MTV's 'Catfish: The TV Show' captures real encounters between other people and their internet scammers. But is it scripted?
Warning: in the event you ever get a DM from an "Instagram model" with lower than, shall we embrace, a thousand followers, IGNORE IT. Or maybe Snoop Dogg himself despatched you a message pronouncing "hey, u up?" and you marvel... does Snoop Dogg have a finsta account? No, no he doesn't, Debbie. Welcome to the global of catfishing. (Debbie, do not you send that Snoop Dogg impersonator $5,000, do not do it!) The term used to be coined by Yaniv "Nev" Schulman, who documented his own catfishing enjoy in his 2010 documentary aptly named Catfish — which used to be directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost.
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You've almost certainly observed his MTV series in accordance with the film, titled Catfish: The TV Show, which has been on for a whopping 8 seasons since 2012. Once featuring Nev and his filmmaking good friend Max Joseph, the series now sees Nev and previous competition queen and style Kamie Crawford as cohosts. Together, they "search for the truth behind the internet's most suspicious relationships, where the truth is stranger than fiction, and the people on the other side of the screen are not always what they seem," as detailed by the show's authentic synopsis.
The display has been on for nearly a decade, which begs the query of whether persons are still actually falling for the sneaky tricks of web catfish. After all this time, persons are starting to marvel, is Catfish: The TV Show scripted?
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Is 'Catfish: The TV' Show scripted?
We'll just break it to you; no, Catfish is not scripted! Period. But as you may have guessed, there are aspects of the series that are not made extraordinarily clear to viewers.
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A 2020 article about the show through Cosmopolitan details that "basically, it’s real, but some parts are edited for dramatic effect."
What does that imply? Well, we're nearly all the time instructed that the particular person being catfished — aka bamboozled — or considered one of their loved ones applies to be on the display, however it is generally the catfish who applies! Who woulda thunk it?
“It’s regularly the catfish we pay attention from first because they’re taking a look to unburden themselves,” executive manufacturer Marshall Eisen defined to Vulture in 2014. “It’s no longer all the time the case, however it most probably occurs more than people understand.” He later clarifed that "we’re not doing an ambush show.” It seems as though the show cares about the feelings and well-being of both parties — no one is being entirely demonized.
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Not only that, but we bet you didn't know that the catfish investigations can take quite a while. Yeah, it's not a 10-minute internet sleuth session before the "Eureka!" moment.
“We edit the investigations down. They can be grueling,” Marshall Eisen explained. “There have been very, very long days where Nev and Max are trying to figure it out, and we can’t help them.” Obviously he discussed the days prior to Kamie's involvement, but the same goes for the current show.
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“The guys are better at it now, but it’s not always obvious how to crack these things. We’ve condensed what’s taken them ten hours in some instances into five or six minutes, but we try to show that it was difficult," he persisted.
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One last item we're going to leave you with is that each individual featured on Catfish speaks with a therapist after filming wraps, because once in a while things get real, and it's ceaselessly a lot to reveal on national television.
“We want to make sure that a professional is there in case the person needs it,” Marshall Eisen shared. “Fortunately we haven’t had any issues after the show has aired, but we wish to ensure that persons are taken care of if they wish to be.” We all need a little help every now and again.
Season 8 episodes of Catfish air on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST on MTV.
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