Why Men Cheat

First up, if you’re genuinely looking for an answer to the question implicated by the title of this show, then you’d best avoid it. I guarantee you won’t be any closer to an answer by the end.

During some introductory preamble, Irishmen Peadar de Burca (the writer/creator) and Brian O’Gibne inform us they are both philanderers. “I come from a long line of cheaters” says de Burca, who discloses that his own infidelity was with a childhood crush, who later transpires to be his teacher.

Subsequent observations err on the side of cliché (“when a woman says yes, she means no”), while a section of audience participation involving three women is nothing short of uncomfortable.

When de Burca returns to the subject of his own infidelity (whether true or not is unclear), things get more interesting, as he reveals the reason he did it was not sex, but love. But by this stage I was so fed up with the broad brushstrokes stereotyping of the sexes that I’d rather lost interest.

Considering over 200 ‘cheaters’ were interviewed during research for the show, there is very little else by way of genuine revelation. I left feeling, ironically, cheated.