Catfish: The TV Show (2012–…): Season 7, Episode 28 - Deven & James - full transcript

- Deven is really
into this guy, James.

You're on the doorstep

of what could be
a very serious relationship.

- I just need your help
to knock on the door.

- James is asking you
to come see him.

Is this some type of trap?

- This is the spot.

- He's got plenty
of places to hide.

- How long do we stand around?

- This is all for nothing?

[dramatic musical sting]



- Good afternoon
and welcome back to "Catfish."

I'm getting word now
from the locker room

that our cohost is ready
to make his way onto the field.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Rashad Jennings!

- What's up?
What's happening?

[upbeat music]

- Rashad Jennings
was a star running back

for the New York Giants.

After hanging up his cleats,

Rashad became
a philanthropist,

a motivational speaker,
and a writer

before he won
"Dancing with the Stars."

I mean, is there anything
this guy can't do?

Please welcome
Rashad Jennings.



- A pleasure
to meet you, man.

- Hey, good
to meet you too.

Welcome.
- Appreciate it.

- I have a lot of questions.

Tell me about
"Dancing with the Stars."

- Dancing has become so cool.

It's a part of my life now.

Playing in the NFL, right,
you're playing

this male, dominant,
"American Gladiator" sport.

Then I turn around,
lighting candles,

dancing around
to Frank Sinatra.

I got to play
polar opposites.

- Right, so you didn't
dance at all before?

- None. I wish, but it's
opened up the doors

of a lot of opportunities.

You never know
where life takes you.

- Well, yeah,
I mean, here we are.

- "Catfish," I'm excited.

That's awesome, man.

- You loose?
- Feel good.

- [laughs]
Let's dive in.

We got an email.

"Dear Nev and new partner."

- That's me.

- "My name is Deven.

"I'm 27 years old,
study criminal justice,

living just outside Phoenix."

So wait a second, so this guy
wants to be an investigator

but needs our help?
- [laughs] Yeah.

- "Three months ago, James
messaged me on a dating app,

and I responded."

- ♪ Ooh, what a vision ♪

- "Now even though
he lived in California,

we're texting more
than you can imagine."

- ♪ 'Cause I really
wanna love you ♪

- "James is more caring
and considerate

that I have ever thought
a guy would be."

- Nice, nice.

- "And I'm growing more
and more attached to him."

- ♪ 'Cause I really
wanna love you ♪

- "But we still haven't
talked on the phone..."

- ♪ You're hiding,
you should come on out ♪

- "Or video-chatted.

"In spite of that, he keeps
asking me to meet up with him.

"The first time was
around my birthday,

and he wanted me
to meet him in Vegas."

- ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪

- "I was a little hesitant
to meet someone

"I've never spoken to,
so I said I couldn't make it.

"Then recently he told me he
booked a hotel in Los Angeles

"so we could spend
Christmas together.

"I told him that I'd like
to video-chat before meeting,

but he got evasive."

Crazy that you would
invite someone for Christmas

but not FaceTime.
- Interesting.

- "As if that wasn't weird
enough, the other day,

"I was on Instagram and noticed
there was a profile that

I am following with a picture
that looked like James."

- Hmm.

- "It also says
he has a different job

"and that he lives
in New York.

"Is he living some sort
of secret life?

"I don't know what
my next move should be.

Please help, Deven."

- ♪ Tonight ♪

- Wow.
- Interesting.

- Weird that they haven't
talked on the phone,

because you're not gonna
give away too much

if you talk on the phone
unless the gender of your voice

doesn't match the gender
of your profile.

- Correct.

- Or their voice
is recognizable.

Maybe they know each other.

- It's hard to tell
right now.

- All right, well,

let's get him on
for a little video call here.

[line ringing]

- Hey! What's up, man?
- What's up, Deven?

- Hi, how's it going?

- This is Rashad.

He's helping me out
on this episode.

So where are you from, man?

- I'm originally from Detroit.

Moved to Arizona
about two years ago.

- All right, so tell us
about this James fella.

- So, originally,
we met on a dating app.

Eventually, we exchanged
numbers, started texting.

He lives in Barstow,
California.

- How old is James?

- He's 23, but he has
the mind, I would say,

of almost like a 30-year-old.

He's a compassionate person.

He talks to me every day.

That's something
that I'm not used to,

especially coming from the app
that we talked from.

- Do you consider you guys

being in a relationship
right now?

- No.

- Do you say good nightto him?

- Yes.

- That means you're in
a relationship.

- [laughs]
- Just so you know,

whoever you consistently
say good night to,

you're in a relationship
with them.

