Behind the Scenes of HULU’s Betrayal: Dirty Secrets | BONUS | Karoline's Story

Karoline Borega's unforgettable story from Betrayal Season 4 is now a docu-series on Hulu, Betrayal: Dirty Secrets. In this special bonus episode, Andrea Gunning revisits some of the season's most memorable moments, shares behind-the-scenes stories, and offers a preview of what you’ll see in the new show. You can now stream Karoline's story on Hulu https://www.hulu.com/series/002226aa-c9f5-4433-b982-be31ead74624 and Disney+ https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-002226aa-c9f5-4433-b982-be31ead74624. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal team by emailing us at [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. You can also find us on Instagram at @betrayalpod https://www.instagram.com/betrayalpod/ and @glasspodcasts https://www.instagram.com/glasspodcasts/. To access our newsletter and additional content and to connect with the Betrayal community, join our Substack at betrayal.substack.com. See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 2:36Speaker 00

  Hey, everyone, it's Andrea. I have some big news. Betrayal Season 4 with Caroline Borrega is now a docu-series on Hulu. It's called Betrayal: Dirty Secrets. And this is a Betrayal bonus episode to share more about what you'll see in the new show.

• 2:53Speaker 00

  Caroline was living an idyllic life in Colorado with her police officer husband of more than 20 years. If you've heard the podcast, you know their two kids revered their father, especially for serving the community. Until one day, a text from him changed everything.

• 3:11Speaker 02

  I fucked up the worst I've ever fucked up in my life. I've ruined our lives. You're going to want to divorce me.

• 3:22Speaker 00

  We met Caroline after she discovered her husband was living a secret life. That life included multiple affairs that took place while he was on duty.

• 3:33Speaker 00

  When I went to Colorado Springs to meet Caroline, we toured her beautiful home. It was filled with reminders of her family. But something caught my eye. Many of the picture frames no longer held family photos. Instead, they displayed the stock images that come with the frames. Caroline had done her best to remove pictures of her ex-husband from her home. When it came time to start production of the TV docu-series, it was something Director John Hirsch was thinking about.

• 4:03Speaker 03

  We put such a premium on family archival on these shows because we think it's one of the key elements to really connecting the audience to the story and to the characters and really understanding how their lives were impacted. The day before the shoot was going to begin, I was sitting in her living room and was chatting with Nicole, her daughter. And Caroline excused herself and walked upstairs. And when she came back down the stairs, I saw that she was holding a large, kind of like legal box. She drops the box down on the ottoman in front of the sofa that I was sitting on, and I see photo albums. She had photo albums that she had buried in a closet

• 4:46Speaker 03

  that she had, I think, to some extent, forgotten she had or wanted to forget that she had. And it included her wedding photo album, photos of the kids when they were born. A lot more than I ever expected to see.

• 4:59Speaker 00

  It was a treasure trove of photos and memories. And it really helps you understand the love story that started when Caroline and Joel first met.

• 5:09Speaker 03

  I had a real reaction when I saw the contents of this box, especially seeing the wedding photos. Because what I saw was a young couple that was so obviously in love with each other. And seeing the smiles on their faces that day, it really did look like something out of a modern-day fairy tale. And it drove things home for me because seeing those photos juxtaposed to the emotion that we hear from Caroline and her family in the podcast, you really can see and feel, to some extent, the impact that this experience has had on her and her family.

• 5:48Speaker 00

  One of the most shocking moments in our season with Caroline was hearing Joel Kern's meetings with Internal Affairs. There were multiple instances when he lied about having sex during work hours in his police vehicle.

• 6:01Speaker 04

  It's a very serious allegation. This person is identifying that they had sex with you, Joel Kern, in your department car.

• 6:09Speaker 04

  So I'm going to ask you again, real quick, understanding that detectives are out there to talk to her right now. Have you been physically intimate with this individual?

• 6:16Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 6:18Speaker 04

  Did that occur inside a department vehicle?

• 6:20Speaker 05

  No.

• 6:23Speaker 00

  Those recordings were some of the most unforgettable moments in the podcast. In the new series, you get another layer of the story, seeing Joel's body language on video and how he denies, deflects, and shifts whenever he's confronted with the truth. One heartbreaking moment you may recall in Caroline's story is when she received a message that Joel was having sex with a tenant in the rental property Caroline owned. Joel accompanied Caroline to the rental to confront the woman accused of sleeping with Joel. Not only did he deny it, he doubled down at the meeting.

• 7:00Speaker 05

  This psychopath has got me on the road to divorce. My kids want me out of the house.

• 7:06Speaker 00

  Eventually, the real story came to light. After putting on a show for Caroline and silencing the tenant, he later admitted it was true. In Betrayal: Dirty Secrets, Caroline took me there for the first time. Revisiting the house and sitting next to Caroline, you can see the grief is still there, right beneath the surface.

• 7:29Speaker 00

  In the new Hulu series, you'll meet the people you've heard on the podcast, like the therapist who counseled Caroline, former CSPD officers who worked with Joel, and even one of the women from CSPD Joel had an affair with.

• 7:43Speaker 06

  Everybody seems to know Caroline and know what she's like. Everybody says that she's kind of a problem. From what I understand is that she was very controlling and not nice.

