Mama June and Sugar Bear Join 'Marriage Boot Camp' Following Split, Allegations She Dated Sex Offender: 'It Was Our Last Resort'

The former Here Comes Honey Boo Boo stars will appear on WEtv reality series premiering Dec. 4

Published on November 3, 2015 04:35 PM

First comes love, second comes Marriage Boot Camp for Mama June Shannon and Sugar Bear.

“It was our last resort,” Shannon tells PEOPLE of her decision to appear on the show, which helps troubled couples ultimately decide if they should stay together or not.

“I feel like he had cheated for quite some time, and I needed some answers,” says Shannon. “It was either you go here or we end our 11 years.”

The couple split last September, but just a month later reports surfaced that Shannon was dating former boyfriend Mark McDaniel – a convicted sex offender who allegedly molested Shannon’s daughter Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell when she was just 8 years old.

Though she denied the relationship, posting “It isnt true i promise” on her Facebook page in October, TLC canceled the hit series in the wake of the scandal.

When asked about the scandal, Shannon declined to comment but hinted that the issues would be addressed in her upcoming appearance on the show.

The former Here Comes Honey Boo Boo stars will join season four on WEtv’s series among fellow reality regulars The Bachelor‘s Sean and Catherine Lowe, Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta‘s Benzino and Althea Heart, Basketball Wives: LA‘s Sunday Carter, plus Cedric and Sarah Oliver and Jimmy “Inkman” Coney from the Bad Girls Club.

And Shannon says she is hopeful she can repair the on-again/off-again relationship and make it work.

“We’re doing pretty good, and we’re getting along, but we still live in two separate households because we have to still work on things,” she says. “We spend weekends together. It’s a work in progress, and it’s not going to happen overnight.”