- [laughs]
All right.

- And why haven't you guys
talked on the phone?

- I don't know.

I asked him about that.

He's been really beating
around the bush about it.

- Has he ever
sent you pictures?

- He's sent me face pictures

and, uh, you know, nudes,
uh, stuff like that.

- Wait, but is he sending
you face nudes or...

- No.

- Dick pics.
- It was a video--

it was a video of him.

- Touching himself?
- Yes.

- You're a smart young man.

You're studying
criminal justice.

We don't have to tell
you that there's a chance

that might not
be his dong.

- That's not the main thing
I'm worried about right now.

There's a couple of things
that are a little weird.

I came across
a Instagram profile

that I didn't know
that I was following.

It had the same pictures
that he sent me.

- You've been following him
prior to meeting James.

- Right.

- But you haven't communicated
through that profile.

- No, not at all.

I've got so many questions
about what's going on.

- You mentioned in your email,

James has invited you
to meet him a couple of times.

- Oh, yeah.

My birthday week, he invited
me to meet him in Las Vegas.

Recently, he invited me
to California for Christmas.

That's a big step,

since Christmas is
a family holiday for me.

- I think this person
may know you

because they know you're
a family person

and they know that you
wouldn't come on Christmas.

- I see what you're saying.

You might have just came up
with something there.

- I want to know
who this person is.

- All right, well,
look, sit tight.

We'll come down there,
and we'll figure this out.

- All right.

- All right, man,
nice seeing you.

- All right,
see you soon, Deven.

- That's a interesting deal.

- It's very unusual
that he would

happen upon the profile
he's already following.

So what I'm thinking is,

Deven was following
someone that he did know.

They then, at some point,

turned their profile
into James.

- Right.
- We should go down there.

We should figure out
what's going on.

- We'll see what he got.

- All right, let's do it.

You want to just run
to Phoenix?

- Yeah, let's do it, man.

[funky music]

- ♪ In the cab,
a hatchback blue Chevelle ♪

- Because of how
everything is flowing,

I'm convinced
this guy knows him.

- Which also explains why they
haven't talked on the phone.

- Get on their asses, brah.

- ♪ She said Kelly's
pool party... ♪

- All right.
- Let's go meet Deven.

- There he is.
What's up?

- How's it going, Nev?
- See ya.

All right.

- What's up, man?
- How you doing? Rashad.

Pleasure, bro.

- Everyone, go through here.

- Nice place, man.

- Look at this backyard.

Holy moly.

- You golf?

- Yeah, we're not Tiger Woods
out here.

- So close.

- I got it.

- Got your chain net.

- Okay, where's the football?

- Can you catch?

There you go, got a hole in one
with the football.

- Should we go back in?

How you feeling?

- I really wanna figure out
that this is real.

It's kind of hard for me
to find the person

that I'm really,
like, trying to meet,

since I'm not really
an out person.

- Wait, so you're not out?

- I mean, with my family,
they know.

- Sure.

- But I'm not really
at the gay bars every night.

- When you go on, like,
a gay dating app around here,

are there a ton
of potential matches?

- There are people out here.
- Okay.

- Um, just not
what I'm looking for,

not like James.

- So let's go back
to the beginning.

You get this random message.
You start chatting.

Do you still have
his dating profiles?

- No.
- He deleted?

- It's normal for somebody
to delete a profile

after finding somebody.

- Have you asked,
is there a particular reason

why James hasn't FaceTimed?

- I haven't asked why.

I'm not trying
to scare him away.

- Okay.

- Every time I bring it up,
it's just a defense mechanism.

- How serious has
the communication become?

- Is he close with his family?

- We've briefly
talked about it,

like the reason he doesn't
live in Detroit anymore.

- Wait, he's from Detroit?

- Yeah.
- Oh, man.

- He has a 313 number.

- Whoa, have you guys
talked about Detroit?

Did you say, like, "Where'd you
go to high school?"

- Yeah, he told me where
he went to high school.

It was right by my house.

- Whoa.
- So wait a second.

So do y'all know any of the
same people from the same town?

- No, I've looked
on his profile.

We only have one person
in common, Juan.

He used to work
at the airport with me.

- In Detroit.
- Correct, yes.

- Were you friends with him?
- We weren't really close,

um, but I knew that
he had a crush on me,

something like that.
- Oh, man, hold up.

You see, this is
all information.

- Well, this is why we're here.
- This is great.

- But from what you can tell,
has he left Detroit?

Has he moved to California?

- Not that I know of.

- So that could just be
a coincidence.

