to get that phone call? And I said, "Sure. When do they want the audition?" And she said, "Well, they'd like to see you now." So I said, "Are you kidding me?" And she said "No." So I went down to the studio and did the audition. I didn't really know much about the show before that point. I had heard about it. I knew some of the people that were involved in it through the industry on the outside. So I did the audition, and then I just started up some dialogue with the producers and did another read. And then they offered me the position. In the meantime, I was trying to educate myself a little bit about production.

WC: How soon after you went in for the audition were you already filming? Like, a couple of weeks?

JG: No. I'd say it was close to six to eight weeks. It was a process-- sitting down and figuring out what each of us expected. When I had a chance to learn more about the show I saw some things I wanted to accomplish with it. I mean, the producers want to show what people will watch. But I thought, "What would I do to improve it or make it more legitimate?" We shot the first episode in mid-December, and we had originally started the process in October.

WC: But even with the planning and figuring out how you were going to handle it, it had to have been a culture shock for you to have this show that was essentially yours now.

JG: Well, it was a different process, I will say that. For instance, if you're booked on a film, you know basically what your lines are. There a few things you can ad lib here and there, but you know the direction that scene is going in. If you're doing a commercial, you pretty much have an idea of what the goal is. And if you mess up you get to start over. That's the thing that really saves a lot of people. But this was just one of those challenges where, when you look at it on the outside you see that it's guerrilla production in its purist sense. Because there aren't any second chances. You never know what you're going to get. Aside from the part where I come up and introduce the show, nothing is scripted. I am more comfortable with the situation now, but am I totally comfortable with what's going to happen? I never know. And that's one of those things that I am constantly trying to improve, because I'm not happy. We're all our worst critic. I'm not happy with my own... I don't want to say portrayal. But my goal is to get the people's stories out, and that's what my job is. But they're not always compliant. (laughs) It's an extreme situation, and as an actor or a host that was the biggest challenge. Initially I thought this was something that was going to really test what I was able to bring to the table. So that's what set the wheels in motion.

WC: How much involvement do you have during the whole process? Obviously, you're the face of it. But how much involvement do you have during the whole case and investigation?

JG: I get called when we have a confrontation. I get there and they give me the rundown. I get a chance to meet with the client briefly, and then we're on the move because it's so time-sensitive. We have about three or four detectives locally that work on cases. Those are the people that are working more intimately with the clients, who unfortunately never really get credit because they're never or rarely seen. We're going into our sixth season, and I came on in the middle of the third. So the production crew and the staff know what they're doing and have it down to a formula where it works pretty smoothly-- or as smoothly as it can, because we're dealing with variables that are about as easy to hang onto as aerosol.

WC: I want to talk about how you got a weapon pulled on you. What is proper protocol? I mean, I've seen episodes where I've been like, "Okay, right here... that's when I'd turn around."

JG: This will be a testament to what I just said about the crew knowing what they're doing. There's a camera assigned to the client, the suspect, and the third party. One camera stays with the client. The second camera always stays with the suspect, which is the person they're involved with. And then the third camera tries to get a wide shot of everything. Now, we have additional cameras that have different assignments. But those are the main cameras that we'll shoot with. Also, we have two vans. One van will have the security guys, two of the cameras, and all their backups. They'll jump out and, more often than not, are the first ones on the scene. Even though I may be in the front van, we have to jump out and move as a group. I can think of one situation in particular where we were following a car after an initial confrontation, and we had stopped in a parking lot. The second van full of guys jumped out and ran toward the suspect. We were getting out of the first van and starting to head over there when we heard one of the guys from the second van go, "Gun!" Everyone just froze, turned around, and luckily our client hadn't even gotten out of the van yet. Of course they're going to edit it to look like we're right there. But honestly, in that particular situation, I was among those in the least amount of jeopardy. At least, less than the guys in the trenches who were out in front of the point man. I'm definitely not going to take credit for their risks, but that's an example of how many people are involved in the success of it. But, yeah... one guy says the magic word and we all turned into girls.

WC: At points like that, isn't there any point where you're like, "What am I doing with this job?"

JG: I will tell you that a case doesn't go by where I don't find myself asking that at one time or another. But it's been a funny process, because initially it was the challenge of the production that I was enamored with. And I'm not gonna lie-- for an actor to work consistently and steadily on camera, it's something that doesn't happen particularly often in the Dallas market. But after a while you start looking at the view of, "Should someone not have the privilege of knowing what's going on in their own relationship just because they're not equipped to deal with the issues, or if they don't have the finances to find out what's going on?" And you start to see some of the people that you really get to help. It forces you to look at it a little bit differently. There are two sides to it, obviously. As a television show, if it doesn't have some type of entertainment to it, no one will watch. But at the same time, there's a responsibility that comes along with that. After someone gets caught, more often than not, the worst it over. The truth's out. And then they calm down and are like, "Okay. Whatever." But then there are those that you really see the tragedy of the pain it has caused, and if you can help people get through that, then it forces you to look at how you've been able to influence or affect someone's life.

WC: Do you ever think about how it is from the other person's point of view? Like, do you ever think about what you would do if you were in that situation, where you're out there with someone you shouldn't be with and all of a sudden this camera crew comes up?

JG: Everyone has an opportunity to tell their side of the story, and that's what we try and communicate. Now, is everyone in a position to receive that information? I doubt it. And, yeah, I have a counseling degree. But usually in a counseling situation the people are there because they want to be. Not because--

WC: They're being chased down.

JG: Right. You don't chase someone down and say, "Time for your therapy!" This is one of those situations where it is highly emotional. After the initial denial it is so hard, because nothing is really ever the same. What may standout in my mind is maybe one situation out of 20, but that doesn't mean there aren't 19 other different responses. Everything is so different. The suspects do have the opportunity to tell their side of the story if we follow-up on a case. Sometimes it'll happen right there when they're caught. Whether they choose to continue denying it is up to them. It's easier to forgive a humble apology than fighting through someone's denial. I mean, I don't know if you're a baseball fan, but look at [New York Yankees player] Jason Giambi. He was wrong. He got caught. And he came out and said, "I was wrong. I did it. This is when I started doing it." And then the healing process can start. Now, everyone has their own opinion as to whether [Barry] Bonds is juicing or not. But his continual denial, in light of what some people see as obvious evidence, makes people more determined to catch him. His guilt or innocence not withstanding. Did you see any of the testimony before the congressional hearing?

WC: Yeah.

JG: I was cracking up about how specific everyone was with what they were saying and not saying. One guy said he'd never taken illegal steroids. Well, what is the difference between legal and illegal steroids? If a doctor prescribes one, then it becomes legal. And another guy said he'd never taken performance-enhancing drugs. But if you take testosterone that's not considered a drug, and it can have the same results as a steroid. There's a big gray area, and while they try to get it as specific as they can, how specific can you get if you're not asking the right questions? Now, people know a whole heck of a lot more about it than I do. But I was just watching it and saying, "Come on. Let's get to the stuff that everyone's afraid to find out." But we're in a country where you're innocent until proven guilty, so it's an extreme combination. But at the same time I wanted to say, "Is Congress the ones that really needs to be asking the questions about telling the truth?"

