Catfish: The TV Show (2012–…): Season 6, Episode 10 - Dylan & Ally - full transcript

- "I received a text
message from someone

"telling me the girl I love
might not be

who she says she is."

- Who's this someone?

Oh, we got a hit.

- Whoa!
"This is a spoofed number."

Time out.
- Wait a minute.

- Have you confronted her?
- Yes.

- What happened?
- We got blocked.

- Wow.
- Oh, my God.

- We've never had
a case like this.



- My heart's racing.

- [exhales deeply]
- Don't be nervous.

[dramatic musical sting]

- [imitates trumpet fanfare]

- Oh!
- ♪ Happy birthday to you

♪ Happy birthday to you

both: Yay!

- You remembered.
- Happy birthday.

Make a wish, Max.

Yeah!

I guess we should
get to work.

- People need our help.
- Here we go.

Ooh.
- Dylan.

- Subject: "Who
should I believe,



"the girl I love
or a stranger?

"Dear Nev and Max,
my name is Dylan.

"I'm 21 years old

"and live in Browns Mills,
New Jersey.

"I am writing to you guys
because I now suspect

the girl I love might not be
who she says she is."

- Oh!

- "I met Ally eight months ago.

"She commented
on a post of mine,

"and I was immediately attracted
to how adorable she was,

"so I messaged her.

"We immediately hit it off.

"Things moved fast.

"I think I started
falling for her

"the first week I knew her.

♪

"Ally is 20 years old,
lives in Oklahoma,

"and works full-time
in a hospital,

just like I do."

- Whoa.

- "We text all day,
every day,

"because we have
so much in common.

"Around the time we met,
I lost my mom,

"which, in all honesty,

"I have yet
to fully recover from.

- It was only
eight months ago.

- "I barely knew her,
but she was there

"to lift my spirits up
every day.

"As much as I tried
to push everyone away,

"she still would not leave,
and I'm so grateful for that.

"As wonderful and amazing
as Ally is,

"she has refused to video-chat
on multiple occasions.

"In all honesty, I never thought
she could be lying

"until a few days ago.

"I received a text message
from someone

telling me Ally was not
who she said she was."

- Who's this someone?

- Who's this mystery texter?

"I have no idea
what to make of this message.

"I never thought I could be
getting catfished,

"but this is something
I cannot ignore.

What should I do?
Dylan."

We've never really had
a case like this

where a mysterious stranger
pops up out of nowhere

and says, "Hey,
you should know

this person's not
who they say they are."

- How does this person know
that Ally's a fake?

- Right.
All right.

Well, why don't we--

- Let's video-chat with Dylan.

She won't video-chat
with him, so we will.

- All right, here we go.

Hey!
- Oh!

Mop top.
- What's up, Dylan?

- Hey, guys.
How's it going?

- We're doing good, man.
We just saw your email.

Sorry to hear about your mom.

That's pretty rough.

- Yeah,
after my mom passed away,

I've been working a lot
trying to save up money,

'cause I'm, you know, trying
to find somewhere

to settle down.

Like, my ultimate goal

is to become
a pediatric cardiologist,

so I need to start college
really soon.

- And so are you currently
finding, like,

the right school to go to?

- That's what I'm trying to do,
and then there's--

and then there's, you know,
Ally.

And, like,
with everything going on

and me trying to, like,
go down there

and, like, live with her
and get a college down there,

I'm trying to make sure
I make the right move with her.

But at this point,
I just don't know.

- Right, well, so tell us

how that all started
with Ally.

How did you guys
even meet on Facebook?

- I'm pretty sure I was, like,

just scrolling
down my friends list

and I accepted her.

And she commented
all over my stuff.

Like, okay, "To be honest,
you're really pretty."

And we just started talking
from there.

- ♪ Here we are all alone

♪ Doing handstands
in the dark ♪

- How quickly did you guys
exchange phone numbers?

- It was rather quick,

and I think
our first conversation

was, like, three hours long.

We hit it off.

It was incredible.

- And you said you met Ally

right around the time
that your mom passed.

- It was, like, a couple months
before my mom passed away.

When she passed away,
I got really distant.

Like, I shut everybody down.

I didn't talk to nobody.

And she found out
what happened to my mom,

and she kept on me.

Like, she kept messaging me,
making sure I was okay.

She showed, like,
a lot of compassion.

- ♪Can somebody pick me? ♪

- And, like, just started
falling from there.

And, like, you know,
we would have phone calls.

Some calls would be intimate.

And it was going
really, really great

until recently.

I got a text, and it said,

"Ally is not
who she says she is."

