Catfish: The TV Show (2012–…): Season 7, Episode 34 - Taylor & Christian - full transcript

- Nine months ago, Taylor
gets a Facebook friend request

from some guy who says they
went to high school together

but never actually
met there.

- It's a little creepy.

'Cause it's someone
who really does know, like--

- A lot about you.
- A lot about me.

- Could it be that simple?
- Oh, my God.

- You're getting played.

Something doesn't smell right.

[knocks on door]

[tense music]



I just want someone to
[bleep] tell me the truth!

[dramatic musical sting]

Hey, guys, Nev here,
and we're back

with a brand-new batch
of all-new "Catfish" episodes.

Let's do it!

We've been making the show
for over seven years,

and we've done
over 125 episodes.

- You're a coward, man!
- And what's amazing is

we're still encountering
things we've...

He was dead for a couple days.
What?

- Everybody in Hawaii
is in on this.

- ♪ What we see is just
the tip of the iceberg ♪

- New ways to fall in love.

We've never ever had
two hopefuls hook up.



All-new deceptions.

- You just lied about
so much [bleep].

- And new
"what the [bleep]?" firsts

that are gonna completely
flip the script

on what you think
you know about "Catfish."

- He's a twin.
- An identical twin?

So join me and all our
favorite co-hosts...

- Are we gonna get jumped?
- Oh, my God.

- As we dive head first into
an all-new season of episodes,

each with a unique...

- ♪ What we see is just
the tip of the iceberg ♪

[screams]

[police sirens]

- Oh...God...

Oh--
both: [gasps]

- Just hold--hold this.

You didn't see me,
all right?

I'll be back later.

[siren blaring]
- [laughs]

- [chuckles]
Did it for a second

feel like I had robbed
a convenience store...

or something?
- I mean...

maybe, like, this is how
you carry your cash.

- [laughs]
All right, well...

- Let's see what
we got cooking.

- Let's get into it.

"High school sweetheart
I never knew I had."

- Okay...
- "Hi, Nev and Tallulah,

"my name is Taylor.
I'm 26 and I live in LA,

"and I've been dating this guy
Christian for eight months.

"Christian is really
attractive...

and a great guy."
- Two for two.

- "But he lives in Atlanta,
and I'm starting to think

it might never happen."

[Blithe's "Work It Out"]

- "Christian and I went
to high school together

in Ohio, but we never
actually met there."

Interesting.

"We actually met
on Facebook last year.

"I was a little hesitant
because I didn't necessarily

"remember him, but he
definitely remembers me,

Which is really sweet."

- So maybe she was kind of,
like, the popular girl.

- This is, like,
the script of a '90s romcom--

- Like, a full romcom.
I can't wait.

- ♪ We can work it,
we can work it ♪

♪ We can work it,
we can work it out ♪

- "He definitely
saw me in class,

"but I don't remember him.

"I just feel like he was
the guy I didn't really know

back in high school
but who definitely glowed up."

Is that a term
you've heard before?

- It's kind of like
he got babely.

- So he was probably, like,
the quiet, nerdy one.

He didn't peak in high school.
- And they're the best.

- "We started texting
all the time.

"Then we finally talked
on the phone, and I think

"that's when I started catching
feelings for him.

"He's just such a sweet guy,
and he's nicer

"than so many other guys
I've dated.

"I tried to fly to Atlanta to
see him but it didn't work out.

"And then I invited him
to come to LA,

but that didn't
happen either."

- ♪ It would take a lot
to break through that ♪

- "Tried video chatting him
on Facebook,

then his Facebook got deleted."
Come on.

"I'm starting to realize I
don't know that much about him

"and I'm kinda worried because
he knows a lot about me.

"This just feels weird,

and I need some help
figuring it out."

- ♪ Tell me
we can work it out ♪

- There's almost like
a sweetness that I feel.

- There's an innocence to it,
because this guy's

had a crush on her
since they were in high school.

- I was a decade and
he's still thinking about her?

That's some unrequited love.

- Yeah, but if he's not
who he says he is--

- Okay.
- And he knows all that stuff

about her,
it's also kind of creepy.

Let's get, uh,
Taylor on the horn.

Hello!
- Hi!

- What's up?
- Hi, Nev!

- Your hair is beautiful!
Oh, my God.

- Thank you!
[laughs]

- What are you doing in LA?

- Now
I'm full-time day trading.

So that's what I do now.
- Oh!

- What does that mean?
- Like, trading stocks online.

- Oh, my God.
That's amazing.

- You seem to have your, uh,
life pretty well put together.

What are you doing
on "Catfish"?

- You know, being in LA,

everything's different,
but especially the men.

So, like,
with Christian, you know,

us both being from Ohio,
I really like that about him.

- But surely
you've dated guys in LA?

- I've talked
to a few people out here.

