*Infidelity often marks the end of a relationship. OWN’s new reality series “Put a Ring on It: Cheathab” asks a different question: What happens when both partners choose to stay and confront the damage together?
The latest installment of the network’s popular relationship franchise raises the stakes by focusing on long-term couples whose relationships have been shaken by cheating. Under the guidance of relationship expert Dr. Stacii Jae Johnson, each couple must confront painful truths while dating former flings and even the people they cheated with before deciding whether their relationship deserves another chance.
During an interview with EURweb, Johnson said the series stands apart because it refuses to cast one partner as the villain.
“No show has ever done that,” she said. “Cheating at the center. OWN is making sure that there is no one villain. We’re making sure that both the men and the women equally are cheaters in the relationship.”
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She added that the show’s most controversial twist is also its most revealing.
“We also are giving the cheaters an opportunity to go out with the person they cheated with. And each partner knows about it.”
While the premise may sound dramatic, Johnson insists the goal isn’t to create chaos. Instead, she wants couples to confront uncomfortable truths they have spent too long avoiding.
According to Johnson, rebuilding a relationship after betrayal begins with one critical step: accountability.
“When the cheater accepts accountability, then that makes it an easier process to rekindling the love they had,” she said. Rather than trying to recreate what existed before, Johnson believes couples should build something healthier. “My goal is to make sure the relationship is not the same, but different, because the same relationship would only give them… more cheating.”
She also believes lasting relationships require more than simply promising not to cheat again. Couples must establish new expectations and commit to what she calls “radical honesty.”
For Johnson, emotional safety is the foundation that makes those conversations possible.
“That means I can be 100 percent of who I am without judgment, without fear of you leaving me or wanting to change me,” she said. “I can be vulnerable.”
Without that security, she warns, secrecy often begins to replace honesty, creating the conditions for relationships to unravel. Johnson makes it clear that viewers will see her challenge every couple to face difficult conversations head-on.
“I’m going to push you until I get what your truth is,” she said. “Every couple and individual says they want to be happy… this is what happiness takes.”
Watch my full conversation with Dr. Stacii Jae Johnson in the video below for more insight into the series, healing after infidelity, and whether trust can truly be rebuilt.
“Put a Ring on It: Cheathab” premieres July 31 on OWN and moves to its regular time slot beginning Aug. 14, airing Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
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