- That could just be
a coincidence.

- All right, can we see
what James looks like?

All right, so here's James.

So this guy, obviously,
yes, very handsome.

- The next one, don't--wait--
I'ma warn you.

- All right, ready for this?
- Yeah.

- Whoa!
- That man doing?

- [laughs]

- So you think that's him?
- Hold up, man.

Come on, now.

- And you're pretty confident
that's him?

- I think that's him.

- Now, obviously,
the facial hair matches.

You can only really see
a little bit of his profile,

but I do agree.

I do think that looks like him.

Can we see that Instagram
account you found?

- Mm-hmm.
- All right.

His Instagram is J-A-Y,
oh, and his Facebook.

So he's only told you
his name is James.

- Right.
- So he follows you.

You guys follow each other.

- Y'all follow each other.

You're saying good night.
- That's crazy.

- This might be
a real person.

- But at the same time,
on his Facebook,

it says that he lives
in Buffalo, New York.

- Right, which is weird.

Can we see some of the messages
you guys sent?

- Okay.
- Holy moly.

All that's
just from yesterday?

This is like a month
of conversation with my wife...

- [laughs]

- In one day.

Oh, wait a second.

You said, "Where do you see us
in about two to four years?"

"I see us in two years happy
and hopeful with a dog

and married, trying to start
a family with me."

- Drop the mic.
They talking about family?

- Wow!

- Y'all talking
about love, man.

- You're on the doorstep
of what could be

a very meaningful,
serious relationship.

- I just need your help
to knock on the door.

- All right,
so send us everything.

We'll do some research.
- Yeah.

- Tomorrow morning,
we'll see what we can find.

- All right.
- All right, brah.

Take it easy.
- Thank you.

[tense music]

- If you told me the situation
and you showed me

the Instagram page, I would
think everything was legit.

But the whole not
talking on the phone

plus the never video-chatting
means something is up.

- Right, way more complicated
than I initially thought.

[upbeat music]

- All right, let's get started
with the task at hand.

- All right.
- We've got Deven,

27-year-old guy,
and he's super low-key

and doesn't like to broadcast
that he's gay.

Happens to get this message
from James on this dating app

and very quickly
becomes infatuated.

- There are conversations
about living with each other,

moving, getting a dog.

- Yeah.
- This is some heavy stuff.

- Another thing that makes
this story particularly unusual

is that Deven and James,
prior to the dating profile,

followed each other
on Instagram.

Well, if you care to join me...
- Let's do it.

- We can head on over
to the investigation station.

All right, we got
an email from Deven.

James' phone number,
so we have that.

It's 313,
which is a Michigan number.

"I don't know his last name,
but he lives in Barstow.

"The profile that's
following me on Instagram

"is Jay Punktualiety.

"When I searched
that name on Facebook,

"his profile popped up.

"That's when I noticed the
mutual friend we have, Juan.

"Here is his Facebook page.

"He and I used to work together
at the airport in Michigan.

"James has sent me
two pictures of his face,

"and I've attached them
along with the nude picture

you requested
but not the video."

Sorry.
- Yeah, appreciate you.

- "If Rashad feels like
he needs to see it,

let me know and I'll send it."

[laughs]
- Oh, we good, bro.

I told ya, we Gucci.

- All right, so where
do you want to start?

- I'm interested in looking
at the Jay Instagram.

- Okay, yeah.

So here's the Jay Instagram
that Deven follows,

2,000 followers.

Here's the pictures
that we saw already.

Oh, here's his Facebook,
also with the Jay Punktualiety.

Lives in Buffalo,
from Buffalo,

so maybe he's from there.
Maybe he just visits.

Wait a second,
what's this?

This was from August.

"I lost my phone this morning
and my Facebook was hacked,

"so I'm sorry whoever seen
my nudes and got inboxed.

If you know me,
I'm far from like that."

- Okay, I mean, that's
interesting, though, so...

- That's, like,
around the time

that Deven and James
started talking.

- Yeah, three months ago.

- That was when
Jay's Facebook was hacked.

Someone got his phone.

- Maybe somebody's
using his identity.

Somebody got into
his information.

Somebody took his nudes.
- Right.

- Put his nudes out somewhere.
- Right.

Oh, here's some replies.

Anthony said, "Someone's
on your page exposing you."

In reply, LeeLee said,
"This his cousin.

His page got hacked.
Somebody got his phone."

- She's his cousin,
so we should talk to her.

- Yeah, "Hey, LeeLee, hope
you're having a nice weekend.

"This is Nev from 'Catfish.'