I'm just not
really interested.

You know,
just talking to Christian

is something that I prefer.

- Well, what do you know
about him?

- Well, he's told me,

"I'm a personal trainer,
I fly a lot with work."

- And he reached out to you
on Facebook?

- Yeah.
We started writing, like,

"Hey, let's catch up."

That's when I was like,
"I don't really remember you."

- You don't remember him
at all?

- No.

But, he was like,
"I remember when

you transferred from
Sandy Valley to McKinley."

And I'm like, "Wow,
now I know that you know me.

So, okay, I'll talk to you."

- So, it seems like
without a doubt

you guys went
to high school together.

- Yeah.
- Right.

- What's his personality?

- Really caring.
Very responsive.

We talked on the phone
a few times.

We have a good connection.

It's just, you know,
I can't see him.

When I started trying
to video chat on Facebook,

he said his Facebook
got hacked

and now
the whole profile's gone.

- Interesting!
Weird.

Does he have
any other social media?

- He says no.

- Shady.
- Weird.

- Yeah.

- And you've never tried
to FaceTime him on your phone?

- He said his camera's broken.

So I said, "Well, can you use
one of your friends' phones?"

And he's like, "I don't want
people in my business."

- Fishy, fishy, fishy.

- Have you talked to any

of your high school friends
and been like,

"Hey, does anyone remember
this guy Christian?"

- Yeah, I've asked, like,
four or five of my friends.

When I showed them
the pictures,

they don't remember his face.

- Weird.

- I really like Christian,
you know?

But to be honest,
I'm creeped out.

He knows a lot about me,
and I can't see him.

- Taylor,
let me ask you something.

When you were in high school...

were you ever on, like,
a weekend trip with friends

driving through, like,
a windy road in the woods

and you may or may not have
hit a person walking

and thought maybe
they were dead

but maybe they weren't?

'Cause that sounds kind of like
what could be happening here.

I feel like you and
all your high school friends,

your clique, one by one,

are gonna get Catfished
by this guy.

- [laughs]
- Oh, my God.

- All right, so yeah.
I'm down to help you out.

- I think we can do it.
- I hope.

- I'm excited!
- Okay.

We'll see you soon, Taylor.

Bye!
- Bye.

- Bye, guys.
- Someone is gonna die.

At first I thought
it was a cute romcom.

I think it's pretty obvious now
that it's a thriller.

- You're putting that
out there?

- I'm putting it out there.
- All right--good!

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

- All right,
we've got a good one here.

- Whoo!
This is kind of stressful.

You have someone who knows

a plethora
of information about you.

It could be, like,
genuinely horrifying.

- I don't know.

All right, whoo!

[door chime rings]

Hello!
- Hi!

- Nice to see you!
- Nice to meet you.

- Hi!
- Nice to meet you.

- Should we sit down?
- [laughs]

- How are you feeling?

- Really, like,
I'm just sitting here like,

"I really just want
to meet Christian."

- Yeah.
- I really do.

- Okay, so take us back
and just kind of

paint the picture
of how we ended up here.

- So, about nine months ago
I got a message like,

"Hey Taylor,
how have you been?"

And I'm like,
"Hey, you know, who is this?

I don't really remember you."

And he's like, you know,
"It's Christian.

"We went to
high school together.

"I remember when
you transferred

from Sandy Valley
to McKinley."

- That's
a very specific detail.

- Yeah.
So when he said that, I'm like,

"Okay, you were there,
you know me--let's talk."

So I'm like, "Well, here,
here's my number, let's text.

"We don't have to, you know,
keep talking on Messenger."

So we texted for, like,
another week or two

and then I was like,

"You know,
can we talk on the phone?"

So I called him.
And we talked.

And that lasted
for like maybe a month.

And then five months ago,
just stopped talking to me.

So we text.
- Was there ever any doubt

when you talked to him
on the phone

that his voice sounded like
anything other than a guy?

- Not at all.
- Okay.

- It was definitely a man,
definitely a guy.

- It was a guy. Okay.

- And how were those
phone calls?

- Like, a lot of chemistry,

and it--it just--it felt like
someone I already knew.

He's, like, gentle,
he's caring.

We laugh a lot.
He's very funny.

So, I'm like,
"Well, let's FaceTime."

And he's like, "Oh, I can't
'cause my camera's broken."

- That's weird, yeah.
- So at that point,

every now and then I would
start videoing him

on Messenger just to see
if I could get him to answer.

And he wouldn't answer.

Then, you know, like
a month ago it got deleted.

It got hacked.

- But even if it got hacked,

it would still be up
unless the person who hacked it

hacked it to deactivate it.
- Yeah, that's what he said.

- That seems like a weird
reason to hack an account.

- Yeah.

- Do you accept that
that's potentially a lie?