WC: Exactly.

JG: It makes me think, who [in Congress] is gonna go home and snort a few lines or meet whoever they need to meet that's not their wife? I mean, you hear enough about people in politics and government who've got whatever they've got going on the side. I just thought that was a little humorous.

WC: It goes along the lines of the Clinton deal, where it was like, "What defines 'sex'?"

JG: Yeah. "I don't see oral sex as sexual relations." Well, it has part of the same word in it, doesn't it?

JG: You're president of the United States?!? This is who's running the show?!?

JG: But getting back to the initial question, when someone is able to apologize and admit they're wrong... at least admit it and get over that point. To continue to deny it does not contribute to the healing process, but almost prolongs it and causes more pain.

WC: Right. It's crazy watching the show because it's total chaos. You don't know what's going to happen, but yet it seems like there's a formula to it because certain people's reactions can be expected. But there are those things that go on that are so far-fetched. I saw an episode where a guy totally denied it was him cheating on the video, and that it was his twin brother instead. But like, with the incident with the knife... well, first I want to ask if you actually got stabbed, or if you just had a knife pulled on you? I haven't actually seen the episode yet, so I don't know how it plays out.

JG: There was an incident that I am prohibited to discuss because they settled out of court. But there was an incident, and it was one that won't happen again. Let's put it that way. The way we go about handling security had been reconsidered at that point, because it was a situation that I certainly would like to avoid. (laughs) When you asked about if I ever ask to myself, "What am I doing?" I will say that was one of the times.

WC: But with the gun and the knife incidents, that seems to be a time when it becomes almost personal. It would seem that something like that would be hard for you to not take personally, and that it goes above and beyond being a job. So how do you deal with that mentally? Because if someone were to pull a gun or knife on me, I think it would be really hard for me to not get pissed.

JG: I understand what you're asking. There was one time in particular where a guy was trying to get through me to talk to a girl who was done with him. I actually had my back to him, and he was trying to move me out of the way. And I got kind of particular about, you know, "Take your hands off me. Don't touch me." And I have to remember-- in this particular time I didn't-- but I have to remember that the show is not about me. I'm there and I'm a part of it, but my role is more to encourage what we have been talking about previously, which is opening up some line of communication. Hopefully these people can tell their story or come to some level of understanding between the two of them. Does it always happen? No. But if I can do my job well enough, after ten minutes people are calmed down and it's pretty much over. And with the situation I was just referring to, after a little while we were calmed down and I went up to him and said I was sorry for reacting the way I did. It's learning how to work through those situations, which I've gotten better at over the last season or two. Every day I go out and learn something different, because this is not a normal situation. It's life, but it's not typically how life happens.

WC: (laughs) It's a weird life. Do you ever run into anyone from an episode later on?

JG: Actually, I was at a restaurant and the guy who seated us came over and had this funny grin on his face. And he said, "How's it going?" And I said, "Good." And he said, "You don't recognize me, do you?" I go, "No." And he ended up being someone I didn't get to interact with directly, because he stayed in his car and took off. But his attitude was like, you know, like kickin' the dirt and saying, "Yeah, I got caught."

JG: But is everyone gonna have that reaction? I don't know. There are some parts of town I probably shouldn't hang out in.

WC: (laughs) I was gonna ask if it has it ever made it harder for you to just go out and live your life?

JG: Not at this point. Most of the places we find ourselves going falls within a particular demographic. About 30 miles outside of the city of Dallas are some… it's beyond suburbs. I mean, I wouldn't exactly call it "rural"; it's in-between rural and suburban. But we tend to find ourselves in some smaller towns. And you know how rarely you run across the same person in a situation that is arbitrary, even in a city. I just don't think that's going to be an issue. But once again, hopefully most of the people are calmed down by then. I'm sure there are people who are probably still a little peeved.

WC: Yeah, because even in some of the follow-up interviews there are people who still have some fire in them. But that probably makes for a good show, too.

JG: Yeah. I don't think anyone is disappointed if they have those strong feelings because, like you said, it does add to the entertainment value. But if you are face-to-face with someone after the fact, I don't think they'd be as concerned anymore with trying to look tough on television. But I don't know how much of that I want you to print, because I certainly don't want to taunt anybody. It's not like I'm throwing down the challenge.

WC: I've got just a few more questions and then I'll let you go. As far as the viewer's standpoint, I think the show is kind of along the lines of Jerry Springer, in that people obviously watch it for the levels of insanity and to see people's reactions and emotions. And with Jerry Springer it seems like a little bit of life is sucked out of Jerry with every episode, because he's surrounded by it so much and doesn't even react to it anymore. Do you feel that the fight is being drained out of you as time goes on, or do you maintain this level of interest to keep doing what you're doing every episode?

JG: Well, to answer that properly or accurately, let me break it down into two responses. The first one being, while I understand there will always be that element that is similar to Jerry Springer, I have made a conscious effort to try and not let it go down that road unchecked. There will always be an element of that, because that's what makes the show compelling: seeing human emotion in its raw form. People go to movies to watch someone do something we are afraid to do. You go to be entertained. You go to see the person hear the noise outside and go look, even though they don't have a flashlight and the porch light is burned out. You know you'd never do that, but they do. And you get to sit there and feel what it would feel like, even though you're in the safest spot in the world. And I think that's what makes our show so addictive, because you get to see and experience human drama over something you know you might never be able to do. I always hear, "How could they do that? I could never do that. I could never confront someone like that." So that's the part that's the magnet. However, once the momentum starts going in that direction it's easy to just let it go. And we can all yell and scream and fight, but what does that accomplish? And that's what I was referring to earlier when I mentioned about what I wanted to add to the show. I wanted to add a level of legitimacy or just be more responsible with the position that we were in with people's lives. Parents say, "It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt." It's kinda like that. Let's be responsible and not let it get to a place where we become desensitized. The second part of that is, I think when you meet the people it's easier to be more personal. And that side of it is obviously more prevalent, so that may keep me from getting more burned out. I'm not gonna say I have become desensitized. I'd liken it to a rookie in his first NFL game. Things happen at a pace that you're not accustomed to, but after a few games things start to slow down because you're able to process and think a bit more on your feet. The game doesn't slow down at all, but you can process the information more rapidly. So, I'd like to think it's more a combination of that. Do I think this is something I am going to do forever? You know, I don't see myself being Bob Denver who, 30 years later, is still Gilligan.

WC: Yeah, doing conventions.

JG: Yeah. If you see me at a trade show with a black suit on you have my permission to slap me.

Maury Povich

Tommy periodically appeared promote the show & Joey has followed in his footsteps.

Others

Messages

Tommy's January 2003 statement on why he is no longer on Cheaters.