I'm just, like, dumbfounded.
- Whoa.

- I don't even know
how they got my number.

I asked.
I was like, "Who is this?"

And they never replied.

- Did you bring up
that text with Ally?

- I did, and she kept repeating
the same question.

She just kept asking me,
"Do you trust me?

Do you trust me?"

And I said, "I do,
but it makes me nervous."

And, like, how can I make
this move

if I don't know for sure
if she's who she says she is?

This is, like, dire for me.

- Well, we don't know
what we're gonna find here,

and it might not be good.

But are you ready
for either direction?

- I'm ready.
I need to know.

- All right, so sit tight,

and we'll head to Jersey.

We'll see if we can figure out
what's going on here.

- Okay.
Sounds good to me.

Thank you.
-All right, Dylan.

See you soon.
- Hang tight.

- He wears his heart
on his sleeve.

- Yeah.
- I like him.

Doesn't look good,though.

- No.

- ♪ Come on, baby

♪ Grab your beau

- Here we go.

- Oh!

- ♪No excuses,
no saying "no" ♪

♪ Let's go do this

- Oh, beautiful New Jersey.

So we're meeting him
at a brewery.

- How's it going?
- Hey, man.

- How's it going?
- Nice to meet you, Dylan.

- You want to start drinking,
huh?

Afternoon?
Is that what 21 looks like?

- Hey, man, how's it going?
- What's up?

Wow.
- Whoa.

- We got to get
this guy's life story.

Beer will help.

To love, friendship.

Wow, tasty.

- We're beer buddies,
buddy.

- All right, here we go.

Whoa, what's on your hand?
- What's the tattoo?

- I actually have--I'm working
on a sleeve right now.

- Can we see what you got?
- Yeah.

It's a Christian sleeve.
These are all Bible verses.

- Did you grow up
very religious?

- Not at first.

I didn't get into my faith
until I was in 11th grade,

going into my senior year.

My dad got diagnosed
with cancer,

and he passed away
when I was 17.

- And then your mom
passed away just...

- And my mom passed away
in July.

- Eight months ago.
How did she die?

- She was changing
her clothes one morning,

and she was like,
"I feel funny."

And her heart just stopped.

They tried reviving her,
but it didn't work, so...

- I'm sorry, man.
That's a pretty rough story.

How important is Ally?

Do you guys
love each other?

- Yeah, we do.
Yeah, without a doubt.

I tell her that I love her

and that I really care
about her.

- But does she knows
about how you feel

about what you've been through
and where you want to go?

- Yeah, she does; she knows
that I'm very passionate

about wanting to be
a surgeon.

Like, I felt like
she understands, like,

the passion to help people.

Like, at the end of the day,
that's all I want to do.

- So she seems like
she could be the one.

- Yeah, yeah, for sure.

- How much are you
taking seriously

the possibility
that she's not who she is?

- I'm hoping for the best.

I'm trying to be optimistic
about it,

because, I mean,
it would suck to be like,

"I'm in love with a girl
who's not really her."

- Can we see
what this girl looks like?

- Yeah.
- Ally.

- I have that picture
in there,

and then there's
another picture.

- Wow.
All right.

- She's cute.
- Yeah, definitely.

- Well, look, we'll start doing
our fancy finger work online

and see what we can find.

- Okay, that sounds like
a plan to me.

- Let's get out of here.

All right, Dylan,
hang in there.

We'll get you through this.

- Take care, guys.
- Bye, man.

I like him.
I like him a lot.

He's very sincere,

very intense.

- My concern is,
he's got all these ambitions

despite everything
he's been through.

You know, he's gonna dedicate
his life to medicine and kids,

and he really has his future
sort of imagined.

And a big part of that
is being with the right person,

and if he loses Ally...

[sighs] What else
is he gonna give up on?

- He has a lot riding on this.

- All right.
- Investigation time.

No, you generally
like it like this.

- Are you sure this is
the way we want to be?

- It would be better--

- Right, it makes more sense
if I'm over there.

- All right.

- Yeah, this is the way
we do it.

All right,
so here's what we got.

We got Dylan, who,
as a 21-year-old,

he's already had very close
family members pass away

in the last four years.

And he's got this hugely
ambitious future planned

for himself

and finally maybe got
his first break,

a woman named Ally.

Somehow, the universe put
this beautiful,

caring, compassionate woman
in front of him,

and he hadn't even considered
that she was fake

until a couple days ago,
when he gets this mystery text.

Who sent that text?

- Was it her?

- Does she live
in Oklahoma?

Does she really work
at a hospital?

