The Moment of Truth

On last Monday's broadcast of FOX's The Moment of Truth, viewers watched as Lauren Cleri admitted to not only having cheated on her husband Frank Cleri, but also to feeling she should have married another guy.  Unfortunately, she ended up going home empty-handed.  Now, things have taken a turn for the worse, as she claims her marriage is seemingly over.

"We're kind of up in the air right now,” Lauren told the New York Post from the couple's apartment in Piermont.  “I want to [get back together], but I don't think he does.

"It's not very easy to overcome," Frank, a police officer with the 48th Precinct in The Bronx, said, adding that he knew about his wife's infidelity but was unprepared for the emotional strain that going public with it for the money has caused.  "Everything that was mentioned during this show, we had talked about before.  We've had our issues.  Unfortunately, now they're not just our problems.  Everyone knows about it.”

As per the mechanics of The Moment of Truth, all contestants are subjected to lie-detector tests prior to the actual taping of their episode.  However, the show also brings in surprise guests, and for Lauren, it was a former flame.

"Do you believe I am the man you should be married to?” Lauren's ex asked during the show.

"Well,” Lauren said as her husband squirmed on the sidelines, “wow, um.  I'm going to be honest and say yes."

The polygraph that was strapped to Lauren determined she was telling the truth.  She was awarded $100,000, and was given another hundred thousand when she admitted to cheating on Frank.  She lost all the money, however, when she was caught lying in response to the question, “Do you think you're a good person?”  She had answered, “Yes.”

The Moment of Truth executive producer Howard Schultz told the New York Post that Lauren had told him she didn't want a relationship with both men and that “she wanted out of her marriage, and she wanted to . . . tell the truth.  Perhaps some of it was then, 'If I'm going to end my marriage, then if I can win a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand dollars.  I can start a new life with some cash in my pocket."

Lauren has denied Schultz's statements about her reasons for joining the show.

As for Frank Nardi, Jr., the ex-boyfriend who posed the damaging question, he told the New York Post via email that he wants “all of this to be over,” and posted on his MySpace that the “whole experience was a mistake...  I haven't been this sick ever in my life…  It wasn't my intention to go out and ruin a marriage."


-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: The New York Post, FOX News
(Image Courtesy of FOX)