"I would like to personally thank you for your support over the last 3 years. You will hear lots of things regarding why I am not on the show, but I can tell you directly and simply; I did not leave the show by choice, but to the contrary, I have been forced out by unlawful greed to which I cannot fully comment at this time due to pending litigation. I also miss hosting this show that I helped give birth to and appreciate all the continued fan mail from disappointed viewers who follow my work. Many thanks."

Tommy's December 2004 statement

"We are still fighting the Cheaters fight. No new news to report yet. I will keep all of you updated, thank you again for all of the supportive emails."

Tommy's August 2005 statement

Looks like the "Cheaters" case will finally being going to court in October.

Mission

Cheaters presents to you inspirational chronicles of humankind. The heroic men and women of these stories overcome the challenges of relationships and restore health and happiness to their lives by taking charge, and holding accountable the unfaithful.

From Cheaters surveillance cameras, you are about to view actual true stories, filmed live, documenting the pain of a spouse or a lover caused by infidelity. This program is both dedicated to the faithful and presented to the falsehearted to encourage their renewal of temperance and virtue.

News

The "Cheaters" lawsuit is finally settled! I can't get into the details of the deal, but can tell you that you will be seeing me as host of the upcoming uncensored pay-per-view specials of "Cheaters" that begin airing tonight Thursday February 2nd on Events iN Demand pay-per-view. We found the most sensational episodes and removed the bleeps and the blurs from them and have added back in some of the sexy surveillance footage that was too hot for broadcast TV. There will be new episodes airing monthly. Tommy Habeeb 2/5/06

Original Host Tommy Habeeb Back on Cheaters
Dallas 1/30/06 - Tommy Habeeb has settled the litigation with former business affiliate Bobby Goldstein of the popular syndicated reality TV series "Cheaters". Although details of the settlement cannot be discussed, Mr. Habeeb's company, American Television Distribution, will begin exclusive distribution of the uncensored versions of "Cheaters", which begin airing in February on Events iN Demand pay-per-view.
    Better known to longtime fans of "Cheaters," as "Tommy Grand," Habeeb will also be back at his hosting duties on a limited basis with several specials. One-hour uncensored specials of "Cheaters" will air monthly on Events iN Demand pay-per-view, beginning in February 2006. Each of the one-hour specials will contain two uncensored half-hour episodes and will feature a special appearance by original host, Tommy Habeeb.
    "With the success of my current television show 'Stag' also broadcast on pay per view, I know that 'Cheaters' will be wildly popular on pay-per-view as well," remarked Habeeb. "Viewers will now see all the sensational content that could not be shown on broadcast TV. These special uncensored shows are truly guilty pleasure TV." More details of the upcoming uncensored specials of "Cheaters" are available here.

Four Cheaters crew members charged with assault
Associated Press

    Fort Worth, Texas - Four men working with the reality television show Cheaters have been indicted on criminal charges related to a filmed confrontation between a woman and her estranged husband over her relationship with a Fort Worth police captain.
    On Thursday, a Tarrant County grand jury indicted Cheaters host Joey Greco, 45, and Hunter Carson, 29, the episode's director, on charges of assault with bodily injury, unlawful restraint and hindering apprehension.
    Walter Earl Woods, 36, and Thomas Daniel Gibbons, 19, security guards contracted by the television show, were indicted on charges of assault with bodily injury and unlawful restraint. All the charges are Class A misdemeanors, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine. Bobby Goldstein, creator and executive producer of Dallas-based Cheaters, called the charges "just nuts." The four men indicted did not return messages left through Goldstein.
    With the TV crew of about a dozen nearby, Rafael Gutierrez confronted Maria Gutierrez in May after a private investigator had filmed her and Capt. Duane Paul in an unmarked city vehicle at a park on three occasions. The indictments allege that all four men were a party to an assault on Maria Gutierrez when one of the security guards hit her in the leg with his own leg as he tried to restrain her.
    At a news conference in May, Goldstein said that when his crew accompanied Rafael Gutierrez to the fitness center where Maria Gutierrez worked they didn't know there was a protective order against him preventing contact with his estranged wife.
    At the time, Rafael Gutierrez was awaiting trial on accusations that he had assaulted Maria Gutierrez twice in February. He was later arrested for violating the protective order ? a third-degree felony because he is also accused of assaulting her there.
    The indictments also charge that Greco and Carson hindered apprehension by providing Rafael Gutierrez with a means of leaving the scene before officers arrived. Fort Worth police investigated Paul's actions and he was suspended for 90 days and demoted from captain. Cheaters producer disputes assault charges

'Cheaters' creator says indicted workers were just doing their jobs
By Debra Dennis / The Dallas Morning News 12/16/05

    Fort Worth - The creator of the syndicated television show Cheaters is standing by four workers indicted on charges they assaulted a woman outside a fitness club. A Tarrant County grand jury on Thursday issued indictments of the reality show's workers on misdemeanor charges stemming from footage that involved a Fort Worth police captain. Cheaters uses surveillance cameras to catch philandering partners.
    Joey Greco, the show's host, was indicted on a charge of assault with bodily injury and hindering apprehension. One of the show's directors, Hunter Minor Carson, 29, was indicted on a charge of hindering apprehension.
    Security guards Thomas Daniel Gibbons, 19, and Walter Earl Woods, 36, were indicted on charges of unlawful restraint and assault with bodily injury. Each charge is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail and a $4,000 fine. Bobby Goldstein, executive producer of the Dallas-based reality show, called the indictments "toilet paper" and a waste of taxpayer money.
    He is putting together a team of lawyers to defend his workers, he said. "These poor fellows have done nothing wrong," Mr. Goldstein said. "My four guys are going to be acquitted. Absolutely." The workers were taping Maria Gutierrez last May at the Arlington fitness club where she works, officials said.
    Ms. Gutierrez had been taped weeks earlier in an unmarked police car with police Capt. Duane Paul. Capt. Paul was demoted to lieutenant in September following an internal police investigation over the officer's public encounters with Ms. Gutierrez.
    Mr. Goldstein said the tapes show that no assault occurred. "It's a terrible thing to be doing a job and charged for it," Mr. Goldstein said. "They don't deserve it. They have the backing of me and this company and all of my resources. I will see that they will not have a glove laid on them."