- For sure.
And it's a little creepy.

'Cause it's someone who
really does know, like--

- A lot about you.
- A lot about me.

- Yeah. When did he say
he moved to Atlanta?

- He said he's been out there
about four years.

- Do you know people
in Atlanta?

- One.
She's, like, my sister.

- So she also went to school
with you.

- No.
- Oh, she didn't know him

from the same high school.

both: Yeah.
- Oh, okay.

All right,
I gotta see this guy.

- Yeah.
- All right, let's see here.

Let's take a look.

- So, these are
the pictures that I have.

- Whoa! He's, uh...
- Super beautiful.

- He's got a look, for sure.

- And you are super attracted
to the photos?

- Mm-hmm, yeah.
- Okay.

- But you've already considered
that it might not be this guy,

right?
- Yeah.

My thought is that
it's somebody who's not

as attractive as those pictures
and has a crush on me.

- Are you okay with it not
being the guy in the pictures?

- As long as
he's decent-looking.

- There still has to be
some attraction.

- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah.

- What would be like
a "[bleep] no"?

- A girl.
- Right.

- Okay, all right.
- All right.

So you have the photos,
you've got his phone number.

- There's something
to go off of.

- So we'll see what we can do.
- I'm ready.

- Okay!
- See you tomorrow.

[dramatic music]

- She's incredibly intelligent
and really beautiful.

I think that we're really
going to help this girl.

- I will say though,
there is...

there's something about her

that, like...

I find a little unsettling.

- Okay.
- I don't know what it is.

- Expand, expand.
- It's just--

It's like she's not really
that into Christian.

She says she is,
but there's

something disingenuous,
almost phony.

- A vibe?
- She's just almost too...

- Shiny.
- Shiny.

Anyway, but--
- I think--

- Something's going on.
- Something's going on.

All it's going to take,
I think, is a little digging.

- Let's get to it.
- All right.

- So let's just recap.
Nine months ago,

Taylor gets
a Facebook friend request

from some guy named Christian.

- He's, like, "We went
to high school together."

- Right, well, then she
starts trying to FaceTime

and he just keeps ignoring it,

and then all of a sudden
his Facebook disappears.

- I think she's seen
the red flags

but also, like, ignoring them.
[chuckles]

- Yeah, let's do it.
- All right.

- Here's an email from Taylor.
- Okay.

- "Hey, guys, so here's
the info I have on Christian.

"Christian Daniels, 26,
lives in Atlanta.

"He's had two phone numbers.

"An old phone number from when
we first started talking

"and a new phone number
that he's using now.

"In terms of people
I know in Atlanta

it's basically
just my best friend Jerrika."

- Okay.

- "Also, I attached
his pictures.

I even tried to search the
photos, but nothing came up."

All right, well, she says
she imaged searched these

but let's just do it
for ourselves.

- Yeah.

[suspenseful music]

All right, so here's--

oh, oh!
- Oh!

- There is a hit.
What is this?

That's like a boutique.
Clothing company--

- It's like, very...

- Yep, yeah.
Bracelets and stuff.

Oh, here he is!
Who is this guy?

- So he's just like
literally a model.

- He's a model.
Of course he's a model.

- Okay.
- Well, so that confirms that

the guy in the picture's just
some model off the internet.

- Yeah, so at least
we have that.

- She missed it,
but let's just see

if we get any hits
with his phone numbers.

Here's the old number.

[dramatic music]
- Jerrika--Oh, my...

- Jerrika?
- Hello?

Go back to the email.
- Wait a second!

- Hold on, hold on.
- Yeah, her friend in--

in Atlanta's name is Jerrika.

- Oh, my God.
- Wait a second.

Jerrika, 26.
The right age.

Hold on--so her friend in
Atlanta's name is Jerrika,

and the first number
they talked on comes back

to a girl named Jerrika
in Atlanta.

- Yeah, I mean--okay.

- I mean,
is her last name Montez?

Come on, could it--
could it be that simple?

That it's her, like,
friend from high school

who's behind this?
Oh, my God.

Actually, they didn't even--
I don't even think they went

to the same high school.
- Okay.

- But she knows where
Taylor went to high school.

But the voice, who did--
who was talking on the phone?

She got some guy to do it?
- People do that, right?

- And then that guy was like,

"I don't want
to do this anymore."

- Yeah, I mean--okay.

- With Taylor, she would
have her friend's number.

- But--say--people have burners
and fake numbers--

- Well, or she got a new phone
when she moved to Atlanta

and she doesn't have that?

- Yeah, 'cause is that
the Atlanta area code?

- Yeah, that's for Atlanta.

- Is there any way
to ask Taylor, like,

what her friend's
last name is?

- Let's just ask her,

what's your friend's last name?
- Okay, okay.

- Is your...
- It'd be great to contact her.