"I am working on an episode now
that involves your friend

"Jay Punktualiety, would love
to ask you a couple questions.

Please give me a call."

Great, that's a good place
to start.

All right, let's go to friends,
see if we can find Juan.

- Juan is the guy
he used to work with.

- Right, who he said
has a crush on him.

There he is.
He lives in Detroit, Michigan.

He still works at the airport.

Everything else is private.

Okay, we got
a phone number we can search.

Let's see what comes up when
we search the phone number.

No name associated.

It does say it's a landline,
though,

which often means
that it's a text app,

which means the person
could be in Michigan

or could be anywhere

and have just selected
a Michigan area code...

- Right.
- Which is weird,

'cause if you're going
to catfish someone

and say you're from California,
wouldn't you then think,

"Why don't I make
a California phone number?"

Like, doesn't make
a lot of sense.

- Nah.
- But okay.

[cell phone rings]

Oh, what?

We got a phone call from
Plandome Manor, New York.

- What's up, bro?
- Hello?

- Yeah.

- Okay, hey, this is Nev
from the show "Catfish."

I'm with Rashad, who's
my cohost on this episode.

- What's happening?

- And we messaged LeeLee
because we're doing an episode

and we're trying
to just talk to someone

who knows Jay or James.

- That's you.
He's Jay.

This is the guy.
- Oh, okay.

- So great,
you saved us some time.

- Yeah, hey, Jay money,
what's up, bro?

We been looking for you.

- Wait, so I want to ask you
before we say anything,

do you have any idea why
we would be trying

to get in touch with you?

- Have no idea, noted.

- So can we FaceTime?

Yo!
- What up, bro?

- It's you.
- It's definitely you.

What's up, man?
Rashad.

- Okay, so we got
some questions.

Well, your name is James?

- So your real name
is Jarris.

You just go by Jay.

Okay, and where do you live?

- Okay, according
to Instagram,

you follow a guy from Phoenix
named Deven.

- Okay, you don't
know that guy.

- So just random connection.

- I guess.

- So you got hacked,
though, right,

at some point?

Okay, and some information
got leaked out.

- So you're aware that
that photo is out there?

- All right.

- So, basically,
what it looks like,

someone made a profile of you,

found Deven, and then
told them they were you

and sent him
a nude photo of you.

What would be great is, as sad
as it's gonna be for Deven,

I think it would be good

for him to see you
in a video saying,

"We are not texting
and talking every day."

- Thank you for that.
- Appreciate it.

- Is there any other
information you could give us

that would be helpful?

- Yes, there's a mutual friend
that y'all have, Juan [bleep].

- Oh, really?

- Yeah, I see.
- Interesting, okay.

I think you've answered all
the questions you can for us,

which is very helpful.
- Appreciate it, man.

Appreciate it.

- All right, man,
have a good one.

- Good to meet you, Jarris.

- Later.
- All right, bro.

- Boom.

- That just got
interesting, man.

Somebody's pretending
to be this guy.

- We know that Juan
is aware of Jarris

and could have
found his nudes

and been like,
"Ooh, this guy's cute.

I'll use him
to talk to Deven."

I don't want to necessarily
reach out to Juan yet

because if it is him--

- Scare him off.
- Right.

- Definitely.
- But at the same time,

if it's not Juan,
then it's probably

just some totally
random unknown.

- But James,
who is the catfish,

is still asking to meet up
face to face,

which is unusual...
- Right, yeah.

- Because James knows
when they meet face to face,

it's not gonna be the same
person in these pictures.

- If Deven had gone,
what would have happened?

- That's scary.
A lot of things can happen.

You never know
somebody's intention.

[line ringing]
- Hello?

- Deven.

- We've got a lot
to talk about.

We wanted to find out
if we could come meet up.

- All right, text me
the address

and we'll meet you
over there.

- Okay.
- What's going on?

- Oh!
- Nice, hey, what's up?

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

- Good, how's it going, man?

- All right, guys,
let's have a seat.

Anything to report
since we last spoke?

- Nothing to report,
but trying to get through this

has been, like,
really stressful.

- You just look, like, drained.

- A lot on your mind.
- Right.

- A lot on my mind.
- Yeah.

- Just, the dishonesty
is just--

it's just kicking my ass
right now.

- Why don't we show you
what we found.

- Okay.

- Now, we started
with your email,

and we wanted to go
check out his profiles.

- Mm-hmm.

- So we looked
through the posts,

and then this was interesting
'cause he was talking about

how someone hacked
his Facebook account

and started sending around
his nudes.