Cheaters Sixth Season Promises Even More Raw Drama

Dallas 9/23/05 - Season six of the hit reality show Cheaters promises even more raw drama as the warrior against infidelity, host Joey Greco, continues to battle the dirty deeds of unfaithful men and women. Undercover relationship betrayals and deceitful rendezvous caught on tape have become America's guilty pleasure. Beginning the week of September 26, season six promises to continue providing America with their true reality fix.
    In the season six opener, a lovely blonde is ready to put her career on hold for her "small business owner" gentleman. But the Italianesque boyfriend has no interest in waking up every day with the ever-adoring girlfriend. Instead, he spends his afternoons with a fashionable art connoisseur. In the confrontation, the boyfriend goes head-to-head with Greco, threatening, "You don't know who you're messing with!" and screaming at the devastated girlfriend, "We don't handle our business in the street."
    A far cry from the more common structured reality shows, which force tension through strenuous circumstances, Cheaters captures the true-to-life drama of real life infidelities disclosed through hidden cameras and microphones. "Ever the patron of communication and honesty, we are here to shelter the forsaken and confront the dishonest," explains Cheaters executive producer and creator, Bobby Goldstein. "We don't hire the people who appear in the show. They hire us to help them discover the truth."
    The immense success of Cheaters stems in part from the voyeuristic nature of the series. Not only is America able to peer into the lives of real people but often times they are viewing a person in their most vulnerable state, the intense moment they discover and confront a disloyal lover.
    Show host Joey Greco also adds to the show's strong following by serving as a defender to the love scorned victims. From demanding explanations from the wayward to lending strength to the victims of infidelity, Greco is able to verbalize the pain, distress and anger for those people too distraught to speak.
    Since its premiere five years ago, Cheaters has consistently gained market share and delivered substantially more viewers than either its lead-in or lead-out programming in all key adult demographics. Proven to be increasingly powerful in its fifth season, it continues to be one of the highest rated syndicated weekly hours, outperforming the strongest and most established programs.
    Building on the huge success of the weekly syndicated show and its consistently high ratings, Goldstein put the show into a weekly strip format in 178 markets. In its first year, Cheaters Strip delivered higher ratings during the February 2005 sweeps versus its already successful November 2004 sweeps numbers. Entering its second season, Cheaters Strip continues the original series' ability to attract a core young adult audience and acts as one of the highest rated programs for stations on which it is aired. The Cheaters' audience phenomenon continues with Cheaters Strip improving on both lead-in and lead-out statistics. Both Cheaters and Cheaters Strip are distributed domestically by MG/Perin, Inc. Cheaters season six and Cheaters Strip premieres the week of September 26.

For those of you think who think the show is fake.

Get a Room
By Pablo LASTRA and Jeff PRINCE 8/31/05
The Fort Worth Police Department is caught on tape with its captain down.

