Woman murdered by boyfriend after making intimate confession on reality TV
A woman was brutally killed by her boyfriend after a shocking appearance on a reality game show where she won a large amount of money.
The teenager, named Ruth Thalia Sayas Sanchez, was the first ever contest on the Peruvian take of The Moment of Truth.
The concept of the TV game show involved asking 21 personal questions on six increasingly difficult levels.
Contestants could secure the cash prize if they answered each question honestly while being hooked up to a lie detector to determine if they were being truthful or not.
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Hosted by Beto Ortiz, Ruth was put straight in the hot seat as he opened with a harrowing and private question.
He brutally dropped this question: "Do you think your parents would be proud of you if they knew what you did for a living?"
It seemed like a pretty harmless question, but the woman looked trapped, with her parents watching on from the studio audience as they believed that she was a call centre employee.
Of course, telling the truth would mean she progressed in the game but would shatter the trust she had with her parents, while lying would kick her out of the game.
The ordeal peaked the interest of international audiences, with Stephanie Soo of the Rotten Mango podcast highlighting the size of the prize: "The final prize is $13,500 however, in comparison to Peruvian minimum wage, that would be a few years' worth of work."
With this in mind, Ruth revealed that she was a nightclub hostess and even accepted money for sex not once, but twice.
That's not it though, as she also admitted that she was only with her boyfriend until 'something better turns up'.
Her brutal honesty eventually paid off as she left the show with a bumper prize of 15,000 Peruvian Soles (£3,250).
But sadly, eight weeks later, Ruth was found dead, with investigators discovering poison in her system and signs of a strangulation on the body.
Bryan Romero, Ruth's boyfriend at the time, was later arrested and confessed to the murder.
Investigators later found that he had drugged the teen with a sleeping tablet, killed her and concealed her body in a well on the outskirts of Lima, with the help of a relative on 11 September 2012.
Following this incident, the TV show faced backlash, with several people blaming it for the murder, saying that the confessions of her sex life caused the crime.
But her family quickly refuted these claims, and said it was at no fault of the show.
"This television program has absolutely nothing to do with it," Ruth's uncle, Freddy Sanchez Rojas stated.
The host of the show, Beto Ortiz also said: "What they are doing is giving an alibi to the defenders of a soulless criminal, because they are taking away his responsibility by saying that television creates monsters."
Topics: Crime, Money, Sex and Relationships, TV, True Crime
Joshua Nair