If you know me you know that I love "Catfish: The TV Show." It is a show that defines my generation and the world we live in.
However, it is still something relatively new. Whenever you ask older generations, people from some other countries or a percentage of average people they have no idea what you are talking about.
So what is a Catfish?
Who brought this subject to light?
Has the media made it more popular?
What exactly is going on here?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a Catfish is "a person who sets up a false personal profile on a social networking site for fraudulent or deceptive purposes." But before 2010 no one had heard of this.
Nev Schulman, a small time photographer, and producer, was really the first person to get catfished.
In 2007, an eight-year-old girl began to send Nev paintings of his photos. Soon after, Nev began to talk to her, her family and most importantly her older sister Megan. They added each other on Facebook and were really close. He quickly began to fall in love with Megan.
Nev and Megan talked every day. Nev was ready to move to the next step. But, whenever he was finally able to meet her, it turned out Abby was not doing the paintings, Megan was not real and Abby's mom, Angela, was really talking to Nev.
While all of this was unfolding Nev's filmmaker brother was documenting it. They ended up turning it into a documentary, and it was a huge success. Nev then began to get emails from other people who had said they had something similar happen.
Nev decided that he was going to document every story that he heard and make a TV show. He had no idea how successful this was going to be. In fact, his co-host Max Joseph was a fill that was chosen by Nev two days before filming.
Nev and Max's show really took off when a Notre Dame football player got catfished. Society became very curious on what this deception was. Instantly, the press was wanting to talk to Nev and Max. Nev got to tell journalists as big as Anderson Copper about his experiences.
"Catfish: The TV Show" has gotten some amazing press. However, it has also become a laughing matter for our culture.
Amy Schumer has made a mockery of the show, it has appeared on SNL, the Muppets have mocked them and there have even been animated cartoons about the show.
With all the press attention and a successful TV show, many think that catfishing has stopped. However, it is evident that the practice has not stopped. The show is constantly getting requests for help from people who want to find out if their lover is true.
"Catfish" is currently in its sixth season; it is having great success and does not look to be on the chopping block. Watch out, you might not be talking to who you think you are!
