Catfish: The TV Show

Catfish: The TV Show (often shortened to Catfish) is an American reality-based documentary television series airing on MTV about the truths and lies of online dating. The series, which premiered on November 12, 2012, is based on the 2010 film Catfish.
The show presents the "hopeful" as the one who initiates contact in an attempt to discover the true identity of their online romance, or "catfish". Some of the show's casting calls solicit stories from hopefuls. Casting director Michael Esposito has said that the show has received more than 100 applications a day.
The term "catfish" originated as the title of a 2010 documentary in which filmmaker Schulman discovers that the woman with whom he'd been having an online relationship had not been honest in describing herself. The term has since come to be used to refer to someone who creates a fake personal profile on social sites using someone else's pictures and false biographical information to pretend to be someone else, usually intending to trick someone into falling in love with them.
In each episode, Schulman and his co-host, first receive a request by someone who is emotionally entangled with someone they have never met in real life. Then they usually travel to the person's residence and do online research to try to uncover the truth about whether the other participant in the virtual relationship is legitimate or a "catfish", and make them meet either way. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the show was filmed online and instead of an in-person meeting, participants met through Zoom. Some of these couples have been communicating for a few months—others, for years. Schulman has said that the show is not all about pulling the rug out from under people, explaining:
As explained in 2014 reports on Hollywood.com and Vulture, it is usually the catfish who makes the first contact with MTV. Producers then proceed to gather information about the deception from the catfish and contact the hopeful afterwards. For legal reasons, everyone involved in the series signs a contract agreeing to appear on camera before the episode enters production. In Season 3's Miranda and Camryn episode, the catfish changed their mind about meeting the hopeful, and appeared only by Skype.
The hosts are given no information about the catfish. In 2023 Kamie Crawford told Popculture
Nev Schulman has explained that while the catfish has agreed to appear on the show, they do not know when or how the hosts will be looking for them.
In its first 7 seasons, the show was hosted by Nev Schulman and Max Joseph. Seeking to pursue a directing career, Joseph left the series and his last episode aired on August 22, 2018. For the remaining episodes of the seventh season that aired in 2019, he was replaced by alternate presenters, including singer Elle King, model Selita Ebanks, basketball player Nick Young, actress Kimiko Glenn, model Slick Woods, actress Tallulah Willis, rapper Machine Gun Kelly, and presenter Kamie Crawford. Eventually Kamie Crawford was selected to officially become part of the hosting duo in the show's 8th season alongside Schulman. Crawford left the show in October 2024 after six years.
In May 2018, filming of season 7 was suspended due to sexual misconduct allegations against Schulman. The suspension was lifted after the allegations were found to be "not credible".
In early January 2024, the show was renewed for its 9th season by MTV, which premiered on April 30, 2024. It was announced that Joseph would return this season to host an episode.
There have been two Catfish spin-offs. The first, Catfish: Trolls, was hosted by media personality Charlamagne tha God and featured online personalities confronting trolls who had been harassing them online. It aired for three-episodes in 2018. The second spinoff, Ghosted: Love Gone Missing, is hosted by The Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay and celebrity rapper Travis Mills and features stories about people trying to find former friends or romantic partners after having been ghosted.
In 2020 MTV and Wondery began releasing episodes as podcasts under the title Catfish: The Podcast, with the first episode released on November 26, 2020.
The film Catfish was criticized and its authenticity questioned. Executive producer Tom Forman stresses that the TV version won't just tell "stories of deception. We've also stumbled into some love stories. We found people who are exactly who they say they are. We are putting those on television, too. We find people who are willing to get past an initial deception and really do make a connection at the end—in person and in real life. That's been really heartwarming. So, I think, when we set out, we really don't know how it's going to end: good, bad, or in the middle somewhere".
In January 2016, MTV began casting a proposed UK version of the show through online ads that specifically targeted the catfish, not the hopeful: "Tired of keeping secrets from your online love? Come clean" and "Are you a secret Catfish? It's time to come clean". The project was cancelled, but Schulman has said he would like to make a pan-European version.
In August 2019, Network 10 chose to cancel its Australian version of Catfish which was going to be hosted by Casey Donovan.
In January 2024, Catfish UK host Oobah Butler announced that the show was not renewed for a fourth season.