    At first glance, nothing seemed unusual on April 13 at Vandergriff Park in Arlington, just a typical weekday afternoon. Parents played with children, people walked dogs, squirrels looked for nuts, and a breeze blew through the trees. Oh, and some people were thinking about hot sex.
    In a parking lot, a couple inside a black Crown Victoria kissed, unaware that their movements were being captured on video. The silent spectator was a Dallas private detective, who jotted notes about what the male and female "suspects" appeared to be doing and in what positions.
    About 45 minutes later, a Hispanic woman stepped from the car wearing a white top and black miniskirt, and drove away in a Toyota Tercel. Her rendezvous partner, a tall black man, left in the Crown Victoria. The license plate number was easily tracked: It was a Fort Worth city vehicle driven by Fort Worth Police Capt. Duane Paul.
    Private detective Danny Gomez, a former Dallas police officer, was videotaping the romantic encounter at the request of the woman's husband, Rafael Gutierrez, who suspected she was having an affair. Gomez works for the TV show Cheaters, where philandering spouses are captured on camera and later confronted. It's a tawdry show - and a popular one. Entering its fifth season this fall, the show regularly draws several million viewers in 200 U.S. markets and around the world. The episode with Paul is expected to air locally on Nov. 5.
    Gomez had witnessed similar encounters between the couple in previous weeks. As his investigation unfolded, it became clear that Maria Gutierrez was having an affair, and the man she was seeing wasn't an ordinary citizen - he was one of the few high-ranking African-American officials in Fort Worth Police Department history, an 18-year veteran who repeatedly has found himself in the middle of messy sexual troubles, from which he always seems to emerge unscathed. His horndog ways are much discussed among police troops, who question how he keeps climbing the career ladder despite rocky female relationships that spill over into the workplace.
    Fort Worth Police Officer Malinda Spence accused Paul and another police officer of sexually harassing her in the late 1990s, resulting in a lawsuit against the city. The city - meaning taxpayers - paid dearly for that one: $200,000, according to court records.
    The city, however, said paying the money wasn't an admission of wrong-doing. The lawsuit appears to be Paul's only alleged sexual indiscretion that has been documented in the public record, but other situations are much gossiped about among the ranks. Several police officers spoke off the record about other incidents, involving work-hour trysts, women who complained that Paul was harassing them, and a girlfriend who stormed into a police station and accused him of trying to seduce her daughter. The officers spoke sarcastically about Paul's custom of speaking to new police academy recruits about ethics - including one such speech given just a few days prior to his being caught on tape by Cheaters.
    The only result thus far of Paul's actions, the officers complain, is that he has been transferred to a different unit or promoted. Some say Paul's close relationships with former Police Chief Thomas Windham and current Chief Ralph Mendoza have meant that his transgressions have gone away quietly and his penalties have been minimal. Others say his indiscretions have hurt him and that he might have been a deputy chief by now. Bottom line: "If Paul wasn't protected," one officer said, "he'd be fired already."
    An internal police investigation is under way into Gutierrez' complaint that Paul used a city car, on what appears to have been city time, to carry out his romances, said police spokesman Lt. Dean Sullivan. However, a lack of documentation regarding Paul's prior activities, combined with strict civil service rules governing treatment of police officers, could limit the severity of the punishment. On the other hand, a "lack of moral character" clause in those rules could give Mendoza the authority to take stronger action. And Paul's fellow officers are beginning to wonder whether the Cheaters episode might be his much-watched Waterloo.
    Paul joined the Fort Worth police in 1987 after a lackluster scholastic and professional career. He attended Louisiana State University from 1984 to 1986 but earned miserable marks - including, perhaps prophetically, an F in a Marriage and Family Relations class. He dropped out after a half-dozen semesters, with a cumulative grade point average of 1.4, according to college transcripts in his police personnel file.
    He went to work as a security guard but was fired for leaving his post without a supervisor's permission. But then he joined the police department and seemed to have found his niche. His commendation-packed personnel file shows a record of stellar accomplishments. His work evaluations are practically spotless, and Paul ascended through the ranks from officer to detective to sergeant to lieutenant and finally to captain with glowing praise. There's only one note of admonishment in Paul's public file from 1995, but details were unavailable.
    After becoming a lieutenant in 2000, Paul served as department spokesman. His name was seen many times in the credits for the TV show Cops, which thanked him for his assistance during segments produced in Fort Worth.
    Paul's personnel file - or at least the portion released to Fort Worth Weekly - does not reveal his rumored sexual liaisons while on duty or the squabbles with girlfriends that flowed over into the workplace, but co-workers remember them well. They recall that a dentist who had been seeing Paul came in to complain to Internal Affairs that he was harassing her while on duty and in his city-issued car. Several police officers described "domestics" that occurred inside police substations, such as when a girlfriend arrived yelling and cursing, accusing Paul of making a pass at her 19-year-old daughter. "The mom raked his ass over the coals," said an officer who worked with Paul at the time.
    Paul was married in 1987, the same year he joined the department, but divorced five years later. In 2000, Officer Malinda Spence, a nine-year police veteran, sued the city for sexual harassment. Spence stated in an affidavit that, having worked in the vice unit for three years, she was "far from hypersensitive to sexual commentary and actions." She alleged that in 1997, her supervisor, then-Sgt. Duane Paul, repeatedly asked her if she wanted to "go for drinks in Dallas" after work. Paul even contacted her on the police radio while she was on patrol and asked to meet her when "most of the time there was no work-related reason for the meetings," she said. The affidavit also mentioned that Paul spent an unusual amount of time on location at her calls. Spence testified she was uncomfortable with the situation and told Paul that there couldn't be a romantic relationship between the two because she was married.
    After that, Spence said Paul "began to hyper-scrutinize her work," writing her up for "milking a call" when she responded to a traffic accident and waited for investigators to arrive. Another time, Paul disciplined Spence for leaving work five minutes early after finishing her lunch break, which coincided with the end of her shift. Spence told a supervisor that she had "no doubt that she was being treated this way because she shunned his affections." After filing a sexual harassment complaint against Paul, Spence was transferred to a different unit. Still, Paul continued to retaliate, she said. On one occasion when Paul's unit was under a heavy call load, she responded to a call in his district. Paul stated over the police radio that Spence was "not allowed in his district under any circumstances." She testified that she was "humiliated" by that response.
    Another officer was also named in the lawsuit. Spence accused Officer R.R. Nichols of kissing her without her consent after an arrest. Spence had borrowed Nichols' handcuffs. Once they had booked the suspect, Spence said, Nichols approached her from behind and kissed her, saying that he was "charging her for the handcuffs."
    Spence, whose husband also worked in the department, complained to supervisors about Nichols and Paul. The complaints were dismissed. Instead, she came under investigation by Internal Affairs for allegedly filing false complaints of sexual harassment on Paul and Nichols, and the Internal Affairs officials recommended that she be indefinitely suspended - fired, for all practical purposes. A deputy chief reviewed the report but decided to suspend Spence for five days without pay. "The preponderance of the evidence ... indicates that Spence was wrong in at least part of her allegation," Spence's captain wrote in his recommendation to the deputy chief. "Being wrong is not always the same as being untruthful."
    Still, Spence said in her affidavit that it became obvious to her that her reputation in the department now preceded her: She said a male officer called her a bitch, and other officers failed to come to her assistance on potentially dangerous calls, including a gang fight, because they thought she was a troublemaker.
    The department and the city contended that Spence had been disciplined for good cause and that her allegations were unfounded. Yet the city settled the case in October 2002 without taking it to trial. The city declined to release performance evaluations of Paul from 2001, when the lawsuit was in court, but no reason for this was given. There is no record of any disciplinary action against Paul in the time frame of Spence's accusations. Spence left the department three months after settling her lawsuit and has been an officer in Colleyville since April 2004.
    Since then, other officers said, various other complaints against Paul regarding his involvement with women while on duty have been investigated by IA, but none led to any punishment that showed up in his record.
    After he came under investigation in connection with the Cheaters controversy, Paul was transferred from his East Side command and into Criminal Investigations - a desk job. "Paul wasn't happy about it because it took away his freedom," one officer said. "The chief had to do something that looked like he was getting to the bottom of things. It's not uncommon for him to hand down discipline that's not really discipline."
    Paul later took an extended medical leave but has since returned to duty. He had previously declined to talk to the news media about the Cheaters footage when articles first appeared. When contacted by the Weekly on Tuesday, Paul asked what the story would cover. Told that it would include his career, the internal investigation, Spence's lawsuit, and allegations by other officers about his domestic troubles spilling over into police stations, Paul declined comment.
    Chief Mendoza did not return calls from the Weekly seeking comment. Police Lt. Dean Sullivan said an internal administrative investigation into Paul is continuing. "After the pertinent facts, details, and witnesses are interviewed, the case will be assembled and presented for a chain of command review," he said. "The chief of police will receive the case and make a decision based on those facts. Any other elaboration or release of information on this matter would be inappropriate until the case disposition and chief's recommendation are presented to the city of Fort Worth Civil Service Commission."
    Paul's co-workers are unwilling to discuss the situation on the record. As a division captain, Paul is among a handful of top administrators, and few subordinates want to cross him, especially since he has long been viewed as the Teflon man - nothing ever sticks to him. But many were willing to speak off the record.
    "He probably would have been the next deputy chief," a police officer said. "But with this one, there is no way. The city council is yelling for his head. That puts Mendoza in a bad light." A parade of unfaithful spouses caught in the act and then confronted while cameras roll makes Cheaters, locally produced and shot, similar to The Jerry Springer Show but without the "and so we learned" moment at the end - unless the lesson is that cheating is bad. It's the kind of show where the host gets stabbed in the stomach by an angry cheater and the cameras follow the bloody confrontation all the way to the ambulance as the credits roll. Creator and executive producer Bobby Goldstein has a habit of talking about his show in grand terms, going so far as to compare it to art. And who would know art better than a guy who hangs a portrait of himself in the lobby of the Cheaters office, appearing as the image of a Vegas-era Elvis, complete with pompadour and muttonchops?
