Lie detector controversy ruins Warzone cheating investigation of Shifty
Twitch: Full Squad Gaming / Science Photo LibraryAlleged Warzone cheater ‘Shifty’ was flown out to try and prove his innocence live on-stream. However, the legitimacy of the lie detector result left the situation even murkier than before, with the stream cut short following allegations made against the polygraph examiner brought in.
The ongoing saga of aspiring Warzone pro Shifty continues to grow more complicated.
What began in early March with cheating allegations amid a $100,000 tournament, soon led to deep dives by fellow pros before esports organization NRG stepped in.
The crew at NRG and Full Squad Gaming offered to fly Shifty out for an unprecedented investigation. They planned to have the accused player showcase his skills on a PC of their own choosing, live for the Warzone community to see.
This broadcast finally went down on April 5 but rather than clearing the air, a lie detector test just left the situation even more confusing than before.
At first, Shifty was required to play a handful of games on-stream. Given the cheating allegations against him, every play was under more scrutiny than usual. Though after playing for a few hours, no conclusions were drawn.
Shifty played well, despite not being on his own PC rig at home. Experienced Warzone pro ScummN was even brought into the studio to offer his input as Shifty dropped into lobby after lobby, yet still no concrete opinions were formed.
As a result, this all led to a lie detector test near the end of the broadcast. It was something Full Squad Gaming and NRG had been hyping up more than anything else throughout the day.
It was with this lie detector test that things quickly fell apart, however. The individual conducting the test, John Grogan, was instantly called out by those watching along live.
Grogan, an LA-based polygraph examiner, has appeared on reality shows like the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Beauty and the Geek, among many others. Despite being referred to on TV as “one of the most respected polygraph examiners in the country,” his experience was called into question by viewers.
In 2008, Grogan filed a lawsuit alleging “defamation, invasion of privacy (false light), and intentional infliction of emotional distress” against several individuals and companies for making false statements about his polygraph work. The lawsuit was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount, concluding, “no party in any way admits liability or wrongdoing of any sort.”
However, as Twitch chat began to question the authenticity of this lie detector test, the Full Squad Gaming channel quickly threw to an intermission screen.
With thousands awaiting results, hosts Jake Lucky and Grady Rains soon returned to address the concern. They opted not to share the results of Shifty’s test.
In just a matter of minutes, the stream was shut down, the Twitch VOD was deleted, and the YouTube stream was made private.
At the end of the day I did not feel comfortable sharing those results and I think that was the right call. Thank you all so much who came out because beyond that big blunder that was so much fun for me. More important updates coming tomorrow.
— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) April 6, 2022
“[F**k] me,” Lucky said on Twitter after the broadcast ended. “At the end of the day I did not feel comfortable sharing those results and I think that was the right call.”
The hosts offered to cover the costs for a secondary lie detector test, if Shifty wants to continue proving his innocence.
For the time being, however, it seems unlikely as the budding Warzone pro “just [wants] to play CoD” moving forward.
