MTV's Catfish: The TV Show reveals the truths and lies of online dating by exposing those who pretend to be someone else online. Often, the individual being catfished is emotionally vulnerable and falls in love with their catfisher. Due to the pandemic, people are practicing social distancing, which unfortunately increases the chances for an individual to be deceptive online, especially on dating sites.
While Nev Schulman and co-host Kamie Crawford often expose the catfish before they come clean, there are certain cases where the deceptive online persona wants to tell the truth before they're caught. In fact, there are at least four virtual relationships over the course of the show where the catfish tried to come clean. Unfortunately, the focus of their deception just didn't want to hear the truth.
Chitara & Priscilla (Ashanti)
Chitara had been communicating with Priscilla for six months. Suddenly Chitara found herself falling in love with Priscilla and told her. Priscilla instantly started pulling back on her feelings. She started making excuses as to why she could never meet Chitara in person, including her mother's death. Then, out of nowhere, Priscilla told Chitara that she was no longer interested in her and was interested in another guy. Chitara was heartbroken and wanted to confront Priscilla so she could find out the truth. With the help of MTV's show producers, Chitara was able to confront Priscilla at her home. But Priscilla wasn't Priscilla. She was Ashanti! She wasn't 22 years old like she told Chitara, but rather an eighteen-year-old girl who was just playing a cruel joke on Chitara. In the end, verbal words were still exchanged, Chitara ended up leaving heartbroken and knowing the full truth.
Ramon & Paola (Lyoda)
Ramon wanted to see who the person who he fell in love with truly looked like. Producers knocked on Paola's door to find a person different than what the online picture profile suggested. Her name wasn't Paola either, but rather Lyoda. Ramon asked her why she lied and took advantage of him, as well as why she took presents and money from him. Lyoda said she was bored and created a profile for fun. She wasn't expecting to meet anyone online. Then Lyoda drops a bomb on the crew, saying Ramon knew who she was and what she looked like all along and that he was in denial. Ramon fesses up that he indeed knows what she looked like, but he just didn't want to believe it. Reverse catfishing gone bad!
Kirsten & Alex (Justin)
Alex friended Kirsten online, then reached out to her and said she was cute. Alex claimed he just moved to Stillwater, OK and wanted to meet up. He even suggested a weekend meet-up where they'd go bowling and for ice cream. Suddenly, Alex's dad had a stroke and he had to fly out of town and so couldn't meet up in person. He then asked for photos of her and she sent them. Suddenly, Alex deleted his social profiles and Kirsten was left confused. When show producers found Alex, his name was really Justin and he was an old friend of Kirsten's. She had turned him down previously, so he thought he'd try to get her to like him by being someone else. Backfired! Now Kirsten isn't even friends with Justin.
William & Jamie
William had been talking to Jamie for over two years! He met her on Twitter, she reached out to him, and they started talking every day. He really liked her and even said he loved her. She then started sending him money—thousands of dollars over the course of the two years. She kept delaying meeting him in person so he broke it off, which prompted her to get aggressive about asking for the money back. When Nev and Kammie got involved, they drove William to a park to meet Jamie. Her real name was in fact Jamie, but she just didn't look anything like her profile picture. She wanted to come clean because she had feelings for him, but he had already moved on to a new girlfriend.