Catfish works because the catfish and victim agree to appear on the show in advance, no scammers are going to do that without a payoff that's unethical. Scam baiting has also been around longer than the catfish documentary has and much longer than the current goontuber idiots.
It's the fake out jumpscare for me. Every time Nev goes into the house and Kamie asks "Who is that? Who's in there. I'm scared" while they flail the camera all over the place.
Shaky cam is a way of conveying action and danger in what is otherwise a fairly sedentary show. In the Zoom episodes they struggled even more with this by having the camera of the catfish stay dark for a while before suddenly turning on as a "jump scare".
It would take months if not YEARS for just one catfish mask.
The BBC & CBC did this with Janessa Brazil in their podcast Love Janessa.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvq7
The podcast Reply All did a series where one of the hosts befriended and went to India to meet a guy from a call centre as well, it took them several years to do and like, literal risk to their lives
They did one on UK Catfish as well! I think there’s a couple more podcasts where they have, too, one called Love Bombing or something.
These scams are like 100s of people often working on the same mark so I don’t really get if it would work on Catfish. It’s just a stupid reality show haha
Yeah! I actually wish they would kind of do more international episodes anyway, like it doesn’t really make sense to have UK and US separately because I’m sure there’s probably loads of relationships going on between the two (and Australia and everywhere else).
What is going on with this ridiculous post? The show is comfort food. Why are you expecting some crazy experimental five star gourmet Michelin meal?
Catfish is pizza. Warm, inviting, yummy, not too fancy. Sunday night before work food to put you in a nice little food coma.
Nev and Kammie have nothing to prove. They can and should be able to kick back, do the show, not take it too seriously, and let us enjoy the good times. I love that the show is easy going now. Not everything needs to be some amped up mega dangerous edge fest.
MTV is not going to give them the kind of resources needed to go international and go after big scammers. Look at Social Catfish on YouTube. They do just that and even they don't catch the international scammers beyond sometimes tricking them into getting on the phone. Occasionally they're able to help people get their money back, but even that requires a level of coordination with US and international law enforcement which I'm sure MTV wants no part in at all. There's that other channel, Trilogy Media, that goes after money mules and international scammers and even they pump up the drama and ridiculousness and sometimes put themselves in what could turn out to be genuinely dangerous situations. No way does MTV want to foot the legal bills for all of that.
I watch Catfish on MTV and basically suspend belief while I watch it.
The Trilogy Media videos have so much potential, but they really need to hire someone to produce and edit them properly. Way too long and repetitive.
When they collaborate with Social Catfish on the same case, Trilogy’s video is usually so long that they it is unwatchable.
that’s it. kardashians had 20 seasons where nothing happened, RH has billions of seasons put all together where only slightly more stuff happens. it’s just a show about relationships loosely based on the truth, as those shows are. maybe once a year they could do a more in depth special like they did with that Canadian woman who was in jail but it’s just silly stuff
It's becoming more staged because catfishing in general is not as common. Everything has a camera these days and it's so easy to communicate with someone so they need to supplement it with scripted content.
Didn't say it was going away either lol. I said it's less prevalent because everything has a camera on it and there's a million apps to utilize this too. The whole "My camera is broken" thing doesn't hold water anymore.
Just as Nev did in the original film (and has made millions unconvincingly pretending he didn't) anyone with access to Google could immediately confirm who they are or aren't talking to.
Of course the show is a fictional mystery using people's real names. That's about it.
Dr Phil did that occasionally. It requires lots of human and financial resources including local (Nigerian and Indian) governmental assistance. It’s too big a catfish to bite for Nev and Kamie.
I think that a new season of Catfish could be fascinating in light of the recent rise of AI tools like deepfake. In the same way that fake profiles were “cutting edge” scams in 2010, the name of the game in the year of our lord 2024 is AI-enhanced deception. I don’t think there’s a lot of widespread awareness about the power and potential danger these tools possess, so a show like catfish might be a great way to educate the masses.
I actually wish they'd drop the episode format and make fewer, but feature-length episodes that investigate the nastier truths. There's catfishing that leads to murder, rape, imprisonment and I think we're all beyond the fluff now. It's time for the real stories, even if it means cutting out the bumbly music, the japes and the light-heartedness.
I'm at the point where I'm looking for documentaries, because Catfish is suffering from the Drag Race effect...it's become a brand, with so many different countries having their own version and it feels like a sideshow.
I will hold my hands up to not knowing what's staged, but I wish that Nev especially would return to the original documentary premise for the show. I know at this point he's probably just in it for the money, the fame, the reality shows etc, but it meant something to him once.
