In this episode of Karamo, host Karamo sits with Nicole, a 40‑year‑old mother of six, and her husband Tank to investigate long‑standing infidelity and alleged domestic abuse. Nicole explains she began a personal journal three months ago to track Tank’s behavior after noticing suspicious patterns, such as late‑night outings and a strong sexual odor. She claims to have found deleted chat‑line histories and evidence of Tank’s affairs. Karamo conducts a forensic review of both spouses’ phones. Nicole’s phone contains no incriminating messages, photos, or videos. Tank’s phone, however, reveals extensive explicit content (over 5,500 photos), screenshots of women on Facebook and Instagram, and a GPS ping to a Comfort Inn on May 15, suggesting a possible rendez‑vous. The couple also recounts a history of domestic violence that their children witnessed, including an incident when Nicole was pregnant and their 4‑year‑old saw the abuse. Their children range from 21 to 7 years old, and the younger ones have been exposed to the conflict. Throughout the session, Tank is defensive, denying abuse and claiming innocence, while Nicole expresses anger, hurt, and a desire to leave. Karamo offers mediation, emphasizing the impact on the children, urging the couple to consider separation for the sake of healthier co‑parenting, and advises Tank to improve his behavior as a father. The episode ends with Nicole stating she will tell Tank to leave so her children can see a positive, stable mother.
Chapters
My guest Nicole just turned 40 and made two promises to herself. One, to work on her own personal goals, and two, to catch her husband cheating. Nicole says she bought a journal to track her husband's behavior, writing down his every move. It's been 3 months now, and what Nicole discovered was shocking enough for her to reach out and ask for my help to unlock Tank's phone. Everyone, please welcome Nicole to the show.
So when I turned 40, I had a journal that I made personally for my accomplishments and my goals.
Yes.
And 3 months in, I noticed Tank start to move differently. He start hiding his phone, going in the bathroom for like 3 hours. Who goes in the bathroom for 3 hours, first of all? Then I would confront him. He'd be like, "Oh, you're insecure, you're this, you're that." Like, I'm not tripping.
So you brought a couple of passages from your journal that you wanna see.
Yes, yes.
Yeah, let's take a look at the first one. 2/21/23, came back home late.
Yes, he came home late. I confronted him. He said he was at the gym once again. 3:00 AM, he had a training session.
3:00, 1:23, 4:00 AM.
He left home at 4:00 AM.
4:00 AM.
Yes.
2:28, 5:07 AM.
Yes.
Do you believe that he went to work?
No, I know he didn't. Like, he's lying. I went through his phone, saw deleted histories, him going on chat line, hooking up with females. He claims that he didn't.
And you told my producer that he comes home smelling like sex?
Only a female would know. Like, I can't lie. I can't make this up.
She said only females know what, 'cause I don't know what the sex smell like. Y'all know what it is? I'm telling you, all the females in here like, "Yes, I know what it smell like." Okay.
Yes.
Okay, so how long exactly have you been journaling to track Tank's behavior?
For 3 months.
3 months. So what is the chat line? So he's talking to other people?
Yes.
Okay.
But he claim he just go on there 'cause he be bored and he wanna look at other women. I'm your wife, not your girlfriend. Why do you wanna look at other women? Yeah.
And when you try to confront Tank, what happened?
He shuts me down every time. He shuts me down, I'm delusional, I'm insecure, I'm living back in the past.
How long have you been together exactly?
Since I was 17 and I'm 40. Mm.
So this is years.
Yes, years. Years. And he's a serial cheater.
Yes. So when did the cheating start?
It started 2001 after I had my first kid.
Okay. How many children do you two have?
I have 6.
If I find something on the phone, Are you staying?
No, I'm leaving. He can take those bags and get to going. I don't care where you're going, but get the hell outta here. Like, get out.
Got it.
I'm done.
How old is your oldest kid?
21.
21. And how old is the youngest?
The youngest is 7.
7 years old?
Yes.
Does the youngest see what's going on between you two?
Yeah, he saw a lot that he shouldn't be seeing. Like, he still remembers stuff that he shouldn't when he was 4.
Yeah.
Like, and that hurts. Like, I was driving and this one incident that happened between me and him, he said, "Mom, is men supposed to hit women?" I act like I ain't hear it, but I heard it. I heard it, yeah. It broke my heart. Then I told my husband. He was so nonchalant about it.
Your 7-year-old has a memory of being 4 and there being abuse in the home.
I never abused her. She went to jail that day.
No.
She called the police and went to jail that day.
Okay. No, what had happened, I was pregnant at the time, I was pregnant, okay? I shouldn't have done it. I think I threw a pillow, I did something. I could have slapped him in the face, I did something. Then I turned my back to do whatever I was doing, playing on my phone, and next thing I know, I get attacked from behind. He get on top of me and he just start wobbin' on me. And my 4-year-old at the time saw that, he started pulling in my hair, punching me in my head, like, my 4-year-old remembers that.