- He's gonna be devastated

if she turns out to not be
who she says she is.

- Definitely.
Here we go.

We got an email from Dylan.

Information on Ally.

She lives in Tulsa.

"Also, here's the number
that messaged me."

- It's another Tulsa number.

- Yes, that's right.
Same area code.

Where do you want to start?
Facebook page?

- Sure.

- So just looking
at her Facebook page,

"Studies at Tulsa
Community College."

- She's an intern at
St. Francis Memorial Hospital.

- Scroll through her pics.

- Okay, steal that.
Take that. Take that.

- Here's one with some friends.

- They're not tagged.

- She's tagged.

- She tagged herself.

- Weird.
And another one.

She's got a Texas necklace on.

- Wait a minute.

- Oh, man, look at that.

- Well, wait, time out.

Oklahoma is very close
to Texas.

- It is close,
but it's not Texas.

- Why does she have
a Texas...

both: With a heart?

- Oh, my God.

- She might just have
family in Texas,

but this feels suspicious.

Let's search her photos
and see what we get.

- Pictures, pictures.

- Here we go, first pic.

Nope, no hit.

All right, next pic.

[inhales sharply]

- No hits.

- Picture number three.
- All right.

- Come on.
Come on!

Ooh.
- Uh, no.

- Last two pictures.

- This girl doesn't exist.

- Come on; we need a hit.
- Come on.

Oh![sighs]

- All right, so...
- That's a nothing.

The closest lead we got
is the Texas necklace.

- Yeah. All right,
let's go to friends.

- Yeah, what is our
girl-to-boy ratio here?

- Mostly guys.

- Which is always a red flag.

- It is.

Lots of photos with friends,

but no friends are tagged.

She's only got 300 friends.

There's not a lot.

Her profile right now
is ranking pretty high

on the Catfish-o-meter.

- Yeah.
- All right.

So should we just reach out
to some of the people?

- Yeah.

Jay [bleep].

- Okay, he seems to be
sort of legit.

- Hit him up.

- Mason [bleep].

Let's send him a message.

#JerseyGirl.
It's a girl.

Send her a message.

Okay, should we search
her phone number?

- Yes!

- Okay, search, baby,
search.

[suspenseful music]

- Oh.
- Look, Mark [bleep].

Who's Mark [bleep]?

- Click on that.

- Early 40s.

Mark could be
Ally's dad.

- Right, totally.

- Wait.
What's this?

Phone complaint?

- What's a phone complaint?

- I've never seen that before.

"This is a spoofed number."

- "Trick your caller ID
to display

an incorrect phone number
to avoid complaints."

- That's so weird.

- Let's look up
the other phone number.

This is the phone number

he got
the weird message from.

Here we go.

Oh, we got a hit.

- Whoa!
C. [bleep].

- Does it give us
an address?

- No, Tulsa.

- All right, both in Tulsa.

[computer ringing]
Oh!

- Oh, Lubbock, Texas.

- Whoa!
Texas necklace.

- Hello?

Yeah, hey, what's up?
Who's this?

- Hey.
How you doing, Jay?

Thanks for getting back
to us.

We're doing a story now,

and we're looking into
this girl Ally

that we noticed
you're following on Instagram

and have sort of
communicated with

via comments.

- Have you ever met her
in person?

- What happened?

- Ireland?

- And how long
did you guys talk

before you found out
it wasn't her?

- Wow, she said, "Sorry,
I'm actually not that girl;

I'm really Ally"?

- Did you guys continue

a relationship?

Was there still sort of
a romantic element?

- Wow.

- Has she ever mentioned
a guy named Dylan?

- Right.
All right, well, cool.

Thanks for getting back to us.
We appreciate it.

- All right, Jay.
- Thanks, Jay.

- See ya.

So hold on.
Time out.

- Wait a minute.

- So as long
as four years ago...

- She was someone else.

- Who knows
what else she's been?

The only consistent
pieces of information...

- Tulsa.

The area codes.

Even the guys who are text--
the mystery texters

are from Tulsa.

- I guess we're going
to Tulsa.

- Okay.

- Let's do this.

[doorbell rings]

- Yo.
- Yeah.

- What up, man?
- How's it going?

- What's up?
- Is this your spot?

- Yup, this is where
I'm crashing at right now.

- Cool.
All right.

Let's go over the results
of the investigation.

- All right, so we started
with a quick check

on her profile, okay?

We went through her photos,

and we did an image search.

We didn't get any hits.

On one hand,
that's kind of good,

'cause it means that this is
just sort of a normal person.