- Oh, and do you have
her phone number?

- Yeah.
Yeah, easy.

- Okay, so let's see.

This is almost too obvious.

She has one friend in Atlanta
named Jerrika,

and the phone number
for Christian

comes back registered to a girl
named Jerrika in Atlanta.

- Yeah, this is...
- I mean...

- Okay.
- Come on!

But, like,
like, why would Jerrika,

Taylor's close friend,

who now lives in Atlanta,
make this up?

- 'Cause she loves her.
- Oh, my God.

Wait, so is it just her friend
who's been in love with her?

[tense music]

Let's see if we can find
Jerrika on Instagram.

- Okay.

- Maybe Taylor
tagged her in her Instagram.

Wow.
- Okay.

- I'm not seeing her posting
pictures with her.

In fact, she doesn't post pics
with anybody else, either.

She's really leaning into
the LA influence here.

- It seems like Taylor's
kind of curating a real image,

you know?
- Yes.

- A real brand.
- She's posting

the things you post
when you want more followers.

She wants to be famous.
- That's cool.

That's rad, you know?

- Sure.
So, okay.

No shots of Jerrika
on Instagram.

All right.
Checking Taylor's Facebook.

Ooh, but it's private.
Okay, hmm.

So wait--okay.
So what else do we have?

Let's just search
the new number

she's been talking
to Christian on.

- Okay.
- I'm curious what...

So this number...

♪ ♪

Hmm.
- Ohio.

That one doesn't even
give a name.

♪ ♪

- Weird.
- Weird.

[computer chimes]

- Oh, we got an update.
- We did.

- Her last name...oh.

"I asked Jerrika if she was
cool to talk with you guys,

but she said "No thank you."

- But she didn't give
the last name.

- Yeah, weird.
- That's weird.

- I can't even tell
if Taylor is being legit

or real with us anymore, like--

- You think she's lying?

- I-I mean I--
I don't know, I just--

- No, it has to be
the friend.

- Jerrika.
- It has to be the friend.

- She knows where
Taylor went to high school

and specifics
about her high school life.

If Jerrika didn't
live in Atlanta, I'd say that--

that could just
be a coincidence.

- We're two for two here.

It's not looking good
for Jerrika.

I just want to see
Taylor's reaction.

- Yeah, I mean, it's one thing
to find out the guy

you've been talking to
who you really like

isn't the guy you think he is,
but it's another to find out

that it's
your best girlfriend.

- Oh, my God.

Her world will be
completely shocked.

- I'm very curious
to see how she reacts.

- She could be...shocked.
She could be devastated.

You know what I mean?
- Well, she's smart.

She knows not being able
to video chat

means you're not the person
in the pictures.

But is she ready to find out
she's being Catfished

by her best friend?
- This is new water for me.

- Yeah.

There's something about her--
I can't figure out what it is--

but just feels like Taylor--
she might just know a little

bit more than she's telling us.
- Yeah.

- Okay.
[takes deep breath]

Let's go.

[percussive music]

[knocks on door]

all: Hi.

Good to see you guysagain.

- Why don't we all sit down?

[sighs]

- Ready to see
what you found out.

- All right.
So everyone cozy up.

So...
- Mm-hmm?

- The first thing we did,
which you said you'd done

an image search.
- Yeah.

- We ran the photos,
and interestingly

there actually is a hit.

So we went to this website,
and one of them is--

- Wow.
- Him.

The fact that
his picture's on a website

for a clothing company,
like, kind of confirms--

- Yeah.

- That this guy
is just some random dude.

- Yeah.
- How does that make you feel?

- A little creeped out.
Weirded out.

- Yeah, yeah.
- That's weird.

- So that kind of puts
an end to the possibility

that Christian
is the guy in the pictures.

And then you, obviously,
mentioned Jerrika

who is the one person you know
who now lives in Atlanta.

- Mm-hmm.
- And I know you said Jerrika

didn't want to talk to us.
But, what is her last name?

- It's Montez.
- Got it.

[suspenseful music]

So this is
where things got weird.

We ran the first number
you had texted with him on

and we got this.

- Oh, my Gosh!

- Which is why we were curious
what her last name was.

Because the fact that
the first number you texted

is registered to your friend
from Atlanta pretty much means

that, like--
- Uh, yeah.

- That's probably Christian.

That is as much proof
as you can get.

- That's very weird.

- Obviously,
this must not be a real number

because you
h-have Jerrika's number, right?

- Yeah.

- Because if
when you met Christian

and he had said
"Hey, here's my number."

and you had plugged it in
and it would've come up

as Jerrika's number.
- Yeah, there's no way.

- So Jerrika must secretly
have a second number.

- But, um...why?
- I don't know why.

But is the possibility
that Jerrika...

is secretly in love with you?