It's a little unclear
what exactly happened,

but this girl LeeLee says,
"Oh, this is his cousin.

His page got hacked."

So we messaged her,
and she got back to us.

- Okay.
- Okay.

So LeeLee got our message
about Jay...

- All right.

- And had her cousin call us.
- Mm-hmm.

- And her cousin's name
was Jarris.

- Jarris.
- But he goes by Jay.

And we made a little clip of
our conversation to show you.

- Okay, well,
my name's Jarris.

I'm actually
from Buffalo, New York.

Um, yes, those are
my Instagram and Facebook

accounts, um, but I have not
been text messaging anybody

named Deven
or anything like that.

[solemn music]

♪ ♪

- Okay, thank you for that.

♪ ♪

So this guy, we FaceTimed with
to confirm, lives in Buffalo,

has always lived in Buffalo.
- Okay.

- He's 23.
- Right.

- His name is Jarris,
but he goes by Jay.

He doesn't know who you are,

and it's not who
you're talking to.

- ♪ Now there's
nowhere to go ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Tell me what we know ♪

♪ ♪

- I don't understand
why somebody

would go out of their way
to do all this.

It just makes
no sense to me.

- So now we know it's not
the guy in the pictures.

So who is it?

We also looked up
the Facebook page for Juan.

- Okay.

- He lives in
Detroit, Michigan.

He still works
at the airport,

but everything else
is private.

- Uh-huh.

- Now, interestingly,
we asked Jarris

if he knew Juan.

- He said he messaged him
a couple times on Facebook.

You know how it is when
somebody's flirting with you.

- Yeah.
- Right.

It's definitely
suspicious.

Juan has communicated
with Jarris.

- Just out of curiosity,

when is the last time
you talked with Juan?

- Since the last time
I've actually been in Michigan.

- But it was very casual.
- Right.

- You've never, like,
hung out with him?

- No.

- Do you think he could have
been, like, hurt by that or...

- You know he likes you.

- Yeah, I don't know.

- So that kind of led us to be
where we are now.

- I'm thinking if we tell James
we know that he's been lying,

there's always
a chance he could...

- Disappear.
- Right.

So that got me thinking.

I don't like
to surprise people,

but since he invited you,

what if you just followed up
and were like,

"Hey, I could
fly out and meet you"?

Maybe he would say yes.

- I'm not usually
that type of person

to take those risks.

- Risk--risk and reward.

- I mean...

[bleep] it.
Let's do it.

- All right, if you're down,
we're down.

- All right.

- I think you should just
continue your texts with him

and pick up
with something like,

"I just found out I can come,
right, like, tomorrow.

I've got a couple days off.
What do you think?"

- Yeah, it says,
"I've been thinking

"about going
to California.

I want to see if you are able
to maybe see each other?"

- Okay, see what
he has to say.

[cell phone chimes]

- He just responded.

- "I really would like to, but
I have to go to Vegas for work.

Can you meet me
there tomorrow?"

- Oh, suck it.

- I don't know.

- With your man.
- I know somebody in Vegas.

- Who do you know in Vegas?

- Somebody that used
to live in Michigan,

and they moved to Las Vegas.

- Somebody.

- Yep, an ex.

Not really an ex,
but, honestly,

kind of just
fell apart.

- So this was a guy you were
fooling around with in Detroit.

- Yes.

- And then when you moved,
you sort of stopped,

obviously, seeing him.
- Mm-hmm.

- But did you get
the impression when you moved

that he was trying
to, like, continue?

- No.
- No.

- I don't get the impression

that it could lead up
to something like this.

- Okay, well, so there's one
person that you know in Vegas

that you did fool around with.
- Other than that,

I do not know anybody in Vegas.

[cell phone chimes]

- Oh, he wrote back.
What'd he say?

- "I'm going to be close
to the Strip most of the day.

"I should be free around noon.

There's a hotel
called the Orleans."

- Okay, I think
we got a date

for tomorrow afternoon.
- Oh, man, so stressful.

- You never know who
you're gonna meet, man.

- Let's do it.
Vegas, baby.

Is this person sincere,

or is this all
some crazy trick?

We'll find out.

- There he is.

- What's going on?

- Man of the hour.

- The three amigos.

See you later,
small lights of Arizona.

Do you still feel any of the,
like, excitement and affection?

- Definitely anxious,
but at the same time,

can't be too excited
'cause I know it's not--

it's not what I would
like it to be,

'cause I'm just tired
of the deceit and dishonesty.

Who am I able to trust?

- In order to find love, you
have to be willing to be hurt.

- ♪ One more time,
I'm gonna... ♪

- That makes sense.