I was getting out of the hole that she had me in.
This is so funny.
It was not funny. She happened to be on top of me while I'm asleep, waking up to my boo was dissing your phone.
I'm laying on the bed, he's on top of me, he pulling my hair, punching me in my head. And the story is, she jumped up, ran outside. And I called the police, and the only reason why I went to jail, because he had scratches, 'cause I was pulling his shirt, trying to pull him off me, that's the only reason. I said, "Ask my 4-year-old." They didn't wanna ask him 'cause they like, "No, he too young." She had my son, my son and my daughter jumped on me.
They thought I hit her, my son and my daughter jumped on me. They both, my son went to jail for that.
Excuse me, no, excuse me.
They called the police and my son went to jail.
I didn't have nobody do nothing. We were in the room, we thought everybody was asleep, we was arguing, we had words, and my oldest daughter said, "Such and such, come here, Dad hitting Mom." So he ran in there as we, 'cause he knocked me in the closet, so, Well, he knocked me in the closet, next thing I know—
No, we didn't knock you in, I didn't knock you in no closet.
Yeah, you pushed me in the closet.
I was having my back in your closet pulling your clothes out.
He had his back turned towards me, I was trying to protect my clothes, okay? You're not about to touch my clothes. So my son came in there, and next thing I know attacked him, next thing I know—
No, my son and my daughter both attacked me while I pulled my clothes out the closet.
But I had nothing to do with that, I never said hi. Kids, come attack me now.
So pulling my clothes out, and next thing all I hear was my son and my daughter, "Bee, bee, bee, bee," in my head. Hit me in my head.
So I'll say this, knowing the pattern of children, especially the pattern of when children think that they need to protect a parent from abuse, usually kids make that irrational decision in the moment to attack a parent because there's probably been a history of it.
Yes, there's a lot. They see a lot what's going on in the house.
So you're admitting there has been a history of where they see this get violent, why they would come to you?
But it don't, 'cause they protecting their mom. They love their mom. They know I'm the bigger person. I'm not abusive. I'm not abusive, I'm just—
But you do exhibit rage?
Yes, I do.
Okay, so Nicole, I'm gonna ask you first. What do you think I'll find when I unlock his phone?
I don't know, probably any and everything. Probably texts, chat lines.
Tank, you also asked us to unlock your wife's phone. What do you think we'll find in the phone?
Just messages from her ex-boyfriend.
I wish, Tony, I wish, I wish.
Messages from her ex-boyfriend.
Okay, and if I find anything, I asked her this earlier, if I find anything in her phone, what does that mean to you? Is it a deal breaker? Are you done?
I can't never leave this woman.
He know he's not gonna find nothing. He was just being petty. He was playing tit for tat. That's all he was doing.
Okay. He said he'll never leave you even if he finds something.
She's all I know.
She's all you know.
She all I know.
Then you need to act like it.
Mm-hmm.
I'm not your girlfriend, I'm your wife.
All right, well let's start with Tank's wife Nicole's phone first.
So Tank, here it is. You asked me to unlock her phone. She handed over her phone and we went through the phone for everything.
Yeah, let's see this.
Yeah, let's see.
Please let me see this.
Please let 'em see it.
So we went through her apps, her text messages, her photos, and her videos. When it came through apps, we searched every app on her phone to see if there's any DMs, any suspicious messages, and we found zero.
Nothing. Period. Thank you. Thank you.
When it came to text message, We searched for text messages between her and any other man or any text message that could be suspicious. Specifically any text message between her and this first boyfriend from back in 1999. And we found zero messages.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I told you, I told you.
When it came to photos, we searched through her photos to see if there's any suspicious photos of her or with anyone else. If there were any photos in the cloud, anything that could have been deleted that could to show us that there was anything sexual of nature. And we found zero photos.
Told you.
Now when it came to videos, we also searched videos just to see if there was any videos that she had sent to anyone, talking to anyone, and anything suspicious nature. And when it came to videos, we found zero.
Told you, thank you. Period. I told you, I told you.
All right, well now let's find out what the investigator found on Nicole's husband's phone. Tank. Tank, are you ready to reveal what I found on your phone?
No.
Okay. All right, so when it came to Tank—
There's nothing on my phone. My phone is clear.
When it came to Tank's, we checked for texts, apps, photos, and GPS. Now I gotta say this first. Before handing over the phone to our investigator, Tank, you deleted so many items. Whoa. You're aware of that? You're aware.
I didn't do nothing wrong. He know, you know what you did.
I was like, what?
That's why you deleted it. You knew exactly what you was doing.
I was like, what?
Well, let's get into it.
Let's get into it.