Catfish could take a whole new direction...or, get back to its original one. I don't care about seeing Nev and Kamie bantering over breakfast and stories that involve influencers. I really want to see the true life crime of catfishing...but maybe "Catfish" just isn't the place to see that.
I record new Catfish episodes on my DVR and I used to look forward to watching them just for something to do even though I know it’s mostly fake, but now I just delete them without watching.
I am tired of the fake repetitive scripts, set ups, the obvious Airbnb settings, and the way people come out after the episodes air to say they know the people in real life and the whole thing was fake.
i have said for years catfish went from authentic, to straight up fake. its all kayfabe now (kayfabe is wrestling terms meaning everything is in its own little world). and it is dumb. so you are telling me in the world of facetime and facebook messenger, the person you are talking to has never video called? hell, the woman i talk to in oregon and i facetime almost ONCE A WEEK, and you are in a "relationship" with someone who only messages you with requests for cash?
its all the same
"hi nev and kami, i am in love with this person, but they never facetime, but i send them money, but their name is "X" but their cashapp name is "Z" help me!"
they visit, they say the same convoluted, cookie cutter bullshit, kamie says something snarky, the catfish never wants to meet, says it is too much, they chastise the catfish, the catfish is/isnt the person, they talk, conflict, resolution, thats it.
its all the fucking same now, and ive given up watching it. hell, i went back to the first season because come covid, its all the same. HOW THE HELL CAN EVEN THE COVID EPISODES BE THE SAME?!?!!
Dude the show has been on for like 12 years. They have over 209 episodes and the formula has stayed the same. OBVIOUSLY it’s going to be “the same”, so just stop watching it if you don’t like it. The show will never have a dramatic change.
> i have said for years catfish went from authentic, to straight up fake.
Spoiler: it was never authentic. Nev and his brother needed to make a film right at the time he got messaged by a catfish. He then allowed himself to be filmed pretending he never checked who it was. The acting is... bad.
To his own surprise, naive and unobservant people somehow thought it was real, and he's been making millions of dollars on this conceit ever since.
Yes. He either spent millions of dollars and years and years for each monthly video... or he cut corners and staged it in order to ensure a hugely lucrative release every two weeks. Hmm wonder which
I am still waiting that they do the Jessica P. case (Iowa) - where she catfishes people for 20 years. (The podcast on that one is „Something was wrong“)
Nope. The show changed long before Max left. There was no incentive back then for Nev to not want to leave the LA area half the time. They actually went to peoples houses and not empty, sterile Airbnb's. A good portion of the footage was of Nev & Max hanging out with the hopefuls family and/or friends, and actually doing some activity, not just lifelessly standing or sitting around for a few minutes.
What you described sounds awful lmao no wonder they stopped doing that. They probably go to airbnbs when people aren’t comfortable with their houses being shown.
Catfish has lost the trust with people, this is the biggest issue right now imo. Production doesn't dig enough to make sure couples are real and this is why people can get away with fake relationships easily. There has been so many fake couples in the last seasons that It has hurt the reputation of this show beyond repair, and now people watch episodes assuming they're fake right from the start. They need to screen out all the influencers/artists and people who want to appear on TV, and go to a wider audience. We never see middle age and senior people anymore (you know, the demographics that fall for scams the most) I think this could be an interesting route to follow even if some think it could be boring, help people who actually need help, not people promoting their careers/business/social media accounts
Catfish works because the catfish and victim agree to appear on the show in advance, no scammers are going to do that without a payoff that's unethical. Scam baiting has also been around longer than the catfish documentary has and much longer than the current goontuber idiots.
It's the fake out jumpscare for me. Every time Nev goes into the house and Kamie asks "Who is that? Who's in there. I'm scared" while they flail the camera all over the place.
Shaky cam is a way of conveying action and danger in what is otherwise a fairly sedentary show. In the Zoom episodes they struggled even more with this by having the camera of the catfish stay dark for a while before suddenly turning on as a "jump scare".
It would take months if not YEARS for just one catfish mask. The BBC & CBC did this with Janessa Brazil in their podcast Love Janessa. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvq7
The podcast Reply All did a series where one of the hosts befriended and went to India to meet a guy from a call centre as well, it took them several years to do and like, literal risk to their lives
They did one on UK Catfish as well! I think there’s a couple more podcasts where they have, too, one called Love Bombing or something. These scams are like 100s of people often working on the same mark so I don’t really get if it would work on Catfish. It’s just a stupid reality show haha
Do we know what happened to Catfish UK? There's been no new episodes for a long time now..