Is there a part of that
that you can believe...

is possible?
- No.

It's just really hard
to believe that's her.

Like, I know
she doesn't like girls.

[somber music]

Wow.
- This is definitely, like,

boggling to the mind, you know?
So I get it.

- The fact that Christian
knows an awful lot about

your life in high school
and your family

and, like...that
means it has to be

someone close to you
that you do know.

- Yeah.
- And the fact that you

talked to him on the phone,
but that then you

stopped talking on the phone
also kind of works

in the theory that Jerrika
asked some guy friend

to, like, "be the voice."

- Yeah.

I have no idea.

- Well, here's what's weird.

I don't know if
we should try calling

the "Christian" phone number
and, like, playing the game

or just calling Jerrika
and being like,

"Jerrika, what's going on?
This is crazy."

- Yeah, why don't we
just start with Christian?

- Sure.
Let's start by calling

Christian's new number,

the one you've been talking
to him on most recently.

[line trilling]

- Hello?
- Hello?

[tense music]

- Hey.
- Is this Christian?

- [mouthing]

Hey, how you doing, man?
This is Nev.

I'm here
with your friend Taylor.

We're making an episode
of "Catfish" right now.

Uh, I didn't expect you
to pick up

because I know that you
and Taylor haven't talked

on the phone in a while.

I wasn't sure why that was.

- Okay.

- Uh...

I--I just--I thought
you lived in Atlanta.

- Okay.

So, I guess we should
just wait until we meet you

and you can
explain everything then.

- Okay, great.
And, uh, we'll just...

see you soon.

- Okay, thanks.
Bye.

- Wow.

- So was that the same...

- That's the same voice
that I haven't heard

in forever.
- Whooooaaa!

How did that make you--
you feel?

- Well, I'm happy
I got to hear him.

- Wait a second, it's not--
that can't be him!

Let's not forget
what we already decided

which is, like--
- It could be the--the decoy.

- Right.
Then if it is Jerrika,

why would she send us to Ohio?
- Yeah.

- But then that brings up
the question of, like,

is Jerrika in Ohio right now?

Do you know where Jerrika is?
Is she--

- She's in Atlanta.
- Are you sure?

- Yes.

- Here's something we could do.

We could find out
where Jerrika is.

- By a way of...
- Grabify!

You can text someone a link,
and when they click the link,

it sends a message back
to the website and tells you

where they opened--
- What?

- That link.
- Oh!

- Yeah.

So should we see
where Jerrika is right now?

- Yes.
- Yeah, I think we should.

- Oh, my goodness.

- Oh, you're gonna have to text
her, so send her this...

New link.
- Okay.

[suspenseful music]

- [mimics sinister
laughter]

- Okay.

- All right.
Wait, let's see, let's see.

Nothing yet.

Okay, I can see
you've texted her.

- Mm-hmm.

That's her.

[dramatic musical sting]
- Wait a second.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

♪ ♪

- Wait, that's her number?
- Yeah, that's her number.

- What? Wait a second!
- Hold on, hold on, hold on.

- Jerrika's number
is Christian's number!

That's Christian's old number.

You never noticed that

Christian's number
was her number?

♪ ♪

- Wait.
That's her number?

- Yeah, that's her number.
- You never noticed

that Christian's old number
was her number?

[tense music]

- No, never at all.
- What? Wait a second!

- Wait, wait, wait, wait,
hold on, hold on, hold on!

- Jerrika's number
is Christian's number.

- Yeah.
- Hello?

- No, that's not his number now
that I talk to him off of.

- Yeah, but you have
this number for Jerrika.

- But it's her when I call her.

Like, I could call her
right now, and it's her.

It's not a guy.
- Right, but...

- That's the point.
- Right.

So it's definitely her.

The first number you had
for Christian

before you knew his new number
is Jerrika's current number.

So you--you knew
that there was

some weird connection
with her and this story,

which is why you acting
surprised is weird to me.

[tense music]

- So...
when I asked her about that,

she said it wasn't her.
- You already called her out?

- 'Cause you had it programmed
in your phone already.

- Yeah, yeah.
I told her, I was like,

"This goes back to someone
that I've talked to."

- Why wouldn't you
mention that to us?

when we got here and said,
"Oh, by the way,

"the first number
you had for Christian

comes back
to your friend Jerrika,"

how could you not
immediately say,

"Oh, yeah, I knew that."

- Well, because I've--
I believe her.

In my heart
I don't believe it's her.

- Yeah, but, like...

how could you not
s--mention that?

- Be suspicious
or sketched out?

- That you brought
that up with her?

You're too smart for this.
- But if I felt like

a little bit that it was her,

then I would be on it
that it's her, but I--

in my heart,
I don't believe it's her.

- You're telling us the truth?
- Yes.

- I gotta be honest.
I'm just confused.

