Court TV Host: This the first of two Court TV chats today about making private lives public... We're going to be talking about the new syndicated television series, "Cheaters." The program goes out and videotapes lovers who might be cheating on their lovers or spouses. We're going to be talking to Bobby Goldstein, executive producer of "Cheaters" and to one of the guests on a the program, a woman named Sue Miller, who went to the program because she suspected that her lover was cheating on her. And she was correct.

Court TV Host: Our guests have arrived. Welcome!

Bobby Goldstein: Greetings.

Sue Miller: Hello, how are you all this evening?

groovy_gurl_00_uk: What made Bobby produce this show?

Bobby Goldstein: well it was a great idea that I concocted on my own, but it was the pleading of Tommy Grand, the host, that got me me to actually back it and change careers.

kdogkdog801: How do I get my girlfriend followed for the show?

Bobby Goldstein: Any complainant must contact Cheaters either through its website at www.cheaters.com or through our toll-free number.

Court TV Host: Sue Miller, why and how did you contact the show?

Sue Miller: I contacted the show via email. The reason I did that was because the ongoing problems between my husband and I needed some answers. I wanted some finalizations that tipped things one way or another. He said he was working in Dallas at the time and I lived in Ceto.

urmyangel_40: Were there any problem with the censors over the content?

Bobby Goldstein: No, not really. We do a lot of editing before it actually makes it on broadcast TV and those episodes are much more distilled than an uncensored episode.

emmy8321: Was your husband actually cheating or not?

Sue Miller: Yes, with more than one woman. In one sense it was a relief to find out the truth. In another sense, it was somewhat humiliating. I knew that it was going to be on national television, and no one wants to find out that the person that you love is cheating on you. Most of all, I wanted to know the truth.

Spambolonochovinski: What do the people say once they get caught? Like, do they still claim it wasn't them or anything dumb like that?

Sue Miller: Of course, mine claimed that it was a setup.

Bobby Goldstein: The responses are as individual as fingerprints, if you get down to it.

Sue Miller: Laughingly, I've seen other episodes where a man was busted, and he claimed it was his twin brother.

yellowribbon1960: What if the person is NOT a cheater?

Bobby Goldstein: We've come upon that. Because we're charged with the same responsibility as a detective agency, it is up to only the complainant to decide if that suspect should be informed or not.

Court TV Host: This question is for Sue...

daisymay3uk: Are they all still together?

Sue Miller: No.

yellowribbon1960: What about the aftermath? Will it be shown also?

Sue Miller: Yes, they do. My case is very recent. It just settled in mid-February. Probably there hasn't been enough time passed on mine, but on other shows I know they do follow-up, and also offer assistance. If there's counseling necessary, or anything they can offer, Cheaters has been very helpful in that capacity.

Bobby Goldstein: Cheaters follows up on all of the people who have appeared in an episode, voluntarily or not, to both monitor the situation for purposes of a follow-up later on and for purposes of checking up on them to see how they're doing. Cheaters offers a whole host of services, including counseling, to help people along, to help them recover from the experience both pre- and post-Cheaters.

zooey_franny: So the premise of this show is - why be humiliated by a cheating spouse in private - when I can be humiliated on TV in front of thousands of viewers? I don't understand why anyone would want to find out their spouse is cheating that way.

therose_4: Why would anyone want their personal life shown on TV, a la Jerry Springer?? What is the benefit?

Sue Miller: The reason that I did it -- and everyone's situation is different--is that I have a very critical financial situation, and I have been in a five-year roller-coaster relationship with this man. There were other things involved besides cheating, and I had no way of answering the questions that needed to be answered to move on. When I saw that show on Saturday evening, it was an answer to my prayers,from my heart.

Bobby Goldstein: There is no remedy for adultery in a relationship any more. In America there used to be penalties for it, but it's all but been abolished in the penal code section. You can sue someone for alienation of affection, but collecting is difficult at best. The marketplace requires and demands a new mousetrap, and Cheaters provides one. It's certainly not for everybody. The puritans made the infidels wear a scarlet "A" The cost of private investigation can run into the thousands of dollars.

Sue Miller: My experience with Cheaters has never been anything like I've seen on Jerry Springer, ever. There's no comparison to any show I've seen on Jerry Springer, ever.

sharky1_us: Have there been fist fights on the show?

yellowribbon1960: Aren't you afraid this is dangerous?

surfdoggie_33629: Has there ever been any violence when someone was confronted?

Bobby Goldstein: First of all, no fist fights, ever. We make sure to remove from the equation all opportunities for anything to occur that would be against the peace and dignity of the law. We have off-duty licensed police department and sheriff's personnel, and we take great precautions to investigate the prior conduct and weapon ownership of the suspect, the third party, and even the complainant.

Sue Miller: I think that Cheaters was very thorough in that aspect in my case, because there was a question of guns and knives. My husband has had a colorful past.

careervirgin: Are you worried about what possible repercussions could come from this? Possible spousal abuse or worse? The Jenny Jones episode with the gay crush comes to mind.

Bobby Goldstein: Good points to be made, but we're not worried in the slightest. The propensity for violence in a domestic relations matter diminish once the relationship was part and parcel of a public exposure. It is generally the privacy that an aggressor has in a domestic relationship that would tend to give the aggressor a greater sense that it's okay to do violence. The Jenny Jones verdict is certainly alarming, but it should be pointed out that the verdict in that case is on appeal and based on my understanding (I am a lawyer also) that verdict should be reversed.