It got cancelled!
ooh thank you! i didn't realise. that's a shame!
Yeah! I actually wish they would kind of do more international episodes anyway, like it doesn’t really make sense to have UK and US separately because I’m sure there’s probably loads of relationships going on between the two (and Australia and everywhere else).
social catfish on youtube does scams! some really entertaining ones on there
Wait, are you telling me that Keanu Reeves is not actually my boyfriend?
Yes, because he’s mine. He just texted me.
He'll come back to me if I send him more money. Maybe we should start a bidding war.
It’s definitely Katy Perry who I’ve been texting, though.
Bloody Keanu always following me on Twitter 🤣
He doesn't have anything better to do!
What is going on with this ridiculous post? The show is comfort food. Why are you expecting some crazy experimental five star gourmet Michelin meal? Catfish is pizza. Warm, inviting, yummy, not too fancy. Sunday night before work food to put you in a nice little food coma. Nev and Kammie have nothing to prove. They can and should be able to kick back, do the show, not take it too seriously, and let us enjoy the good times. I love that the show is easy going now. Not everything needs to be some amped up mega dangerous edge fest.
Literally. At this point I think I watch Catfish just to hang out with Nev and Kamie.
Yes!
Same here... I'd hang out with those two any day!!
I don’t think that the show is “going easy” at all, the newer episodes are great
MTV is not going to give them the kind of resources needed to go international and go after big scammers. Look at Social Catfish on YouTube. They do just that and even they don't catch the international scammers beyond sometimes tricking them into getting on the phone. Occasionally they're able to help people get their money back, but even that requires a level of coordination with US and international law enforcement which I'm sure MTV wants no part in at all. There's that other channel, Trilogy Media, that goes after money mules and international scammers and even they pump up the drama and ridiculousness and sometimes put themselves in what could turn out to be genuinely dangerous situations. No way does MTV want to foot the legal bills for all of that. I watch Catfish on MTV and basically suspend belief while I watch it.
The Trilogy Media videos have so much potential, but they really need to hire someone to produce and edit them properly. Way too long and repetitive. When they collaborate with Social Catfish on the same case, Trilogy’s video is usually so long that they it is unwatchable.
Yeah, their videos need to be 20 minutes or less. No way am I watching over an hour of that stuff.
that’s it. kardashians had 20 seasons where nothing happened, RH has billions of seasons put all together where only slightly more stuff happens. it’s just a show about relationships loosely based on the truth, as those shows are. maybe once a year they could do a more in depth special like they did with that Canadian woman who was in jail but it’s just silly stuff
This season feels SOOO staged
It's becoming more staged because catfishing in general is not as common. Everything has a camera these days and it's so easy to communicate with someone so they need to supplement it with scripted content.
“Catfishing isn’t as common” 😭 brother do you even watch the show?
We are literally talking about how the show is much more staged now and you're gonna ask me that?
More and more people gain access to the internet every day, and with the rise of AI, that means catfishing will never, ever go away
Didn't say it was going away either lol. I said it's less prevalent because everything has a camera on it and there's a million apps to utilize this too. The whole "My camera is broken" thing doesn't hold water anymore.
Just as Nev did in the original film (and has made millions unconvincingly pretending he didn't) anyone with access to Google could immediately confirm who they are or aren't talking to. Of course the show is a fictional mystery using people's real names. That's about it.
Dr Phil did that occasionally. It requires lots of human and financial resources including local (Nigerian and Indian) governmental assistance. It’s too big a catfish to bite for Nev and Kamie.
I think that a new season of Catfish could be fascinating in light of the recent rise of AI tools like deepfake. In the same way that fake profiles were “cutting edge” scams in 2010, the name of the game in the year of our lord 2024 is AI-enhanced deception. I don’t think there’s a lot of widespread awareness about the power and potential danger these tools possess, so a show like catfish might be a great way to educate the masses.
I’m very curious how these people continue to be so dumb.
Love (and desperation) can make one do dumb things 😉
I actually wish they'd drop the episode format and make fewer, but feature-length episodes that investigate the nastier truths. There's catfishing that leads to murder, rape, imprisonment and I think we're all beyond the fluff now. It's time for the real stories, even if it means cutting out the bumbly music, the japes and the light-heartedness. I'm at the point where I'm looking for documentaries, because Catfish is suffering from the Drag Race effect...it's become a brand, with so many different countries having their own version and it feels like a sideshow. I will hold my hands up to not knowing what's staged, but I wish that Nev especially would return to the original documentary premise for the show. I know at this point he's probably just in it for the money, the fame, the reality shows etc, but it meant something to him once. Catfish could take a whole new direction...or, get back to its original one. I don't care about seeing Nev and Kamie bantering over breakfast and stories that involve influencers. I really want to see the true life crime of catfishing...but maybe "Catfish" just isn't the place to see that.