We are not
going to Ohio or anywhere

until we figure out
what's going on here.

Let's take the afternoon
and try to figure out a plan.

Right now anything is possible.
Let's just see what happens.

We'll see you tomorrow morning.

- That was, like, a little rip

that just kept on going--
- Oh, yeah.

- And going and going
and going and going...

and going and going.
- Talk about a crack

in the dam.
- Oh, my God--

- Something's going on.

I think Taylor's
lying to us.

And I don't feel bad
for her...at all.

- There's an ickiness here
in general.

- I think we gotta
play the game

and let it play out.

I mean, look, maybe Taylor
made up this whole story.

But why and who else
is involved?

Like, we're never going to get
a full answer until

we go all the way to the end.
- Yeah.

We take it piece by piece.
- Right.

♪ ♪

[line trilling]

- Hello?
- Hey, Tallulah.

Morning.

- So the plot thickens.

Last night, I got a text

from a totally just, like,

random number that just said,

"You're getting played.

Call me before
you go anywhere."

- Oh!
- Yeah.

Let's meet back
over at Taylor's place.

We gotta get Taylor's
reaction to this text.

- So here's the plan.

The walls are closing in
on Taylor,

but let's not let her know
we're on to her.

- Never done a sting operation
like this before,

but I say we travel to Ohio--
- Okay.

- Or wherever this takes us.

We gotta follow this rabbit
deeper down the hole

to see who is behind all this.

- All right, so I'll see you
over at Taylor's.

Oh, God.

Here we go!

- [sighs]
- What's up, guys?

- Cold out here.

- All right, so I told you--

- I just mentioned that so many
things have been brought...

- Right.
- To the surface.

- All right, so last night...

I got a text message.
Here's the text I got.

"You're being played.

Just call me
before you go anywhere."

Now, it's from a 404 number,
which is Atlanta.

So let's just call,

if whoever this
mystery informant is...

can tell us anything.

- Yes, hi.
It's, uh--

It's Nev.
Good morning.

- Uh, who--
who am I talking to?

- Hello, Jade.

Uh, so I got your text
last night.

- Oh--oh.

- Okay, that would be great.

- Hmm.

All right,
so Jade and Austin.

Are those names
that ring bells?

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- No.
- No.

You sure you've
never heard of Jade?

- I have no idea who Jade is.

- Is there anything else
that you haven't told us

that you think now
might be relevant?

♪ ♪

- No.

- All right, well...

I guess we have
to go to Atlanta.

[upbeat music]

Get packed up,
and let's load up.

- ATL.

- ♪ I threw it out ♪

♪ Everything that I knew,
I threw it o-o-ut ♪

- All right.
We made it to LAX.

Nev Schulman for TMZ.

- No photos, no photos!

♪ ♪

♪ Everything that I knew
about being safe ♪

♪ About being sane,
about staying true ♪

♪ I threw it out for you ♪
- All right, Taylor.

We made it--Atlanta!
Are you guys ready

to expose some lies?

- So...
what the [bleep] is going on?

- All I know is
something doesn't smell right.

The whole phone number
Jerrika thing...

obviously a--a lie.

- Like, it's just not true.

- And so let's just assume
for a moment

that we are...getting played.

Taylor set this up
to get on the show,

to boost her Instagram
following or whatever.

- Yeah.
And I would be curious to know

the other players involved.

I thought we ought
to tread lightly.

I think that we can't really
totally let on what we know

and maybe have all the parties
present to be, like,

"What the [bleep]?"

- It'll be "Catfish's"
first full-on sting operation.

- Yeah.
- And then at the end

they'll fall on
their own sword.

- Yeah--
- It'll be obvious that

this whole thing was just
some dumb setup.

- Let's give her a call.
- Let's...

[line trilling]

- Hey, Taylor, what's up?

- We're downstairs
in Tallulah's room,

so you should come down
and we should get things going.

- All right.
So see you in a second.

- Bye.
- Uh, this is so funny.

- I just want to be able
to look at the camera all day

and roll my eyes.
- It's almost like--

- And know that
you're going to use it.

I just want to know that like--

- You know like
Jim from "The Office"?

Where you're like...

- Right, right.
I feel like each of us

should get, like,
an eyeball eye roll camera.

Yeah.
[sighs]

Yeah.

[knock at door]
Oh, there she is.

Speak of the devil.

- Hi!
- Hi, good morning.

You look cute.
- Come on in.

- What up?
- Nervous.

I have butterflies.
A lot of butterflies.

♪ ♪

- Have you talked to anybody?
- No.

- Does Jerrika know
you're in town?

- No.
- Really?

- Mm-mm.

- All right,
let's text Christian.

"Hey..."
Uh, Austin-slash-Christian.

"It's Nev.
We know you are in Atlanta,

and we're here ready to meet."