But as we were going
through her Facebook profile

and looking at the photos,

one thing that stood out

in this picture
is her necklace.

- Texas?

- You hadn't noticed.
- I haven't noticed that.

- In a couple photos...
- In a lot of her pictures.

- She's got this necklace on.

Now, she could just love...
- Oklahoma's next to Texas.

- Oklahoma's
next to Texas.

She might just love Texas,
might have family in Texas.

But the point is,
this girl lives

or spends a lot of time
in Texas.

- I've never heard her mention
her going down to Texas.

- Not a good sign.

All right, so this is when
we transitioned

into the phone numbers.

We ran her phone number,

and this is weird.

We've never seen this.

The first thing that comes up
is a complaint.

And after you scroll down

past what it thinks
is the registered owner,

which is Mark [bleep]--

Any bells ringing
on that?

- No.

- After that, when you go down
to phone complaints,

it says, "This is
a spoofed number."

- What's spoofed num--
what is that?

- I guess that's something
where you trick the caller ID.

It's a fake number.

- Here's where it gets weird.

When we searched
the number that texted you

that Ally's not real,

we got a hit,
C [bleep].

- You ever heard
that name before?

- No.

- All right, so the last place
we went to look

was her Instagram.

We went to the profiles
of a few people

that were engaging with Ally.

One guy is Jay.

They had a few messages
on a couple pictures,

no big deal.

We messaged Mason [bleep],

and we messaged Ashmac [bleep].

Jay called us back.

Now, Jay met Ally online
four years ago.

Her name wasn't Ally.

She was going by "Ireland."

- Blonde girl, blue eyes,
not the same picture.

- And after a couple months
of talking,

she revealed, "Sorry,
I've been lying to you.

"Here's my real name
and profile.

"I'm really Ally,

and I'm the pictures
you've been seeing."

- Why open up
another fake Facebook account

just to keep doing it again?

Like, you figure, you know,
the first time,

you would learn.

And that's definitely
another big red flag.

I don't even know
what to say to that.

- ♪ I hope
I prove myself wrong ♪

♪ I hope I prove myself
wrong ♪

- I'm just trying to, like,
wrap my mind around it.

- We don't have an answer.

We've got some leads

but nothing concrete,
nothing for sure.

But the reality is,

there is someone
who cares about you,

who's gone out of their way
for the last eight months

to be there for you,
to support you.

So if nothing else,

I think the friendship
that you have is real.

But we don't really know
if anything else is.

♪

- ♪ Everybody knows
it's wrong ♪

- ♪ Everybody
knows it's wrong ♪

- ♪ Everybody knows
it's wrong ♪

- So what do we do now?

- We need to just call Ally.

- Okay.

[sighs]

My heart's racing.

[buttons beeping]

- Oh, boy.

[phone line rings]

- Your call has been forwarded

to an automatic
voice message system.

- So I guess
we send a text.

- Yeah,
I would try that.

- All right.

Let's see.

"Hey, Ally, this is Nev

"from the MTV show 'Catfish.'

"I'm here in Jersey with Dylan.

"He asked us to help him out,

"'cause he really wants
to meet you.

"If you give me a call back
when you get a chance,

that would be awesome."

- All right.
No matter what she says,

whether she responds
or not,

I think we should go
to Tulsa in the morning.

Everything is pointing there:

the phone numbers,
the clues.

Everything is in Tulsa.

So I think you should
pack a bag, mentally prepare...

- Yeah, I'm trying
to do that now.

- We'll figure this out.
Don't worry.

[upbeat music]

- This is my stop.

- ♪ I used to have
these big ol' dreams ♪

- I still can't wrap my head
around the possibility

Ally might not be
who she says she is.

It's mind-blowing.

Got to fly out there
right now.

My nerves are, like,
working double-time.

[sighs]

- ♪ Now all that I want
is you ♪

♪

♪ Yeah-ah-ah

- Ooh.
- What?

- Oh.
- What?

- "This is Mason.

"You were asking
about Ally [bleep].

"I have a lot of information
about her.

Give me a call."

- It's the third person

we reached out to
on Instagram.

- That's right.
All right, let's call Mason.

[phone line rings]

Whoa.
Hello, is this Mason?

I saw your text
that just came through

about Ally,
and I was curious

what you know about her.

- That would make sense,

because the number
that we looked up

was tied to Mark [bleep].

How did you find that?

- Are you still in contact
with her?

- When was the last time
you spoke to her?

- And when you guys
were talking,

were you friends,
or were you, like,

more in a relationship?

- Got it.

