Lauren Cleri Risks Everything on the Moment of Truth

Lauren Cleri has made headlines with her appearance on a new Fox game show appropiately titled "The Moment of Truth". The show offers large financial rewards for publicly exposing yourself about situations one would usually lie about. While the concept of this game show is enough of a conversation, Lauren Cleri may soon become a household name for her role in what may have been the "ice breaker" for the 'Moment of Truth'.

"Lauren admitted to being fired from a job for stealing money, avoiding sex with her husband by pretending to be asleep, and that she would rather give food to a dog than a homeless person" according to an article from the LA Times. "Then, things got worse".

Contestants of 'The Moment of Truth' are given 21 questions to answer truthfully (a lie detector test is involved, of course) for their chance to win up to $500,000. There are milestones a contestant can reach, and family and loved ones sit nearby with the option to hit a buzzer (only once) if there is a question they don't want to hear the answer to. Yes, it gets that deep and personal.

The question asked by Fox gameshow 'Moment of Truth' is "How far will you go for the money?" Not one living person can say they don't have secrets they would like to keep hidden. The bigger the skeleton, the bigger the cash prize. So... how much would you share?

When Lauren Cleri's exboyfriend, Frank, came out to read a question to her it was a very unexpected surprise. The original question ('Would you leave your husband for me if I wanted to get back together') was buzzed out by Lauren's sister and replaced with an equally probing question. "Do you think I am the man you should be married to?" Lauren hesitated to answer, but it was written all over her face. Her husband, clearly stressed, encouraged her to continue because they had come so far.

So, Lauren gave the honest answer (yes) and earned $100,000 for her honesty. This meant risking her marriage. Would you be willing to put it all on the line for that amount of money? I personally would not have a secret like that from my husband, but if I did, I would not choose a game show to be the way I expose that secret. Though my husband and I both could really use $100,000 or more, what good is the money if your marriage is over? For those who would still put it all on the line, you can work out the kinks later, consider what happened next to Lauren Cleri.

All it takes is one dishonest answer and you lose everything. For that reason, it is shocking that it as the next question which left Lauren as empty handed as she began (if not more so, due to previous answers.) When asked "Do you think you are a good person", Lauren answered that she did think she was a good person. This was determined to be a lie.

An age old saying states that money can not buy happiness. Apparently, there are many out there who are willing to challenge this saying. If you knew you would be putting yourself into the position that Lauren Cleri went through, would you go through with it?

After the show, Lauren Cleri and her husband (also named Frank) seperated. She told the New york Post "We're kind of up in the air right now. I want to (get back together) but I don't think he does."

Lauren Cleri must have known there would be risks involved with sitting on a new game show, in front of millions of TV viewers, answering probing questions honestly. With an affair and many other 'dirty' secrets, the scales must have balanced towards the potential financial gain. However, the twist in her story is that she lost it all... literally. If anything, she did gain her 5 minutes of fame... and it is certainly not the good kind of fame.

Though I personally do not feel bad for Lauren Cleri, I do feel sorry for her that she has kept such large secrets, and that she chose this method of exposing them. The end result is nothing short of kharma.

Since watching this episode, I have discovered that The Moment of Truth is currently looking for contestants and I printed up an application. The first person I attempted to enlist was my dear husband. (What, did you think I would be willing to go through that?) Although I propositioned him appropiately, using the $500,000 as bait... he quickly declined when learning what the application was for.

Next, I went after friends, all of whom were very tempted by the money. Who couldn't use an extra $500,000? However, the end results that I have discovered is that not one single person would be willing to expose their deepest secrets. Not even for $500,000,000,000 (+). When it comes down to it, no amount of money is worth risking your marriage, your friends, your family, your job (or any potential future jobs)... and your life.

Sources:

'Wife: I Did It For The Money' "

'The Moment of Truth turns into a time of pain'