• 7:58Speaker 00

  She'd been a voice on the other end of the phone. On Betrayal: Dirty Secrets, she offers more details on just how far Joel's deception went.

• 8:10Speaker 00

  For a moment, I want to go back to where Joel's double life first began to unravel. It's something we heard early on in the podcast. A man Joel didn't know knocked on his door when Caroline wasn't home.

• 8:25Speaker 05

  Hey, how you doing? Oh, can you imagine your wife home by chance? Why is that? You don't like her? Yeah. Here, that's my wife out there, the one that you fuck in your cruiser. What are you talking about? I'm not here to harass you. But I'm saying, Joel? Yeah, I'm talking about you. Okay, my wife? Okay, my wife is there. Dave? I just want to know if you know her. I have no idea who you're talking about.

• 8:52Speaker 00

  Caroline eventually learned that Joel had met this man's wife on FetLife, a kink and fetish networking site. Joel had sex with this woman in his police car in a public park in the middle of the day. The man and his wife reported it all to the Colorado Springs Police Department. That's when Joel's lies were exposed.

• 9:14Speaker 04

  Did you arrange to meet her at Memorial Park?

• 9:16Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 9:17Speaker 04

  Then basically, you had sex with her at Memorial Park?

• 9:20Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 9:22Speaker 00

  When we filmed the Hulu series, I visited Memorial Park with Caroline. It's a breathtaking sight with a lake, swimming, ice skating, and playgrounds all against the backdrop of Pike's Peak, a beloved place in Caroline's hometown that will forever be tainted.

• 9:42Speaker 00

  During production, we spent more time with therapist Kristen Snowden. Her work helped Caroline begin healing. And you'll hear her share more about betrayed partner recovery.

• 9:54Speaker 07

  You're betrayed by the person you've trusted the most. And then naturally, being social beings, we go out and seek support and validation and connection with our loved ones, but they just cannot wrap their brain around unless they've had someone lie to their face about just the most basic things.

• 10:14Speaker 02

  We don't know each other, but you know my story already.

• 10:17Speaker 07

  You're gonna change people's lives. You're touching upon like so many things that so many betrayed partners are struggling with. Thank God someone like you has the courage to be sharing these stories.

• 10:30Speaker 00

  John McFarland showed courage, too. He's one of the few former colleagues of Joel Kern at CSPD that talked on the record.

• 10:38Speaker 01

  At first, Joel Kern was somebody that I could look up to and trust. And he was very skilled in that arena of investigation. And then as time went on, things really, really started to change. He's sacrificing his duty. He's using his position for personal gain.

• 10:57Speaker 00

  I'm excited for you to meet John in the new series. He does a great job at explaining the severity of Joel's behavior from a law enforcement perspective. And finally, there was a special night at the end of recording the podcast. We were invited to join Caroline and her closest friends for their Sunday night Supper Club. Caroline made a delicious Mexican feast and we shared a few bottles of wine.

• 11:22Speaker 02

  So, you know, I ate every night with him. And then on Sundays, we would get together for dinner. But then it was, this has been so fun. We should do this every Sunday. Oh, well, we won't just do it at like one house every Sunday. Like every Sunday, we'll rotate houses.

• 11:38Speaker 00

  My first time at Supper Club, I was a guest. I was warmly welcomed, but I felt a little like a fly on the wall, observing everyone. For the new docu-series, I returned to Supper Club, and this time, I felt like I was a member.

• 11:55Speaker 07

  I know. And then I sat next to Caroline and I was like, oh, how long have we been married? Oh, we're not married. That's my best friend's husband. I was like, yes, yes. This is so good.

• 12:07Speaker 04

  Nice job, Scott.

• 12:09Speaker 07

  Yeah. So then the next day, I was like, oh, we're going to this thing. I don't care if it's weird, we're going, we're going.

• 12:18Speaker 00

  I asked our director, John Hirsch, why Betrayal fans should watch the new docu-series.

• 12:25Speaker 03

  They are hard stories to tell, but it's all the more motivation to tell the story the right way and make sure that like, you know, we see the good that comes out of this. And I think the podcast and our show do a really great job of seeing the perseverance within the family and seeing where Caroline is now in the headspace that she's in moving forward. It's pretty awesome.

• 12:43Speaker 00

  You've heard the voices, now see the faces, the places and the moments that stayed with us long after the recording stopped. Watch Betrayal: Dirty Secrets, streaming now on Hulu.

• 13:02Speaker 00

  Listen, we're all trying to save for something. For me, I love to save up for a really nice vacation and maybe put some money aside for a new car. It's always nice having something to look forward to and knowing you're actually making progress towards those bigger goals feels really good. But in reality, it can be hard to actually save money. But that's what's great about the One Pay app. It makes saving money easy. First, you earn 3% cash back on up to $150. You choose categories like Walmart, gas, or dining, and then get rewarded when you spend in those categories. So you're rewarded for what you're already buying. With high-yield savings, your money keeps growing. So download the One Pay app or visit onepay.com for banking that gives you more for what matters.

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  One Pay is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Coastal Community Bank or Lead Bank, members FDIC. Cash back is earned as points. Go to onepay.com/rewards/terms for redemption options and additional details.

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