    But Danny Gomez takes his job seriously. As detective for the show, it's his duty to trail suspected cheaters and videotape their trysts. As jobs go, it can be tedious. Much of the time it involves following people doing everyday stuff. But the job intensifies tenfold when a couple is caught in flagrante.
    Gutierrez approached Gomez in March, after he and his wife had argued and she left the house, taking their son with her and later filing an assault charge against her husband. The argument had started when Gutierrez accused her of having a lover - and now he wanted Gomez to find out if he was right. Gomez, who works independently in addition to working for Cheaters, reassured the jealous husband that he would find out if something was going on behind his back. Gutierrez paid Gomez $2,000 on March 29.
    It didn't take the detective long to gather evidence. The day after being hired, Gomez followed Maria Gutierrez to a central Arlington park. The detective videotaped her getting into the parked black Crown Victoria with an "unknown black male." Gomez' report began, "Detective can observe some physical movement and contact in the vehicle." Thirty minutes later, the report says, "Detective Gomez can only see one head at this time."
    The video shows Paul lying back on the seat. For most of the video, Maria Gutierrez is not visible. After an hour and a half, Maria emerged from the vehicle. "There was kissing and hugging," Gomez said. Beyond that, it was hard to tell exactly what went on.
    Gomez showed the tape to Gutierrez the next day. The black Crown Victoria was briefly a source of mystery - Gomez thought the driver might be an off-duty security guard. But Rafael Gutierrez said the man in the video looked like a police officer he'd seen at the Bally's Fitness Club where his wife worked.
    A week later, Gomez followed as Paul drove the black Crown Victoria to the East Division police headquarters. Later that day, he saw the same car at the park, where Paul and Maria Gutierrez engaged in "aggressive physical contact."
    At that point, Gutierrez ran out of money to pay for the investigation. Gomez said that he could handle the case for free as a detective for the show Cheaters. That meant the footage of Maria Gutierrez and Duane Paul would appear on television, as well as video showing Rafael confronting Maria with the evidence of her affair. Gutierrez, whose legal bills were fast draining his bank account, agreed. For the next two weeks, Gomez videotaped Maria Gutierrez and Duane Paul at Vandergriff Park on Wednesdays. After that, Cheaters producers decided the moment of confrontation had come.
    During the first week of May, Rafael Gutierrez and the Cheaters crew confronted Maria in the parking lot of the Bally's Fitness. Rafael accused her of being deceitful, as Cheaters' cameras captured Maria's reaction. She denied the accusations and tried to walk away. Rafael followed her, insisting several times that he had video proof. Apparently unbeknown to the Cheaters crew, Rafael's actions in touching and talking to his wife were violations of a protective order she had obtained against him. She went inside and called 911. Cheaters videotape doesn't show evidence of assault, but Maria's exasperation at being besieged in front of the camera is obvious, and she yells "Don't hit me!" at one point when Rafael tries to grab her arm. Paul was not at the scene.
    Arlington police arrested Gutierrez for violating Maria's restraining order (again) - and the connection between Paul and Maria Gutierrez became public record and then the subject of news media coverage. First came the Fort Worth Star-Telegram story in which Paul's name and the launching of an internal investigation weren't mentioned until the end. Other area newspapers and tv newscasts weighed in. After that, Spanish-language news shows ran the Cheaters footage of Maria Gutierrez and the police captain over and over.
    Gomez doesn't understand the media attention. It's the first time a public figure like Paul has been involved in an episode of the show - and Paul wasn't even the target. "The media has made more out of it than we would have," Gomez said.
    Rafael Gutierrez looked forlornly at what has become of his home: An overgrown yard. Bills stacked on the breakfast table. His son's room has been cleared out, the closets empty and the walls bare. On a cabinet rests a framed picture of Rafael and Maria Gutierrez - but the picture has been torn and then pieced back together, though the rips are obvious. He said Maria tore up the photo, and he put it back together.
    Gutierrez, 41, was born in New York and raised in the Bronx. He moved to North Texas in 1983, eventually settling in Grand Prairie. He said his problems began on a Sunday in February, when Maria had put on shorts to go biking and he noticed "hickeys" - passion marks - on her legs. When he asked her about them, he said, his wife verbally attacked him for not trusting her. The argument turned into a struggle, and Maria ran from the house and called Grand Prairie police. Gutierrez was charged with assault but not booked into jail. He was surprised when he read the police report. "It read like a movie where I looked like a murderer or something," he said.
    Grand Prairie police, in their report, quoted Maria as saying that Rafael "pinned her down on the floor by stretching her arms out" and started trying to undress her. Maria stated that Rafael told her he would kill her and then himself if she left him. Afterward, in filing for a protective order, she said that, "While he held me down, he kept telling me to fight off the devil because the devil had a hold of me."
    A few days later, when Rafael met his wife at their son's school, he racked up his first charge of violating the protective order. He was arrested a few days later, and bail was set at $20,000. Since then, Gutierrez has accumulated two charges of misdemeanor family violence assault, misdemeanor violation of a protective order, and a felony violation of a protective order. He says he has spent close to $50,000 in legal bills and bonds to get out of jail. His legal troubles keep him away from his business as a general contractor, and his wife has not let him see his son. He claims Paul has been coaching Maria, advising her to file complaints, stalling his day in court.
    "He's using his connections with the police to ruin me," Rafael said. "He wants to teach me a lesson that no one messes with the police." Attorney Jay W. Lucas, who represented Rafael but withdrew from the case, said his former client's treatment in court has been unusual.
    "I've never seen bonds set that high on the charges affecting Mr. Gutierrez," he said. "Normally, they're set in the $1,500 range, not $20,000. An average Joe would not be treated like this. The guidelines are strained. He's not a risk of flight. He's not a danger to the community. The only thing that is different in his case is the involvement of a police officer." Lucas said that he believes Gutierrez is innocent of the charges against him and that Maria's story does not hold up to scrutiny. "My strategy would have been to get the case in front of the judge where it belongs, and the judge could see there's no evidence. But right now it's just an endless series of charges filed by her."
    Maria Gutierrez' attorney, Natalie Gregg, said that her client did not want to speak to reporters and that the facts in Maria's pleadings before the court speak for themselves. As for Cheaters, Lucas advised Gutierrez not to stage the confrontation for the cameras. "In my opinion, the involvement of Cheaters has prejudiced Mr. Gutierrez' cases against him and made things worse," he said, but he believes Rafael's other media appearances were appropriate. "I felt like people needed to know what was going on with Duane Paul and, more importantly, what was being done to my client. He was railroaded. People should know this is happening. It's not right."
    Heidi Starratt would probably concur. The mother of two believes that her husband Mark Starratt, a Fort Worth police officer, cheated on her after he requested a divorce in October and that he was taking his lover around in his squad car.
    She complained to her husband's supervising sergeant that her husband was having an affair on the department's time. "He said it wasn't a problem and asked my husband if I was medicated," she said.
    Heidi Starratt took her complaints up the chain of command. A lieutenant asked why she was trying to bring her husband's personal life into his work and hung up on her. She then called the commanding captain - Duane Paul. He said he'd look into things.
    "I called Captain Paul later, and he said he didn't find anything," she said. "Then a friend told me how he had been on Cheaters, and I knew that he never looked into it. He was doing it too."
    Incensed, Starratt called Mendoza demanding an explanation. She said Mendoza hasn't called her back. "For this to be tolerated is just wrong," she said. "I can imagine what Paul's family is going through. But for him to be promoted when this was going on, you have to wonder what they were thinking. It's almost like they're saying 'That a boy, Paul, good job!'"
    Starratt has since moved to Rhode Island to live with relatives, to save money after her husband moved out of the house.
    "I hold the city just as responsible as my husband, since they allowed this to happen," she said. "I have to provide for my children any way I can. Cops are supposed to serve and protect, and instead they're getting served."
    State civil service rules allow the police department 180 days to investigate the accusations against Paul. The deadline is Sept. 25, and Mendoza will have until then to determine whether Paul violated policy and what actions, if any, will be taken against him.
    Many Fort Worth police officers understand - and share - the public's interest in Paul's case. They see Paul as a personable guy but also as a public servant who fumbled many golden chances to be a top cop. For years, starting under former police Chief Windham, Paul seemed destined to become a deputy chief. After all, he had been granted coveted positions as a SWAT team member and a homicide detective, and he had been sent to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. He served as the public information officer, a job that garners much face time on television. All this in the nation's 19th largest police department, and one with a solid national reputation.
    "Other cops would die for those positions," one officer said.
    Some of Paul's colleagues are also upset at the discredit they believe his actions have thrown on their department. "Everyone is mad because someone's continual actions brought bad publicity and a bad image to a police department they have devoted their lives to," a second officer said. "They don't understand why so much effort has been put into this individual when his behavior is repetitive and habitual."
    The outcome of the investigation into Paul's behavior seems likely to affect department morale. The unwritten rule in the department is, the higher the rank, the higher the expectations and the harsher the punishment when things go wrong. Civil service rules allow a police chief to demote or fire an employee for "acts showing a lack of good moral character." A wait-and-see attitude lingers. If Mendoza keeps Paul in a command position, morale will plummet, some officers said.
    "How can you go out and be a leader and command troops after this occurred?" one asked.
    Goldstein, creator of Cheaters, doesn't see things in such dramatic terms. "We've been doing this for years, and we've never had the belief that cops or politicians don't fuck around," he said. "It goes way back. I have nothing negative to say about Paul - look at Bill Clinton. He's in good company.
    "But he might have had better judgment in picking a place," the TV producer added. It wasn't so much the city car as the city park that bothered him. Paul, he said, "must be really cheap" to carry on his backseat romance in a park "where kids play, instead of getting a hotel room."

