Oh, Cheaters…
I make no secret of the fact that I watch some trashy things on TV, including the show that taught me that hos don't get refunds and weaves can be incorrect, Cheaters.
I first fell in love with this long-running reality show back in college, when Cheaters always seemed to be on in the wee hours of the morning whenever I was over at Loyolapalooza.
Here in Palm Springs, Cheaters comes on at the almost-too-decent hour of 9 p.m. on Sundays. That means it starts on The CW right after The Amazing Race ends over on CBS, so Cheaters has become a part of the weekly Race-watching at my apartment and has also made its way into Monday Shenanigans lore with this impromptu Cheaters performance by some Christmas cookies:
Anyway, after I noted that last weekend's episode was particularly intense, my friend Kyle pointed out that the most intense Cheaters moment of all time was when Joey Greco got stabbed... on a boat!
When talk turned to Cheaters in the newsroom today, Maggie searched on YouTube and found the infamous stabbing:
Oh, that went there, Degrassi-style.
But in the comments on the YouTube video, I noticed a bunch of people saying that the stabbing was fake and referring to a story on Inside Edition that proved it.
Well, I hopped over to Inside Edition's Web site and found that they did indeed run a story in which a couple of people said they were paid to act like cheaters for the show, including a woman who said she was on the boat for the stabbing episode. They also had local cops saying no stabbings were reported around that time, even though the Cheaters episode apparently said the stabber was arrested.
Aww, say it ain't so, Joey!
Well, in a folo, Inside Edition catches Joey Greco walking his dog and gets little more than what seems to be a quite bumbling attempt at a "no comment" from the man who always sounds so smooth when describing that surveillance footage.
So now I don't know what to believe about Cheaters. I hope all that stuff is real; otherwise, my newfound dream of appearing on the show (Maggie said this afternoon she'd like to see me on Cheaters — as the unsuspecting boyfriend, of course — because it would be "like coming full circle from Ginger.") may be for naught.
And in my cursory Googling of all things Cheaters, I found that about a month after the Inside Edition exposé, the LA Times did a little Q&A with Greco that mentioned the stabbing rather matter-of-factly: "Greco has been pushed, punched, stabbed (he recovered nicely, thank you) and gets routinely threatened."
Also, The Dallas Morning News interviewed Daniel Gomez, an investigator often seen on the show, around Valentine's Day this year and made no mention of any "infidelitous" accusations against Cheaters itself.
Now, I place both the LA Times and The Dallas Morning News a little bit higher on the credibility totem pole than Inside Edition, but maybe someday I'll have to take Joey Greco up on the offer he made when the LA Times asked, "Nothing is set up or fake?"
"I will tell anyone if they want to come along with us, they're more than happy to come along and judge for yourself. If anyone wants to come to court with me next time I have to go to court, they can come along there as well."
Hmm. Perhaps I should schedule some vacation days for a little trip to Dallas.