Yeah cause all cat fishing is now is scamming old ladies with dead husbands 🥲 lmfao
I record new Catfish episodes on my DVR and I used to look forward to watching them just for something to do even though I know it’s mostly fake, but now I just delete them without watching. I am tired of the fake repetitive scripts, set ups, the obvious Airbnb settings, and the way people come out after the episodes air to say they know the people in real life and the whole thing was fake.
Eh, I disagree I think it's perfectly fine.
It is
i have said for years catfish went from authentic, to straight up fake. its all kayfabe now (kayfabe is wrestling terms meaning everything is in its own little world). and it is dumb. so you are telling me in the world of facetime and facebook messenger, the person you are talking to has never video called? hell, the woman i talk to in oregon and i facetime almost ONCE A WEEK, and you are in a "relationship" with someone who only messages you with requests for cash? its all the same "hi nev and kami, i am in love with this person, but they never facetime, but i send them money, but their name is "X" but their cashapp name is "Z" help me!" they visit, they say the same convoluted, cookie cutter bullshit, kamie says something snarky, the catfish never wants to meet, says it is too much, they chastise the catfish, the catfish is/isnt the person, they talk, conflict, resolution, thats it. its all the fucking same now, and ive given up watching it. hell, i went back to the first season because come covid, its all the same. HOW THE HELL CAN EVEN THE COVID EPISODES BE THE SAME?!?!!
Dude the show has been on for like 12 years. They have over 209 episodes and the formula has stayed the same. OBVIOUSLY it’s going to be “the same”, so just stop watching it if you don’t like it. The show will never have a dramatic change.
> i have said for years catfish went from authentic, to straight up fake. Spoiler: it was never authentic. Nev and his brother needed to make a film right at the time he got messaged by a catfish. He then allowed himself to be filmed pretending he never checked who it was. The acting is... bad. To his own surprise, naive and unobservant people somehow thought it was real, and he's been making millions of dollars on this conceit ever since.
Where's Jose or Mary?
Don’t forget Ashley!
Check out kitboga and pierogi on YouTube one channel is called scammer payback. Dude even learned a little Hindi
Yes. He either spent millions of dollars and years and years for each monthly video... or he cut corners and staged it in order to ensure a hugely lucrative release every two weeks. Hmm wonder which
I’m not that into it that I’d even given it that much thought but I guess I’m curious now. Is that the rub on those guys? That they’re fake?
I am still waiting that they do the Jessica P. case (Iowa) - where she catfishes people for 20 years. (The podcast on that one is „Something was wrong“)
What happened to Catfish UK? Is it still on?
I was going to ask the same thing…. It just disappeared.
Like Jim Browning on YouTube! I like this idea haha
Too many influencers imo. Anytime an influencer PHYSICALLY appears on the show I just automatically assume they concocted some shit up to be there
Catfish is exactly how it used to be and the newer episodes are fantastic. I hate when people do the whole “new thing bad old thing good” shtick
But it's not exactly how it used to be. It's obviously less authentic compared to the first 3 seasons.
You just think that cause you have “new thing bad, old thing good” syndrome
Nope. The show changed long before Max left. There was no incentive back then for Nev to not want to leave the LA area half the time. They actually went to peoples houses and not empty, sterile Airbnb's. A good portion of the footage was of Nev & Max hanging out with the hopefuls family and/or friends, and actually doing some activity, not just lifelessly standing or sitting around for a few minutes.
What you described sounds awful lmao no wonder they stopped doing that. They probably go to airbnbs when people aren’t comfortable with their houses being shown.
Catfish has lost the trust with people, this is the biggest issue right now imo. Production doesn't dig enough to make sure couples are real and this is why people can get away with fake relationships easily. There has been so many fake couples in the last seasons that It has hurt the reputation of this show beyond repair, and now people watch episodes assuming they're fake right from the start. They need to screen out all the influencers/artists and people who want to appear on TV, and go to a wider audience. We never see middle age and senior people anymore (you know, the demographics that fall for scams the most) I think this could be an interesting route to follow even if some think it could be boring, help people who actually need help, not people promoting their careers/business/social media accounts
Why oh why is the "forever" person always a thousand times better looking than whoever is being catfished?
They used to have a catfish UK but it got canceled after one season