You know, if you can
talk to us more,

we'd love to just meet up
with you while we're here.

Okay, great.
So I will be in touch.

- Thanks.

Well,
we're certainly closer.

- Sounds like his timeline
and your timeline

are kind of similar.

- A little bit.

- Well, we're pretty close.

Here it is.

Okay, let's do this.

[knocking at door]

[tense music]

- Hey.
- Hey, what's up?

- How you doing?
- How you guys going?

- How you doing?
- Mason. Nice to meet you.

- All right. Nev.
- Dylan.

- Dylan.
- Max.

- What's up, man?
- I'm Clay.

- Clay?
- Nice to meet you.

- Come on in.

- Thanks for calling us back.

- You're welcome.
Thanks for all coming.

- How do you guys
know each other?

- We're good friends.

- Not related or anything?

- No.
- Got it.

- Clay, we spoke a little bit
to Mason on the phone,

but what brings you here?

- Ally said
she had a sister

that I should meet,
Samantha.

But we figured it out

that Samantha and Ally
are the same person.

- All right, so hold on.
- Yeah, yeah, wait.

- We got a lot of questions,

and you guys seem
to have some answers.

Why don't you kind of
just walk us back

to the beginning

and then how you ended up
figuring out

what you figured out?

- Okay, so we matched
on Tinder,

and we started talking.

Everything was good.

- How often were you guys
talking?

- Every day.

And then I wanted
to hang out with her.

She goes, "Okay."
Set a time.

And then something came up.

- How many times did you guys
try to meet up?

- Three or four.
- Okay.

- So it's like, "This is fishy."

- And one of my friends
is cousin

with this girl
named Mary.

And I gave her
the Samantha number,

and she said,
"This is so-and-so.

I know her."

- Wait, okay,
so you have a friend

who's cousins
with this girl Mary.

- Yes.

- Somehow, you guys
ended up

discussing Samantha.

- Yup.

- And this girl's like,
"Wait a second.

That sounds like
it could be Mary."

- Yeah.

- She said, "What number
so you have for Samantha?"

And when you gave it to her,
she said,

"Oh, that's Mary's number."

- Yes.

- Have you confronted her
and said, "We know"?

- Yes, I sent her
a text message

of Allyson, the real girl.

- Oh, so you--
- You found the real girl.

- Yes.
- How did you do this?

- The real Allyson's friend
found me on Instagram

and said, "Ally,
she's not real."

- So someone who knows
the girl in the pictures...

- Yes.
- Saw the fake profile.

- Correct.

- And saw that you were friends
with the fake profile

and said, "Hey,
this girl's not real."

- Yes.
- But she knows

that someone is using
her pictures.

- Yes, she goes--

- Wow.
- Wow.

- Wait, so sorry.

So when you texted her

the picture of her profile...

- Oh, yes.

- What happened?
- No response.

- Nothing.

- So I just left it as that.

- So that was
the last communication

you had with her?

- We got blocked
from everything.

- Oh, you did?
- Yes.

- Crazy.
- I'm floored.

Like, oh, my God.

I just don't understand.

Like, why go through
all this--

like, catfishing people
for that long?

Like, I mean, eventually
people are gonna find out.

- What do you know
about Mary [bleep]?

- Her cousin's name
is Chelsee [bleep].

- See?
[bleep].

- That's whose cousin?
- That's Mary's cousin.

- That number contacted Dylan

and said, "There's something
about Ally.

"She's not
who she says she is.

Be careful."

And we reverse-searched
that phone number,

and it came back
to a C. [bleep].

Mary's cousin Chelsee
seems to want to help.

Clay, can you call Chelsee?

- I can try to call Chelsee.
- Yeah.

[phone line rings]

- Hey, this is Clay.

I'm here with the guys
from "Catfish,"

we were just--
wanted to ask some questions.

- Hey.
Chelsee, right?

Hey, this is Nev,
and we're sitting with Dylan,

who you, I believe, texted.

Is that right?

We were just wondering
why you felt compelled

to reach out to him.

- How long have you known

that Mary has been
catfishing people?

- Whoa.
And how old is she now?

- Wow.
Okay.

- Does Mary know
that you reached out to Dylan?

- And was she upsetor what?

- We reached out to her,
and she hasn't responded.

Do you think you could tell her
we'd like to meet her?

And do you think she would?

- That is not
our intention,

so I don't think you need
to worry about that.

- Come over to your place?

- Yeah, send me your address,

and let us know
when we're all clear.

All right, see you soon.

- We just have to have faith
in Mary

that she'll show up.

Thank you for your services.