So when it came to text messages, we were looking for anything salacious between you and anyone else. There was 2 text messages that we found. Now, these text messages were specifically actually between you 2. And the reason I pulled this message up more than anything else, because I thought it was interesting. This was you. I said, you told him, "I told you I didn't want to have sex with you until I can trust you." Yes. You also then said, "Yep, I want a divorce. Can't have sex with someone so nasty. No trust." She's been telling you that she can't trust you for a while. This is important for me because we can find and dig up a lot of things. We'll talk about stuff. But when I see language between couples, that's important. She said she can't trust you. Tell me your point of view.
All right, she can't trust me. I asked her, does she wanna start right now? Can we start this right now? Right here.
How can we start over if there's still—
In other words, you just found something, you won't let it go on and move on.
Right, I just found something in December, January, February. I just found something and I continue to pass up. You on a chat line, looking at videos that you should be looking at.
I was looking at videos, not on no chat line.
Well, let's continue on. So from this, we looked in your apps and we searched through apps to see if we could find anything suspicious in behavior. We found 2. It was 8 Facebook and Instagram screenshots of different women that were on the different apps.
Are you serious?
On Facebook?
And Instagram.
Can I see that?
All right, we're gonna continue on. I don't got an Instagram account. I don't be on Instagram.
Okay, we're gonna continue on 'cause there was screen grabs. So when it came to photos, we found 5,574.
Are you serious? Are you serious? You really couldn't tell me this at home? Like, are you serious? I have to look through your phone?
Photos, sexually explicit photos.
Like I'm done, I'm done with him and other women?
Yeah, so the most recent one we found is a woman in February. And so I printed this one, it's only because this is the last one of the February 2023.
You really didn't think I was gonna find out? Are you serious? Okay, we about 3 members right now since you got Elisa.
This is just the last one because it was February. And I wanna be clear about this. 2023.
That's her.
That's you.
That's me.
Okay, great. It's fine, it's fine.
You better, he ain't out the clear yet.
No, it's fine because we didn't want to go, again, this is the thing you have to understand. There was so many photos that we couldn't go through printing those.
My kids play on it too. My kids do. I don't have no photos.
So, woman, wait a minute, what's on the phone?
Your kids play with your phone and have sexually explicit photos on your phone?
Any photos, sexually explicit photos you see there of her?
Okay.
I don't got no 5,000 sexually explicit photos.
So the next thing is GPS. There was a Google Maps location that pinged at a Comfort Inn. This is May 15th.
That's the one we always go to.
I don't know, I can't remember. We don't have sex that much. It probably was me, but I can't remember.
Okay then, okay, great. So listen, so we know for a fact that you're saying that you've been to this hotel before.
Yeah.
But you're saying that May 15th, you can't be sure if that was you.
I can't be sure.
That's the only one you go to. So listen, You've asked us to unlock it. So this is the information you have. What do you need to say to your man?
I don't know. I don't know if I could still trust you or not. I don't know if I would be able ever to trust you.
If they prove today—
But they said you had a lot of nude apps.
If they had zero photos anyway, you would still say the same thing.
They said you had a lot of nude apps.
We'll go home today, you'll still look at me like, "I don't trust you. I don't trust." You'll say that every day still.
Okay, so if I can give you my advice. And this is gonna be real, is that you two grew apart a long time ago. You two grew apart and became two different people. Listen, the reason I'm not going to sit here and bash you as a man is because your children are at home. And if they're watching this at home, I want them to know that their father still has the opportunity to grow and be the man that they should wanna look up to. You understand? So I wanna make sure that's clear. I'm not about to sit here and bash you and tell you this and that. This is why my tone with you has been very clear because at the end of the day, there are children involved in this relationship. You can be better as a parent and as a man without you two being in the situation. It is like— See, what's getting convoluted right now in the way that you two are co-parenting is because this relationship has grown apart. He doesn't know how to let go. And instead of letting go, y'all are keeping it in y'allself in this toxic cycle.
Yes.
And the problem for me is y'all know right from day one is that as much as I wanna sit here and help y'all and I would love for y'all to be together forever and say, oh my gosh, y'all were 16 high school sweethearts, please grow old together. If y'all grow old together, y'all gonna end up hurting each other.
I don't even wanna talk no more. I don't even wanna talk. I'm leaving.
Wow. Wow.
Okay, so.
What do you do?
Fine. So the question is now for you. The question is now for you. You've been journaling. You said you wanna be better.
Yeah.
I see the rage and the hurt that comes out of you. I see the petty stuff y'all fighting over closets, but I also see the bigger stuff.
Yeah.
Your kids are going to jail over these things.
Mm-hmm.
So what are you about to do as a woman? What are you about to do as a mother?
I'm gonna tell him to leave and we can go our separate ways for my kids can see the positive within their mom and not always crying and hurt all the time.
Thank you. Good job. Hold up, hold up. Where are you going? I know you wanna watch more Karamo, so click here to subscribe and click here to watch more so we can keep talking and growing, friends. I love you.