- ♪ I have a thousand
flowers together ♪

- All right, here we go.

Walkin' the plank.

- ♪ I need to get
my thoughts together ♪

♪ This time, I'm taking
my heels off ♪

♪ ♪

♪ This time, I'm taking off ♪

- Yeah, text him.

Tell him you found a park
by the hotel you can meet at.

It's hard to find places
you can shoot around here.

- Has there been a case
where you've shown up and...

- No, this is definitely
a "Catfish" first.

It'll still be up to him
in the end.

- ♪ I just want time
to let it go ♪

- Getting nervous, man?

- Right now, I'm--I'm really
nervous as--nervous as [bleep].

My stomach is
in knots right now.

Like, I'm feeling
like I'ma--

- Bro, we about to find out
who this is.

- Throw the [bleep] up.

I'm just--oh, my God.
- I'm talking 'bout.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- Okay, this is the spot.

- Let's do it.
- All right.

- Let's get this done.

Oh, boy.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

It's a pretty big park.

It's got plenty of places
to hide.

- You can text him
and let him know you're here.

I almost feel like we should
just, like, let him be there,

and we should be,
like, away over here.

♪ ♪

Strange dude
walking across the--

a random dude.

There's another guy.
- Yeah.

- Every random dude, it's like,
is this the guy?

- Yeah, this could be him.

- Did he--
he didn't text back?

Oh, man, I hope he's not
just standing us up.

- He very well could have
saw everybody and left.

- Yeah, he could haveseen us.

He could have walked by,
for all we know.

♪ ♪

Still no text?

- This makes no sense.

- How long do we stand around
before you just say, like,

"Oh, well, I'm leaving"?

- This is all for nothing?

- I mean,
we knew this was a risk.

- This makes no sense.

I'm lost right now.

I really don't know
what to do.

You said, this could possibly--
[cell phone chimes]

[bleep].

"It's a lot going on.
I can't do it."

- So now he's just--
- Flaking out.

Yeah, basically.

- All right, so he--
he's got cold feet.

- He probably didn't think that
you was really gonna show up.

- I guess I can text
from my phone,

if we want to show our cards.

It can't really hurt
at this point.

"Hey, James, this is Nev
from the show 'Catfish.'

"I'm actually helping Deven,
and I'm with him right now.

Is there anything I can do
to get you to meet him?"

[cell phone swoops]

- We can start heading up,
I guess.

- I'm still hopeful that
the person will reach back out.

[dramatic music]

If they're sincere about you,

I think that they,
at some point,

are gonna analyze it and say,
"I'm sorry,"

or "I'd like to actually
talk to you face to face."

If this was a whole prank
and a joke,

they'd just leave you alone.

- Maybe we hear from him.

If not, we can give him
one more chance tomorrow.

And if he still can't
get his [bleep] together,

then that's
all the answers you need.

[knock on door]

Hey, there he is.

We got a couple big updates.

I got a response back
from James last night.

He said, "I'm so sorry.

"I never wanted to hurt Deven.

"I do care about him a lot.

"If he's willing to give me
another chance,

I promise I will meet him."

And then he said,
"If there's a park

we could meet at, let me know
and I'll be there."

- I don't know
about these parks, man.

- Well, we suggested
the park last time.

Why don't we just ask him
to meet us here?

- Okay.

- We can go downstairs.

All right, so let me text
him back.

"Hey, James, Deven
does still want to meet up,

"but I think it would be best

if you just met us
here in our hotel."

[cell phone swoops]

All right,
let's see what he says.

- Any other guess
to who it could be?

- I haven't thought
more about it.

I'm pretty sure it's some--
it has--

it can't be anybody
that I know.

I can't see somebody
wasting their time.

[cell phone chimes]
- Oh.

He said, "Okay, I'm on my way."

He said, "I can be there
in, like, 15."

- Hey, we got
what you came for.

- All right.

Should we head down there,
set up?

[tense music]

♪ ♪

[cell phone buzzes]
Oh!

"I'm almost there."

Okay.

All right, I'm gonna go
wait for him in the lobby.

- All right.
- See you guys in a second.

♪ ♪

- This is it, man.

Finally get an opportunity
meeting James is.

Is this what you envisioned?

- No, not at all.

I didn't think that there
were gonna be many lies.

- Especially this many.

- Especially type like this.
It's just...

Yes, it threw me off
a little bit.

- Oh, someone's here.

Is this him?

Are you James?

- He is, but he's very eager
to figure out what's going on.

- [sighs]

- Yeah, man, you, uh...

yeah, you've been
through a lot there, man.

