“Honey Boo Boo” star June Shannon is returning to television. Better known as Mama June, the reality star has joined the cast of WEtv’s upcoming season of “Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars,” along with her ex husband Mike Thompson, better known as Sugar Bear.
The casting marks her first permanent television return, following her TLC show being axed in Oct. 2014 after allegations surfaced that she was romantically involved with a convicted sex offender and child molester.
Shannon and Thompson, who split last September, were the surprise couple revealed after the original cast announcement for Season 4 of “Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars” was released. Other couples are “The Bachelor’s” Sean and Catherine Lowe; Benzino and Althea Heart from “Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta;” Sunday Carter and Cedric of “Basketball Wives: LA;” and Sarah Oliver and Jimmy “Inkman” Coney from “Bad Girls Club.”
“It was our last resort,” Shannon told People of joining “Boot Camp.” She continued, “I feel like he had cheated for quite some time, and I needed some answers. It was either you go here or we end our 11 years.”
The WEtv series focuses on bettering couples, placing five pairs under one roof for intense counseling and exercises meant to test the limits of their relationships.
Last October, TMZ reported that Shannon had been dating former boyfriend and convicted sex offender Mark McDaniel, who reportedly molested her daughter Anna Cardwell when she was just eight years old.
At the time, Shannon posted a video on Facebook, denying her involvement with McDaniel, saying, “The statement of me dating a sex offender is totally untrue. I would not ever, ever put my kids in danger.”
“Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars” Season 4 premieres on Dec. 4.