Husband violates protective order with TV show ambush
By Deanna Boyd | Star-Telegram Staff Writer 5/11/05

    Cheaters, a reality TV show that exposes extramarital affairs, found itself in a compromising position last week when its crew accompanied a Grand Prairie man to his estranged wife's Arlington workplace, a violation of a protective order against him. Cheaters producers did not know that Rafael Gutierrez Jr., 40, had been ordered by a judge to stay away from Maria Gutierrez, said Bobby Goldstein, creator and executive producer of the Dallas-based show.
    ''He never mentioned it to any our crew,'' Goldstein said. ''The crew found out during the course of the confrontation and immediately withdrew when they learned that was the fact.'' An arrest warrant has been issued for Rafeal Gutierrez.
    He and Cheaters producers intended to confront Maria Gutierrez about her relationship with a Fort Worth police captain. Rafeal Gutierrez was with a TV crew when they ambushed his wife in the parking lot of Bally's Fitness Center, 2306 Collins St. in Arlington, police said.
    Maria Gutierrez, a Bally's employee, had stepped outside the center about 4 p.m. to call a Grand Prairie police investigator about repeated problems she was having with Gutierrez, Arlington police detective Liz Edmonds-Hayes said.
    ''She was confronted by her estranged husband and group of people who had cameras and boom mikes,'' Edmonds-Hayes said. ''The victim attempted to return inside Bally's to escape this crowd and was not able to do so.''
    Maria Gutierrez told police that her estranged husband confronted her and placed his hands on her, preventing her from eluding the TV crew of about 10 to 15 people. Edmonds-Hayes said a fellow employee came to Maria Gutierrez's aid and the group of people later dispersed. Hayes said Maria Gutierrez received a visible injury in the confrontation.
    Goldstein said the company is looking into the matter but initially, it doesn't appear they did anything wrong. ''We don't want to get involved in anybody breaking the law,'' Goldstein said. ''I don't feel bad about it, but I wish I had known.''
    The arrest warrant accusing Rafeal Gutierrez of violating the protective order was issued on Friday. Edmonds-Hayes said the charge is a third-degree felony because Gutierrez is accused not only of going to his wife's workplace but also of assaulting her.
    Jay Lucas, Gutierrez's attorney, said his client planned to surrender once bail arrangements are made. ''They're going to have to prove their case,'' Lucas said. ''The videotape doesn't show an assault, in my opinion.'' Whether any members of the Cheaters crew faces charges is still under investigation, Arlington police Sgt. Greg Waldron said.
    ''We'll take a look at any other criminal offense we might uncover,'' Waldron said. Goldstein said he has reviewed the taped footage from ``every angle'' and does not see any crew member touch Maria Gutierrez or prevent her from leaving.
    Tarrant County court records show that two charges of assault with bodily injury of a family member were filed against Gutierrez on March 4. He was accused of assaulting his estranged wife in Grand Prairie on Feb. 20 and Feb. 22. Warrants were issued for Gutierrez's arrest on April 27 after his bail on those cases was ruled insufficient, court records show.
    Goldstein said Cheaters conducts background checks to determine if the person accusing another of cheating has any legal action pending against them, such as protective orders. ''Obviously, we either dropped the ball on this case or were misled by him,'' Goldstein said. ''How this all came about is mind-boggling to me.''
    Lucas said his client had hired a private investigator on Lucas's advice to find out if his wife was having an affair. ''It turned out that investigator also does work for Cheaters,'' Lucas said.
    Goldstein said that Cheaters crew started filming Gutierrez's wife in March. The footage includes sexual acts in a public park with Fort Worth Police Capt. Duane Paul, he said. Paul declined to comment Wednesday.
    Lt. Dean Sullivan, a Fort Worth police spokesman, said police administrators received a written complaint regarding the matter Tuesday afternoon and have reviewed the footage and launched an internal investigation.

Cheaters Turns 100 and Extends Brand for the Faithful; Avant-Garde Executive Producer Continues Building a Reality Empire

Dallas 4/22/05 - In true Cheaters style - including tornado weather, jeering onlookers and a pregnant girlfriend - the Cheaters 100th episode (actually it was episode 95 - Alex), due to air soon, promises to deliver nonstop reality. To mark the momentous event, Cheaters executive producer and creator, Bobby Goldstein, announced plans to release specialty Cheaters DVDs and discussed the show's success and how it stands in contrast to other reality television programming.
    Looking at the remarkable success of the show, Goldstein thinks he understands why audiences can't get enough of it. "Cheaters is a reality show in the truest sense. Nearly all the other shows we now call reality programming feature participants who know they are being filmed." He adds, "Cheaters is filmed live with hidden cameras and microphones. Unlike neo-reality TV, we're able to capture the true grit. From the frightening to the fascinating, we deliver the absolute reality."
    Since its premiere five years ago, Cheaters has consistently gained market share and delivered substantially more viewers than either its lead-in or lead-out programming in all key adult demographics. Proven to be increasingly powerful in its fifth season, it continues to be one of the highest rated syndicated weekly hours, outperforming the strongest and most established programs. Executive Vice President, Neal Sabin of WCIU-TV in Chicago, puts the Cheaters success into context noting that it is one of the higher rated shows demographically at his station. "I think it's a guilty pleasure for our viewers," says Sabin. "They keep coming back for more and the ratings continue to rise."
    Mason Granger, President & General Manager at WDSU-TV in New Orleans, says, "As an NBC affiliate we needed to find a great show to follow our incredible Saturday Night Live franchise. The answer was putting Cheaters on the air." Granger continues, "Cheaters has become a huge win for us every weekend by holding the Saturday Night Live audience and extending our success into late night."
    Building on the huge success of the weekly syndicated show and its consistently high ratings, Goldstein put the show into a weekly strip format in 178 markets. In its first year, the Cheaters Strip delivered higher ratings during the February 2005 sweeps versus its already successful November 2004 sweeps numbers. Just as the long-running weekly syndication Cheaters has accomplished, the Cheaters strip has proven its ability to consistently attract a core young adult audience, deliver as one of the highest rated programs for stations airing the strip, and improve on both lead-in and lead-out statistics.
    Not one to rest on the laurels of the 100th episode benchmark or the success of the strip programming, Goldstein plans to extend the Cheaters brand in new markets. "Five years ago the future of reality television was wide open. These days networks think differently, offering two series per year of the most popular shows." Goldstein continues, "I'm taking a different approach and exploring the many ways programming can be developed into a wide-spectrum business with multiple revenue sources. Rather than recycling old ideas and repetitive concepts, I am looking to develop new programming and innovative distribution outlets."
    Already in the works, Goldstein is producing a specialty DVD series, "The Best of Cheaters." Each disc will contain 6 episodes with additional content, giving the home entertainment audience an inside and intimate look at each episode. With an anticipated summer release, Volume 1 can be purchased in a 3 DVD censored version or as 4 DVDs of uncensored footage.