- Are you okay?

Is he gonna be
pretty surprised, I guess?

Well, why don't you
come on back

and we'll see how he's doing?

[tense music]

- Kind of putting yourself
out on a limb.

♪ ♪

- All right,
here goes nothing.

♪ ♪

Oh, my God.

- Why don't you come on back?

Here goes nothing.

[tense music]

- [sighs]

- Just right in there.

♪ ♪

- What's your name?
- Sha'Quan.

- Sha'Quan.
- Hi.

- Deven.
- What's up?

- Apparently you guys...
- Yeah, we know each other.

- Know each other.
- So y'all know each other?

- And were
you guys friends or...

- We were pretty--we were--
we were friends, yeah.

- Did anything
ever happen?

- Occasionally.

- Oh, okay.

Did you know
he lives here?

- Yeah.

- You mentioned that you have
one friend who lives in V--

this is that friend.
- Yes.

- That's crazy.

- So when did you guys
last see each other?

- Last time
I came out to Vegas.

- August.

- All right, so hold on
a second.

Here's what
I don't understand:

you guys had
a physical relationship.

- Why would you have
a fake identity?

- I wanted to see
how he was doing,

but every time I tried to talk
to him, he doesn't respond.

- Is that true?
- Yeah.

I just...

Yeah.

- You never really thought

that it was a relationship
there between...

Gotcha.
- No.

- Did you ever make it clear,

kind of, where you
were at with things?

- I mean,
if I don't text you back,

why wouldn't that
give him that hint?

You can't just
beat a dead horse.

It's already dead.

That--that's [bleep]ed up.

- But if the horse is dead,

everybody can say
the horse is dead.

Sounds like Sha'Quan
is saying

he never got the scoop
that the horse was dead.

- [laughs]

I'm sorry, I can't--

I'm tired of this [bleep].

[bleep], I'm so tired.

- Tell us then, in your own
words, what was the plan?

- Well, I texted him
to hang out as James,

and then if he come to Vegas...

- Oh, wait a second,
so you thought,

"I'll make a profile
as this guy James.

"I'll invite him
to come meet me in Vegas,

and then when he gets here
and James doesn't show up,"

he'll text you because
he knows you live here,

and you'll just sort of
come to the rescue.

- Yeah.

- You had a plan, though.

He did have a plan.

- I got to tell you,
that is actually a decent plan.

- Hey, if it wasn't wrong,
I would come back you up.

Right, you thought about
some stuff, at least.

- So then wait a second so...
- Dang, brah.

- When you made the profile,

why did you choose
that guy, Jarris?

- Someone you actually met?

- So you regifted nudes.
- Yeah.

- Wow.

- Do you know that Deven
follows that guy on Instagram?

- So it was just a total
coincidence that you picked

the picture of a guy that Deven
actually follows on Instagram?

- That's crazy.

- That shouldn't matter.

- What you did wasn't cool,
and you shouldn't have lied.

- I understand that.

- At the same time, like,
he likes you,

and he got a chance
to show you a side of him

that maybe you would not
have otherwise have seen

that you really liked.

- That's--that's fine
and everything, but I'm just

not into him enough to be
in a relationship with him.

That's it.

But any right person would
understand that way before now.

- But you've been physical
with him so...

I can see how it could
be a little confusing.

- If you don't say anything,
I don't know anything.

- Still a lot to take in
all at once,

to kind of collect
your thoughts.

- Why don't we take
a little break?

We can meet back up
in a little while

and see if there's
some resolution.

- That's fine.

- Okay, I'll walk you out.

What were you expecting
would happen?

- I thought he was gonna be
upset but not that upset.

- Did you ever
get the impression

that he did really like you?

- Yeah.

- I feel like you should--

you should have,
like, said that.

- I get really nervous
around him sometimes.

- All right, well, look,

you deserve some kind
of clarity, I think.

- What is it?

Is it his personality?

Is it the way he looks?

He kind of needs
a closure as well.

- It wasn't
his personality.

That wasn't the problem.

I'm just not--
just not attracted to him.

What else do you
want me to say?

- Right, I'm just thinking,
"I'm not attracted to you,

but I did things that I do
with people I'm attracted to."

- Okay.
- So that could be confusing.

- Can be attracted to a hooker,

but that don't mean
you love her.

- Sha'Quan needs to know what
you feel and what you want.

- I know what exactly
what I want to say.

[cell phone swoops]

[cell phone swoops]

- Hello, hi.
- Hi, we're here for Sha'Quan.

- Okay, he's in here.