Sent.

What do you think is going on?

- I think...

Austin is
who I've been talking to.

- Okay, so Christian's
just really named Austin.

- Mm-hmm.

- Sure, it could be that.
- Yeah.

- [chuckles]
Yeah.

Well, I don't know
what else we can do

other than reach out to Jade.

Let's just call her.

[line trilling]

- Hello, Jade.
It's Nev.

- I'm here in Atlanta
with Tallulah and Taylor,

and we are waiting to hear back
from Christian-slash-Austin.

Um...

- Oh, great.
Uh...

and where is that?

- That would be great.
Perfect.

- Thanks, Jade.
See you soon.

- Okay, Taylor.

You must be so excited
to get some answers.

Are you ready?
[phone chimes]

Oh perfect.
Look at this.

We've got an address.

What?

That's like
around the corner.

Look at that.
- Really?

- It's a nine-minute walk.

- We should walk.
- Should we stroll over?

- Let's do it.
- Okay.

both: All right.

- We'll see you
there in the car.

We're gonna walk.
It's just so close.

We've never done this before,
but we're walking...

[chuckles]
to meet the Catfish.

This is a "Catfish" first.

♪ ♪

All right, we're getting close.
Take a right here.

All right.
We're one turn away.

This is it.

So this must be the not-creepy
driveway to the back house.

- The full foliage.
- You're pretty quiet, Taylor.

I guess I'll go up there
and knock.

You guys want
to hang here for a second?

- Okay.

- Jade should be home,right?

[tense music]

♪ ♪

[music intensifies]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- Hi.
- Hi.

- How are you doing?
- I'm good, how are you?

- Good, I'm Nev.
- I'm Jade.

- You're Jade.
Okay, great.

- Nev.
- Hey.

- Austin.
- Austin, all right.

What's up?
Why don't you guys

come down and we'll all--
- Step out so we can talk?

♪ ♪

- Okay.

Do you--do you know
each other at all?

- No.

- I've never seen herbefore.

- Okay.
Well, this is Taylor.

This is Tallulah
who's helping out.

Jade and...

both: Austin.

- So...

What the heck's going on,
guys?

- Uh...
- Okay, so...

initially, it all kind of
started off as a joke.

- So were you texting me?

- Sometimes.
- Yeah.

We all started, uh--
- Who is we all?

- Myself, Jade and Hailey.
- Yeah, my best friend as well.

- Hailey?
- Yeah, she actually

played a part in it.
Hailey went to McKinley.

- Do you know someone
named Hailey from high school?

- Like, barely.
I mean, I know who she is,

like, but I've never--

I've talked to her, like,
once or twice.

Hailey's the one
who told you guys everything?

- Yeah.

- Why didn't you guys
just tell me, like,

it was a joke in the beginning?

'Cause now it's on TV,
and I look really stupid.

- Well, I don't want you--

See, and that's
what I didn't want.

Like, I didn't want you to--
- [sniffles]

Can we go?

- Mmm...

no.

I'm not buying it.

What about Jerrika?

- Who's Jerrika?

- Come back over here, Taylor.
What's going on here?

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

Oh, someone's here.

♪ ♪

- Hello.
- Hi.

Is that Jerrika?

- Oh, that's Hailey.

- Hi.
- Hi, Nev.

- Hi.

- Hey, Taylor.

I'm sorry, bro.

It wasn't supposed
to get this far.

- So why didn't
you guys stop it

when I text you and said
I'm going to write "Catfish"?

Why didn't you just
tell me then?

- Honestly, for it--
once it got this deep,

I felt like this would've been
the best way to do it.

I felt like...

you deserved to know the truth.

- There's, like,
people who kill themselves

for stuff like this,
and I'm just really upset.

♪ ♪

- I'm sorry, bro.
Honestly, like,

I just really can't say
anything more than that...

and I feel bad.

- Blah, blah, blah--All right,
let's just be honest.

Can someone
just [bleep] be honest?

This is stupid.

I just want someone to
[bleep] tell me the truth!

This is all bull[bleep]!
- There is no bull[bleep].

This is what you see
is what you get.

- There's no malice intended.
- There's nothing more to it.

Like, it just got out of hand.

- We know for sure that's
not what's going on here.

- W-I don't--what else--
what do you think is going on?

- I think you guys and Taylor
are all full of [bleep].

♪ ♪

- We know that's not
the whole story.

We know Taylor's best friend

has the same phone number
as the Catfish.

It doesn't add up.
None of it.

You guys
aren't fooling anybody.

It's all BS.

Do you got any additional...

things to say?

- Not at all.

- All right.
Okay.

- Yeah, why don't we just
take a quick breather?

- Okay.
- All right.

- But...yeah.

- Right.

All right,
why don't we go inside

and try and figure this out.

All right.

