Reality TV doesn't get much more dramatic than the MTV series "Catfish" — but can you really trust what you're seeing on screen? Or are we being tricked like the people on the show?
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00:00Reality TV doesn't get much more dramatic than the MTV series Catfish,
00:04but can you really trust what you're seeing on screen, or are we being tricked like the people
00:08on the show? Almost every Catfish episode begins with Nev Schulman and his assistant opening an
00:13email or fielding a video call from someone who's found love on the internet. This person has
00:17apparently approached the show to find out whether their newfound partner is really who they claim to
00:21be.
00:22What?
00:23Yeah, this is a lot. This a lot has transpired. I just don't know where to start.
00:27Pretty simple, right? Here's the thing, though. This doesn't necessarily reflect how Catfish
00:31finds its participants. To begin with, producers actually seek out the catfish rather than the
00:35victim. A casting application for Catfish usually includes leading questions like,
00:39do you have a secret or something to confess to your online partner?
00:42Or have you made any fake online profiles? As MTV executive Marshall Eisen told Vulture,
00:48It's often the catfish we hear from first because they're looking to unburden themselves.
00:52It's not always the case, but it probably happens more than people realize.
00:56Only later in the process do producers begin to look for the people who are being victimized.
01:00The big turn in a Catfish episode is a confrontation. The catfish is called
01:04out for their lies, while the victim gets to see who they've really been keeping up
01:07a relationship with for so long. From our side of the screen, this may look like an ambush,
01:11but it's not.
01:12I don't know what to think of this s**t.
01:20That's because Schulman doesn't just turn up out of nowhere. In fact,
01:23the catfish knows the Catfish crew is coming to their house.
01:26And not just because of that phone call Schulman sometimes makes to arrange the meeting.
01:30Before the shooting of an episode begins, producers contact everyone involved and get
01:34them to sign a waiver and participate in a background check. Even the confronted person
01:38has agreed in writing to start on the show. And they've always agreed to turn up to the
01:42climactic face-to-face showdown.
01:44As the plot thickens on each episode of Catfish, Schulman appears to reach every
01:48new development in the story at the same time as the viewing audience.
01:51Producers and executives associated with the show claim that this is all completely real.
01:56Schulman and his co-hosts, they say,
01:57really do uncover the truth about their cases in front of the cameras.
02:01Does he look familiar?
02:02He does.
02:03He's upstairs.
02:04He's here.
02:06I will, uh, grab him.
02:08But not everyone in the production is so naive. The events captured for the show have been,
02:12at the very least, loosely mapped out ahead of time by the show's producers.
02:16After all, they want to make enjoyable television with willing participants who
02:19will behave reasonably well. So they always determine the start and end points of every
02:23Catfish story. These producers then nudge Schulman and company in the right direction
02:27as they conduct their investigations. Marshall Eisen told Vulture,
02:30Our whole mantra for the guys is,
02:32If you can't figure it out, just go with it and see where it takes you."
02:35Production staffers go so far as to track down the Catfish before shooting begins,
02:39allowing them to authorize a background check and carry out psychological profiling on the
02:43people involved. Taking at face value, it seems like it doesn't take much time or labor for
02:48Catfish to uncover the true identity of its targeted online miscreants. After a bit of
02:52poking around social media and a reverse image search or two, Schulman and his assistants look
02:56to be experts in exposing identity thieves and online scams. But the reality is quite different.
03:02Not only has the team of producers conducted much of the initial research before Schulman
03:05gets going, but Catfish's editors cut out many hours of computer-based work.
03:10Marshall Eisen told Vulture,
03:11The guys are better at it now, but it's not always obvious how to crack these things.
03:15We've condensed what's taken them 10 hours in some instances into five or six minutes,
03:19but we try to show that it was difficult."
03:22Reality shows use a number of tricks to ensure that they produce compelling,
03:25dramatic television, which means that the events depicted on screen don't
03:28necessarily reflect the truth.
03:30We did hook up twice.
03:32We hooked up twice?
03:32Yeah, we did.
03:33We hooked up twice?
03:34We hooked up twice?
03:35No f----- way.
03:36Shows like Catfish blur the line between narrative TV and documentary.
03:40This is done on purpose by producers who juice stories, manipulate editing,
03:44or rearrange the timeline of events to create a more scandalous reality for audiences to enjoy.
03:49For example, two different participants in two separate Catfish episodes told Hollywood.com
03:53that the show characterized their profiled relationships as romantic in nature,
03:57when in fact, they were only ever just friends.
03:59Another Catfish subject claimed that the series suggested her relationship had gone on for one
04:04month, when it had really been happening for three months by the time the show took on her case.
04:08Another anonymous subject told the site,
04:10Really, I'm just frustrated that people don't know the whole story.
04:14After that all-important final showdown,
04:16each Catfish episode concludes with the guilty party explaining their actions.
04:20Sometimes they reveal that they've suffered from some mental health diagnosis or other trauma,
04:24and then it seems they're pretty much left by the wayside.
04:26Catfish may give a brief update as to their whereabouts and general state of mind,
04:30but it appears that the fraudsters are left to figure out their situation by themselves.
04:34Fortunately, the truth isn't quite as harsh,
04:36as the show offers mental health counseling to participants immediately after filming.
04:40Speaking with an expert is even a mandatory part of the production agreement.
04:44Marshall Eisen told Vulture,
04:46We want to make sure that a professional is there in case the person needs it.
04:49Fortunately, we haven't had any issues after the show has aired,
04:52but we need to make sure that people are taken care of if they need to be.
04:55That therapist also serves as a participant evaluator. If the Catfish is deemed to have
04:59serious mental health issues, they won't be put on television. Producer Tom Foreman told EW,
05:04Part of our job is to worry. We have a therapist reach out to them afterward,
05:07and there are a lot of stories we don't shoot.
05:09If somebody's got real emotional issues, it would be irresponsible for us to shoot that.