You guys really cracked
this one wide open.

- All right.
- Thank you.

- Bye, guys.
- Bye.

- Let's go.

She kind of wants
to be found out

a little bit, right?

I mean, even her own cousin
is outing her at this point.

The walls are closing in.

- The walls are closing in.

- Mary's been getting
found out for years,

and it doesn't seem
to stop her.

- Even her own cousin
is outing her.

- I just want to know why.

Like, I know I'm gonna have
more questions, like,

when I see her in person.

- All right, well,
we're here.

- You ready to do this?

- Yeah.

[low, ominous music]

♪

- All right.

♪♪

[knocking at door]

♪

I can't tell
if anyone's here or not.

[latch clicks]
Oh.

Hi.
- Hi.

- Hey.
- Hey.

- Uh, Chelsee or Mary?

- I'm Chelsee.

- Hi. Nev.

Great.
So we spoke earlier.

- Mm-hmm.
- Excellent.

This is Max and Dylan.

- Hello.
- Hello.

- Nice to meet you.
- You too.

- Nice to meet you.
- You're who texted Dylan...

- Yes.
- Last week.

- Mm-hmm.
- I appreciate that.

Thank you.
- You're welcome.

- So Mary is here right now?

- Yeah, she's inside.
- She is.

[dramatic music]

- Well, should we go in there?

Or what do you think?

I mean...
- I can go get her.

- Okay, that works.

- Can I go with you?

- Yeah, you can come.

- All right, we can hang here.
That's fine.

- Good luck.

- [tearfully] Hi.
- Hello.

[sighs]

- Don't be nervous.

- [crying]

- Hi.
- Hi.

- So are you--
It's all right.

- Sorry.

- Are you Mary?
- Yes.

- Hi, I'm Max.
- Hi.

- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.

- I know you're really nervous.
- Yeah.

- But I think that this is
the right thing to do.

We brought Dylan all the way
from New Jersey.

- Mm-hmm.

- And I think he just wants
some answers.

- Yeah.

- So can you...

- Yeah.

- Come outside with me?

- Mm-hmm.

- Okay.
- Oh, gosh.

- Ready?
- Uh-huh.

- Hi.
- [sniffles] Hi.

- How you doing?
- Good.

- Nev.
- Hi. Mary.

- Mary, good to meet you.

And this is Dylan.

- Yup.

- So we obviously have
a lot of questions.

- [sighs]
Oh, gosh.

I just want you to know
I wasn't trying to hurt you.

You are my person,
and you know that.

You've been my person.

He's always been there,
no matter what.

I didn't want it
to be like this.

I love you,
and I care about you.

And I am so, so sorry

about all this.

Yeah.

- Why pretend
to be somebody else?

- I've been doing this
for a very long time.

I've always been
that outcast girl,

so then when you go
to another world, like internet,

you get to be
whoever you want.

- And what about the girl
whose pictures you're using?

- Her name
is really Ally.

She's caught me before,

and, like, she has said
some rude things to me

but not--I mean,
who wouldn't?

I've been stealing her pictures.

- What about your story
that Dylan knows is true?

You said a lot of things
about where you worked

and what you wanted--
your dreams and...

- Maybe some things I did say
were not correctly right.

I do go to college.

- Are you studying
to be in the medical...

- Yes, I do want to be
a general surgeon.

- But you don't work
at a hospital.

- No.

- Obviously,
Dylan's gone through

a pretty traumatic
last couple of years

and was pushing people away.

Why did you fight
to stay in his life?

- He was my person
when I needed him,

and I was gonna be there

even if I wasn't
the real person.

- Did you feel bad...
- Oh, yeah.

- That you had been lying
to him at that point?

- Yeah, I mean,
I don't feel good.

- Have you tried
to actually stop it?

- Yeah, I've tried,
and I just go back.

There's something
that pushes me to go back.

- The real girl's
contacting you,

and your cousin's
selling you out.

Clay and Mason,

Clay thought he was talking
to Ally's sister, and--

- They confronted you about it.
- Right.

All these people are kind of,
like, confronting you now.

- Like, it's like my--
it's weird to say to people.

Like, it's like my addiction.

It's weird to come out,
but it's like the attention

and this drive
to get that attention,

and you'd pretty much do
anything you could

to get that attention.

- You said
the word "addiction."

- Yeah.

- You know, which is
kind of an admission

that things have kind of
gotten out of control.

- Yeah, it's not gonna stop
by myself,

and I know
it's not going to...ever.

[dramatic music]

- Dylan!
- Hey.

- Hey.
- How you feeling?