Notes

• Episodes are 40 mins each (1 hr minus 20 mins of commercials). For Season 5 they reached syndication and started airing "Best of" shows Mon-Fri that are 19 minutes (30 mins minus 11 mins of commercials/3 minutes of footage cut out) with a previous case and a follow up with new Joey Greco intros and new 1 hour shows on Sun. After around 50 of these they thankfully started adding new follow ups.

• Bob Magruder is the narrator, "Broken Hearted" is the theme song, Bobby Goldstein is the creator.  

• In episode #1 - Tommy refers to himself as Tommy Gunn instead of Tommy Grand.

• Episode #7 - First interracial relationship of BM/WF and the first where the woman cheating was actually a prostitute turning tricks for drug money.

• Episode #8 - Kenneth Eklund is the first May/December relationship, the first interracial relationship (WM/BF) and the first where the person was friends with the cheater.

• Episode #8 - Had the oldest age gap of a couple - 31 years.

• Episode #11 - The first follow up where the victim and the cheater return together.

• Episode #11 - Rose Tackett is the first and so far only case shown where the partner wasn't cheating.

• Episode #11 - Dustin is the first person to have a family member be the cheater.

• Episode #15 - Monica Tovar is the first lesbian case.

• Episode #16 - Greg Gaw is the first and only case not to have the surveillance and confrontation shown. It wasn't explained until the best of aired.

• In Season 1 we saw Tommy sit down and interview the clients. Starting with Season 2 we only hear the clients speaking.

• In episode #36 - Stacia is the first person to give the interview with someone else. She has her kid on her lap.

• In episode #43 - The follow up with Chantal shows she's the most confused person they've had. First she was gay, then she wasn't. Wants Cheaters banned, but is thankful to them that she found a man. She felt her privacy was violated, yet she was in public. She says she's not a crazy lesbian yet on the show attacked someone she didn't know, screamed, had to be held back and is the only person on the show to spit at a camera.

• The 54th "Best of" episode is the first to have an all new follow up.

• The Kristen Cone Best of was the first time a follow up featured someone who wasn't previously on the show.

• Episode #131 - the first time someone called Cheaters on behalf of someone else without them knowing.

• Official Cheaters website www.cheaters.com

• Tommy Habeeb's official website www.tommyhabeeb.com

Pictures

I got some of the Tommy scans from the Cheaters site before they took them down.
Channel 11 News Houston 1/99 - Tommy #1
Channel 11 News Houston 1/99 - Tommy #2
ABC Channel 3 Corpus Christi 3/10/00 - Tommy
Season 3 Promo 1/18/03

Joey's Secret Past
Joel Greco's Hip Hop Shop VHS Front
Joel Greco's Hip Hop Shop VHS Back
Joel Greco - don't forget your water!
Joel Greco - Step Aerobics
Joel Greco - Circuit Workout

Text:

Joel Greco's Hip Hop Shop. Funky Fresh, Body Jammin', Dance Workout! Joel Greco M.Ed, is a professional consultant/educator on the national and international fitness circuit. He holds certifications through ACE, AFAA and the institute of Aerobics Research. As well, Joel may be seen on the ESPN Fitness Pros exercise program. Hip Hop Shop samples the freshest movement sequences from current hip-hop, and street corners. Challenger your creative expression with club and video style as you taste the flavor of this Funky Fresh, Body Jammin', Dance Workout! Modifications provide continuous movement for all levels of fitness, complete with warmup and cool-down.

Quotes

“From a guy that makes TV shows that air after midnight, it’s kind of fun to do something that really makes you feel good.” - Tommy on his Water Bottle Nipple Adaptor 8/07

Do you write your own narration? It adds a lot to the show.

Bob Macgruder: One of the producers writes it based on the footage taken and edited to time. Bobby Goldstein polishes the script. When I get it, I do extensive rewrites to (1) fit me and (2) throw out all the Texas colloquialisms which don't work in London, Seattle, New York and almost anywhere outside Texas. Example: "The suspect and his paramour get in their cars and get on down the road" becomes "The suspect and his paramour enter their vehicles and exit quickly". Or some such. Thanks for your interest and your compliment. Exclusive 2005

"Stag takes Cheaters to the next level." - Tommy 9/04

On the show's popularity with women. "It's a big surprise, but it's nice to see. These are sensitive women with feelings and they're going, 'Hey, I appreciate what you're doing.' I didn't know the first thing about relationships before doing this show and doing hundreds of interviews with people: couples, individuals. I think I've learned a lot about people." His relationship philosophy is simple: "We all know what's right and what's wrong, but sometimes we don't listen to ourselves and we don't hear it. So, it takes somebody to say green is green and red is red. I see myself as a friend to these people. That's all I want to be." - Tommy 4/20/01

"The newspaper says: 'How can you this to people?' The fact is, all we're doing is documenting what somebody else is doing. We're not out there doing the cheating." - Tommy 12/22/00

Resumes

Tommy Habeeb
SAG/AFTRA - Born 4/26/58,  Height: 6'2" Weight: 190 lbs. Hair: Black, Eyes: Lt. Brown

Articles - Star 2/16/99, Der Speigel 2000, Dallas Morning News 5/01, TV Guide 9/29/01, Stuff Magazine 2/02
Former Jobs - Competitive Foosball, Formalwear Design And His Family's Jewelry Business.
Special Skills - Rodeo Cowboy Abilities, Former Pro Motorcycle Short Tracker, Plays All Sports
Special Sponsors - Spy Eyewear, Peppers Performance Eyewear, Motorcycle Magic, William Reed Clothiers, Timex, Phillips Electronics

Joel S. Greco
Height: 5'9", Weight: 170, Hair: Brown, Eyes: Brown, Married since 10/20/95

Training - Film Actors Retreat, Advanced film technique, real estate agent, attended Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri, where he earned graduate degrees in Psychology and Education.

Special Skills - Golf, Basketball, Baseball, Soccer, Water Skiing, Handgun proficient, Weight training, Hip Hop/Street Dance, In line skating, Boxing, Tennis, Motorcycle Licensed.