Just go ahead.
- What's your name?

- Tiara.
- Tiara.

It's nice to meet you.

- He's in here,
if you guys want to come in.

- All right.
Hey, buddy.

- Hi.
- Whew.

So I guess do you know
what's been going on

this whole time?
- Yeah, kind of do.

Not the whole time, but when
he began to tell me about it,

I was--you know, I was like,
"No, that's not cool."

- It wasn't supposed
to go this far.

- You wanted me to move to LA.

You wanted me to come visit you
in Las Vegas.

Why?
- I really like talking to you.

But then you, like, cut me off
or just disappeared.

- Do you feel that because
you wasn't getting a response

in a timely manner

that it deserves
to then have a fake account?

- But what he did,
he did the same thing.

Not catfishing,
but he was ghosting you.

He was messaging you.

He'd get what he want
and then disappear.

And the way he's saying it now
is as if that was okay too.

That wasn't cool either.

- I've told him that
I am not comfortable

with being in a relationship,

and we kept meeting,

and I assumed
that he was okay with that.

- A while ago.
- Text me what?

- Meeting you like that
was never--it was...

- But then did you
see him again after that?

- Yeah.

- So he feels
he communicated to you

that he doesn't want to see you
if it's gonna be casual,

and then you
wanting to see him again

suggested that you were
in something more than that.

- Sure.

- I don't know,
he was more of somebody

that I could actually
see myself with.

[poignant music]

- But it's just mostly
the looks, is it?

- I'm just not attracted
to Sha'Quan

in the relationship
type of way.

- Just in the hooking up
type of way.

Like, that's where
the confusion is coming from.

'cause it's, like,
you're not attracted to him.

He's not your type
or whatever it is, right?

But he's enough for you
to come hook up.

- Is that what you
want me to tell her?

- Tell her what?

- Is that what
you want me to say?

Like, yeah, that's all
it was for me.

- Was it?

- How long have
we known each other?

- Since I was 18.

- We've been back and forth
all this time.

You're 23.

We've done the same thing.

How could you not
get that impression

that that's the only thing
that I would like?

- If you're not
attracted to somebody,

you don't hook up
with them for years.

- That's from
a friend's perspective.

I didn't insinuate
that we were doing

really pretty much
anything else.

- But did you?

- We did.

- He even went
to my Facebook

yesterday, like,
to say, "What's up?"

- Is that true?

- Yeah.

- Interesting.

'Cause it kind of feels like...
- The plan...

almost worked.
- Worked.

- You got out here,
we got stood up,

and you were like,

"Ah, I got a friend
out here I could hit up."

What has he done in the past
to give you the impression

that he does like you?

- Well, we talk,
text, hang out.

- All right,
look, what you did

in pretending
to be someone else is wrong.

- Is wrong, yeah.

- But, arguably, what you did

for the four or five years
you guys been friends is a...

- Not communicate.

- Different but similar
version of misleading him.

So that's where we're at.

What now?

What do you want?

- I would like to say
still be friends at least,

but I don't know
what Deven wants.

- Yeah, but forget
what he wants.

What do you want?

- You have strong feelings
for him.

- Yeah.

- If you look at it from, like,
say, one of ours perspective,

it don't sound too great,
that five years.

You feel like
you deserve that?

- No.

- I like her.

I like her.
- [laughs]

- Deven, how do you feel?
What do you want?

- There is definitely
a possibility

that we could
still be friends.

- But you don't
want a relationship

in any romantic way...
- Right.

- Which, if I'm going
to give my opinion, means

you should stop hooking up.

- Okay.

- Thanks.

- I think that would make it

easier and clearer
for both of you.

- Whew.

- Okay.

Sometimes saying the thing
that hurts in the moment

actually hurts a lot less
over time.

- That's a hard lesson
to learn, though.

- ♪ I hear the silence ♪

- I think that clears up
a lot of stuff.

What do you think about
a handshake or something

or hug or...
- Group picture?

[laughs]
She's awesome.

You gotta make sure
you keep her around.

- I ain't going nowhere.

- Yeah.
- Nice to meet you.

- Nice meeting you.

- Get him on the--
you keep an eye on him.

Keep him on the right track.

- I will.
- It's been real.

- Nice meeting you all.

- Later, Sha'Quan.

Are you a little sad
that James is gone?

- Little bit, yeah.

- Are you a little sad that,
like, Sha'Quan is gone?

- In a way.

- Giving direct answers

is gonna take you
a long ways in life.

- ♪ I feel no pain ♪

♪ Out in the violence ♪

♪ I feel no pain ♪

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