- Yesterday,
I was obviously in shock,

so I feel like, you know,
I didn't get to say

every single thing
that I wanted.

And I actually checked
the Ally Facebook page,

and it says that she was still
actively using it

on Messenger.

- So you mean she was
actually online last night?

- Mm-hmm,
so she's still

probably messaging
other dudes on it

and still catfishing.

- Yeah, I mean,
she didn't seem

like she was ready to stop.

- No.

I feel like
that's an issue.

- Definitely.

- Ready to do this?
- Mm-hmm.

- Let's head out.
Oh, what a day.

[doorbell rings]

- Hey, hello.
- Hi.

- Can we come in?
It's a little wet out here.

- Yeah, come on.
- All right.

- Howdy.
- Hi.

- All right, let's see.

So I guess something

that we were all
concerned about yesterday--

you expressed that you're not
that close to stopping.

And, obviously, it took Chelsee
reaching out to Dylan

to bring us here.

You're obviously
very uncomfortable

with Mary's catfishing.

- Yes, for her safety

and just her, like,
mental state.

- Why her safety?

- I mean, I know
there's people out there

that will be extremely mad.

And, you know, it's not hard

to find out
where somebody lives.

So they could go find her house

and hurt her.

- Have you ever been
in situation

where you felt threatened
by someone that you had--

- I've been threatened
by a person.

He found out where I worked,

and he went
and circled my job.

And we ended up having
a police officer come down

and just stay there,
because I was so scared.

- But it didn't stop you.

- Yeah, I don't think
I'm gonna stop, honestly.

And that's terrible to say--

- She says
it's like a drug.

- What is it
that's so addictive?

- I think the attention.

I don't get that much attention
from being myself.

And having someone text me
a million times or call me

or, you know, ask me
how I'm doing--

'cause I don't get that
every day if it's just me.

- I know, like, the reason
why you're doing this

is because you want--
you know, you want attention.

You want people
to be there for you.

But you've been catfishing
for six years, right?

Be honest.

How many people
do you think you've catfished?

- I mean, I have literally
every social media.

Probably hundreds.

- You got to try to understand.

You know, like,
it's not just about you.

Like, you're also hurting
other people.

That's hundreds.
- Yeah.

- This behavior
needs to stop

for your own safety,
for other people's well-being.

What's it gonna taketo stop?

[suspenseful music]

♪

- I honestly don't know.

♪

- This behavior

needs to stop
for your own safety,

for other people's well-being.

So what's it gonna taketo stop?

- I honestly don't know.

- Is it that good?

Is the high that good

that you're willing
to risk life and limb

to pretend to be
this other person?

'Cause maybe it is.
Maybe it is that good.

Maybe it's just worth it.

- I mean, I don't like
talking about it,

'cause I know
it's looked down upon.

- Well, but take that away
for a second.

I'm just curious.

How does it feel
when you are going online

and pretending to be Ally...

- I mean that makes me feel bad
that

I have to pretend to be someone
to feel like I am good enough

but it makes me feel good like
to have that someone

be there to want to talk to me

I've been told I was worthless,

and I was really bullied
in high school really bad.

It got to the point--
I was a basketball manager.

I had one basketball team,

like, their whole
basketball team stood up

and called me a cow

as I was walking
across the thing

and mooed at me.

And then they found
my Instagram,

and it just went on.

I've been told
that I should kill myself

by multiple people
in my school.

And so I just got to the point

that I listened
to what everyone said,

because I felt like
that's what was true about me.

- So on a daily basis,

that replays in your heada lot.

- Yeah, the bullying
and everything.

- The basketball teams.
- Yeah.

- And that's why you're addicted
to this internet stuff:

because for a second,
it gives you this high.

Right?

How does it feel

when you're talking
to a new guy

who just reached out to you
on social media?

- Yeah, it feels good
when they, like, compliment me

and then, like, they slide
into my DMs, I guess.

Are you excited?
Yeah.
Are you like nervous?

Oh, sometimes I get nervous

I feel bad
that I'm doing this to someone,

but at the same,
it's just like

I'm being selfish about it.

- When you're talking about it,
it sounds like

it's always, like, tainted.

- Yeah.

Like, when they call me "Ally"
or something,

and then I'm like,
"That's not my name."

Or, like, if I'm with a friend
and my friend says, "Mary"

and they're like,
"Who's Mary?"

And I'm like--the guiltiness
kicks in real good.

- So for a second,
it makes you feel good,

but then there's
all this bull[bleep] around it

that ruins it all.