- So here's how I'm feeling.

I feel like
maybe you guys, like,

were in on it with Jerrika
a little bit,

like, for me,
like, you know,

for me to have her number
and stuff

and then maybe
you guys are, like,

protecting her 'cause she's
one of my really close friends.

- [sighs]

Is somebody gonna
say something?

- I don't know a Jerrika.
- I don't know Jerrika.

- I don't know Jerrika.

I just--we're in too deep
at this point

and things are getting...

out of--just out of hand.

And I feel like a lot of it
is coming on us.

And I feel like everybody
needs to take accountability

for their actions and
their part in the situation.

- I hear what you're saying,

that you guys
are taking the fall...

for someone else.

- I mean, there's only
so much that we can explain

'cause I've never
called Jerrika,

I've never talked to Jerrika,
I've never texted Jerrika.

She hasn't, she hasn't.

Only one person
in this room can explain.

- How did you get involved?

- Taylor.

- Like, when you guys
added me on Facebook

and were just, like,
playing around?

- [sighs]

I'm trying to give you
the opportunity

to speak your truth and then--
- And I'm speaking my truth.

- I wouldn't feel the need--
- Right, so I'll just say it.

I'm just gonna say it.

So Taylor set this up
to come on TV

and then at some point

asked you guys
to come on the show.

- Yeah.
- Okay.

- We kind of got in on it
at the end.

- You basically...

you three were
gonna be the ones

that were the--the Catfish.

- Her.

- She was--
- Wait, hold on.

Taylor,
you just said that like

all of a sudden you're--you're,
like, agreeing with the story.

You just gonna, like,
casually admit that, like,

they're right
and that you've been

[bleep] full of [bleep]
this whole time?

- Well--
- Are you ready to do that?

- So Jerrika decided to
make it up, and I wrote it.

- [laughs]
- Okay.

- And then Jerrika said
she didn't want to look stupid.

- Okay.
- So I was, like,

let me see if someone
from Atlanta can do it.

So I wrote her, but the fact
that they're involved--

- But why?
Why do all that?

To be on the show?
To boost your Instagram?

- What's the origin point

of why we are all
sitting on this--

[laughs]
in these couches right now?

Like, "I want to be on TV."
Like, what the [bleep]?

We talked to you,
you sat with us

talking about this lie.

We spent time and energy.

When we do this,
like, 110% into everything.

And, like, that's [bleep] up.

- Well,
if they would've said no

then I wouldn't even
have wrote into the show.

It's not like I was gonna keep
finding people--

- Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- Yeah, that's my fault for--

- Yeah, all right, no.
That's ridiculous.

You don't think anything's
your fault,

the world is, like,
at your feet to do whatever--

- No, I never said
nothing is my fault.

- Yeah, but this just, like--

You look so gross right now.

I don't even think
Jerrika is involved.

I'm sorry, I just think
the fact that

you went through with this
and that you so casually

are just saying, like,
"Okay, yeah, that's it,"

and haven't once, like,

even seemed to express
any sense of remorse...

You're like,
"Life is going to be perfect

for me anyway,
so, like, 'Oops, sorry.'"

- Okay.
- That's how I feel about you

right now.
- Okay.

- So I'm finished.

You guys, that's it.
I got the answers I needed.

I think the story's over.

I'm sorry you guys
got roped into this.

That was unfortunate.

It was a bad decision,
but okay, good luck.

Sorry we had to ruin
your big TV debut,

and please don't ever
waste my time again.

- Damn.

- Hi, Nev.
- Skrrt.

We're sorry for our part.

- I want to apologize to you.
Like, you know?

- Obviously, it's your job,
you take it serious.

Like I said,
it was a train already moving,

and we kind of just
hopped on it.

- Right.
Yeah, you screwed up.

But glad we cleared it up.

- We're sorry
for wasting your time.

- Thanks, guys.
- Thank you.

- All right, ya'll.
- Bye, Nev.

- Bye.
- Bye!

[somber music]

- Do you want
to say something?

- Yeah.
- All right.

- Well, I know you think
I'm disgusting and everything,

but I'm not a stuck up,
rude person.

Like, that's not who I am.

I don't think, like,
"Oh, who cares?"

It was all just a stupid idea.
- I'm--I'm--

- And that's why
I wanted to say I'm sorry.

- Well, okay.
Thank you...

for at least...
coming clean.

Thank you
for apologizing.

See ya.
- Bye.

♪ ♪

[upbeat music]

- All right.

I mean, this is a show
about finding the truth,

and we got there,
one way or another.

- You called it.
First day.

- She doesn't really
seem to understand

the things she does
affect other people

and that she should take
responsibility for that.

But, all right.

It's still a--
still an interesting episode.

- Oh, pffft--
- Definitely a "Catfish" first.

Good work.

- My man.

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