Sue Miller: My case, I think, is a prime example of what Bobby is saying. My husband was doing many, many things from calling in the middle of the night, sugar in the gas tank, making things deliberately hard for me. Cheaters made this out in the open so people really know what was going on. I have not had one hang-up phone call, he has not come back on my property without calling first, and so on. Society in general needs to stand up and take responsibility for each of its own actions. It's not Jenny Jones' fault that someone murdered somebody. Jenny Jones should not be penalized for that.

yellowribbon1960: Will the people be paid if they go on the show?

Bobby Goldstein: No, our complainants are paid only the consideration of the investigation. The suspect and the third party are later on offered a release to sign, and I will be candid and say sometimes it does involve a consideration.

Court TV Host: Can you broadcast a confrontation without the permission of the suspect and the person they're with?

yellowribbon1960: What if the accused does not want the publicity?

Bobby Goldstein: My position on the law is that yes, we could broadcast it without their permission, but we can't forget that we're dealing with a lot of independent TV stations and networks who don't really want to litigate new issues, so to be sure in those situations we will, out of an abundance of caution, blur faces and alter voices. Those situations are very rare. In about 95 percent of the cases, we are able to procure releases.

Court TV Host: Without payments?

Bobby Goldstein: I wouldn't say that those are all gratuitous. But some do occur. Without much, if any, payment. You'd be surprised, but generally before a Cheater's confrontation occurs, the suspect tends to have an upper hand in a relationship, but after the bust occurs, it's remarkable, but the complainant generally has an immediate and substantial role reversal in those relationships. And as a consideration for staying with the suspect, the complainant has often insisted that the suspect come clean and allow the themselves to be broadcast, and for free.

Court TV Host: What happened in your case, Sue?

Sue Miller: All I know is what he told me, and he is not a very honest person. He told me he waited two or three days before he went in to his interview. He told me Cheaters paid him five hundred dollars to be able to show his face. I never have been told that by Cheaters or have asked that his face needs to be shown, he's been a dog. He's been cruel, he's been manipulative. His face needs to be shown. There's other situations involved in my case besides cheating and infidelity, other women.

Court TV Host: Bobby, do you want to add to that?

Bobby Goldstein: As you conclude, Sue didn't tell him to, and his incentive was not to be back with her, apparently. But what I do know from first-hand knowledge was that he felt like he had his side of the story to tell, and we will afford one the opportunity to do that, provided that they do give us the right of publicity to use their image and voice.

urmyangel_40: How far do the investigations really go?

Bobby Goldstein: We have some investigations that have lasted months, and in terms of the depth of information that we explore, we go as far as the law would allow.

urmyangel_40: So far, what is the percentage of men verses women who cheat?

Bobby Goldstein: That bestows upon me an authority that I really don't purport to know accurately, what the answer is in the real world. But I would say in terms of Cheaters' participants it's probably 60-40, that is, most of our cases are women complaining about men. Which might be a mirror of some real national numbers.

Spambolonochovinski: Do people try to sue the company for getting caught?

Bobby Goldstein: Never, not once.

urmyangel_40: Can the evidence that is found really be used in court?

Bobby Goldstein: It depends on the laws of the various states, but generally, the answer is yes.

yjwilson: Couldn't you have gotten some answers w/o going on the show?

Sue Miller: There were drug issues that were involved in my situation that I am very naive about. Because of that, and the distance, and what I do for a living every day, I needed professional help. It would have been simple for me just to walk away from him, but I did love him, and I did have hope. There was a lot of pain. I needed answers.

groovy_gurl_00_uk: You should film that kind of thing because it might stop it

Bobby Goldstein: That's a good comment. When we first imagined Cheaters, most of our imagination had to do with whether it would make entertaining content that would be successful in the TV program model. Little did I expect, or anyone else, that Cheaters as an agency would offer such invaluable service to a large class of people who could do nothing other than wonder and suffer. But unintentionally, we have become a very large investigative company, and the testament to its utility are the thousands of people who contact Cheaters monthly for assistance.

cj70433: Why do most people cheat

Bobby Goldstein: I have my own ideas, but I'm certainly not recognized as a qualified authority, but if you really want to measure history, and anthropology, the evidence is clear that polygamy has endured successfully as has monogamy and that is probably the most authoritative evidence about the anthropology of mankind.

mr_chatmeister: How in the world do you ever convince the people you catch to allow the tape to be used? That's astounding!

Bobby Goldstein: People are more willing to enjoy their own infamy than you would imagine. Cheaters is distinguished from other reality TV shows as the only true and real reality TV show because two thirds of the parties that appear on the show are there unknowingly and involuntarily. But for some reason most are willing to enjoy any notoriety rather than no notoriety, and some brag about their conquests. For some it's an achievement and an accomplishment. It reminds me of a cute little story about an elderly little Jewish guy named Goldstein. He went to a confessional booth and told this priest, he said "Father, I have to confess. On Monday, I see two red-headed girls. On Tuesday, two blondes. On Wednesday, two brunettes. And I start the cycle all over again" And the priest asked him. "Why are you telling me this? And the little old Jewish guy said "Hey, I'm telling everybody!"

Court TV Host: Thanks for joining us today...any closing thoughts, Sue?

Sue Miller: I just would like to thank Cheaters again for doing what they've done for me. It has helped me to put some ends to some things where I could move on, and without Cheaters doing what they did, I couldn't have done that.