You have to feel bad
that you messed with him,

and then you got to deal
with your annoying cousin

who's always blowing up
your spot

and telling people.

I mean, like, I think

you've got to approach this
differently.

What you don't like, clearly,
is feeling bad about yourself.

But what are the things
that you do like?

Where, on your daily life,
do you experience

the most confidence
and power and joy?

- Um...

like, when I bake stuff
for people

and they're like, "Oh,
my gosh, this is so good.

You should"--like,
she tells me all the time,

like, "Please make
more food."

- So baking is something
that makes you feel good.

- Yeah, I love baking.

- That's kind of like
a win-win.

Like, you do this thing
you love, and then...

- It makes you feel good...

- It makes other people...
- Doesn't hurt anyone.

- And it makes other people
feel good.

And, like, the--it gets--

the positivity
kind of comes back to you.

So there's cooking...
- Mm-hmm.

- Which is kind of pure joy.

And then there's
the catfish stuff,

which has that element
of guilt with it, right?

- Yeah.

- So it's like
which one of those feelings

do you want to invest in?

- I want the joy one more,

because then I'll feel
joy and happiness,

and I won't be lying
to everyone,

and I can just, you know,
be my own person.

- Once you sort of
give yourself the opportunity

to consider
that you are worthwhile

and that you have things
that you're good at

that bring you
and other people happiness,

it's amazing how quickly
you can sort of...

- Reset.
- Reset.

- I want to be your friend.

I want to be there for you,

and I want
to help you get through this,

but the catfishing
has to stop.

Like, I'll help you,

but you have to try to stop it.

Just do you.

- Mm-hmm.

- Make the most
of this opportunity.

This happened because two people
who care about you,

Chelsee and Dylan,
made this happen.

Use it as best you can
to change things.

- Yeah, I want to do it.

- All right.
- All right.

- We're gonna leave.
- Mm-hmm.

- So it'll be on you.

- Yeah.

Well, I mean,
I want to be happier.

- Okay.

[gentle music]

- Thank you guys so much.

- Good to meet you.
- Good to meet you guys too.

- Take care.

Remember,
I'm here if you need me.

- All right.

- Good luck.

♪

- [crying]

[upbeat music]

[computer ringing]

- Dylan!
- Yo!

- What up, mop top?

- Mop top.

- It's now blonde.

- Yeah, I tried
something different.

- Let's see that sleeve.
Whoa.

- Whoa, you've done a lot
since we saw you.

So what's up?
How is everything?

- I've been good.

I'm actually
about to start college soon.

Me and Mary are still friends,
and we still talk.

And I actually got myself
a girlfriend.

- Whoa.
- Whoa, that was fast.

Who is she?
What's the deal?

- My one friend,
she just messaged me randomly.

She was like, "Hey,
do you want to hang out?"

I didn't think anything of it.

I was like, "Yeah,
this is just my friend."

We actually ended up kissing,

and she told me that she, like,
had a crush on me

for, like, a while.

- Wow.

- And we're with each other,
like, all the time.

- We're very happy for you.
You got a girlfriend.

You're getting into school.

- And you're talking
to Mary.

- All right, man.
It's all good.

- That's a good report,
Dylan.

- Take it easy, Dylan.
- All right, I will.

- Bye, man.

[computer ringing]

- Hey!
- Hey!

both: Mary!
- Hi. How are ya?

- Good.
How are you guys?

- We're great.

- Just spoke to Dylan,

who told us
you guys have been talking,

which we were happy to hear.

- Me and Dylan
are still friends.

We still talk.
He's still my person.

- That's so cool.

So give us an update.

- I am gonna start
going to school

at culinary arts school soon.

- That's amazing.

- Wait, that's what
we were talking about.

- Yeah.
- Do you have to pick an area?

- I mean, I like baking,
obviously.

- Right.

- But I do want to learn
everything about culinary arts

so if I did get put
in the restaurant business,

I would know
what I was gonna do

and I wasn't just a baker.

- That's amazing.

- And I started
this whole, like,

10-000-steps-a-day thing,

and I've made it eight days
in a row 10,000 steps.

- Wow.
- So I'm happy about myself.

- That's amazing.
- That is amazing.

- We are happy to hear
you're doing so well.

Hopefully, things keep
working out

and you'll end up being a cook
at my favorite restaurant.

- Or a baker.
- Or a baker.

- Or a chef.
- Or a sous chef.

- Or a sushi chef.
- Yeah.

Anyway, can't wait
to eat your food.

- Oh, thank you.

- All right, Mary.
Good to see you.

- Bye.
- Bye, Mary.

1129
00:41:08.