Catfish: The TV Show (2012–…): Season 8, Episode 28 - Michael & Julia - full transcript
Michael is a reality TV star that has fallen deep in love with his online dream girl, Julia, but when Nev and Kamie try to make an IRL love connection for Michael, he gets a reality check as they uncover a heartbreaking truth.
- Michael is a reality TV star
who's fallen in love
with Julia,
a girl he met online.
- We talked about our future,
how many kids
she wants to have.
But this is
a very tough situation.
because he said
that she's a virgin.
- [gasps]
- Wait a second.
52 mutual friends? Wow.
- That would be reality stars.
- So she's a fangirl.
There has to be a catch.
- What the hell's going on?
- Feel like I'm gonna have
a heart attack.
[chiming]
- ♪ I'll make 'em say yeah ♪
♪ ♪
- This morning,
my four-legged son
decided to create destruction
and havoc in my home.
Why? Why'd you do that?
- ♪ I'll make 'em say yeah ♪
- Are you sorry?
No? Okay.
- ♪ I'll make 'em say yeah ♪
- Hey, Beauty Queen.
- You got texts.
Finally, Nev addresses me
as I should be addressed.
- "Finally some respect."
[laughs]
[chiming]
- Oh.
- There she is.
- Hell--wow!
Oh, my God.
Some color in your world.
- I guess that's true. I don't
really ever wear color, so--
- "Dancing with the Stars" is
turning you into a new person.
- All right, let's dive
into a new Catfish case.
- I'm ready.
- All right.
Here is our email.
This is from Russell.
"Hey, Nev and Kamie.
My name is Russell.
"Several months ago.
"A girl named Julia
reached out to me.
"She was flirty for a while.
"But it never went anywhere.
"And I never thought much of
it, until recently,
"when my friend Michael told me
he had fallen hard
for a girl he met online."
- ♪ They say the past
is the past ♪
"Then I realized
it was the same Julia."
- Ooh.
- ♪ Oh, I believe ♪
- "Michael has been talking to
her for four months.
- ♪ I believe, I believe,
I believe ♪
- "And she only wants to text.
No video calls.
"But Michael is ready to uproot
his life to be with her
and even give her a kid."
- ♪ I believe in this ♪
- "I don't trust her.
"And Michael and I have
a shared experience
that makes us vulnerable
to online advances."
- Hm.
"I don't want to see
my friend get played.
"And I need you guys to knock
some sense into Michael
"and see this girl
for who she potentially is:
"a catfish and a liar.
All the best. Russell."
Wow.
- So, Russell was catfished
by Julia.
- Presumably.
- Possibly.
- Right.
These two friends have both
interacted with the same girl.
Russell's convinced
she's a catfish,
but now Michael's on the hook
and doesn't want to hear it.
- Hm, and what's this weird
vulnerability?
- So we gotta call Russell
and get a little bit more info.
Let me text him.
- I wanna know
what this thing is.
What is the secret?
- What is this--
is this secret?
He said, "Hey Nev. Thanks,
yeah hope y'all
can help my boy."
- Oh yeah, he didn't say
where he's from.
- Did not say where he's from.
But we'll find
out soon enough.
- But he said "y'all."
[computer chimes]
Ah!
- Oh.
- Hi!
- Wait, "The Russell--"
What
What does that shirt say?
- "The Russell Hantz Show."
It's a YouTube podcast.
And I was on a few reality
TV events.
- Oh?
- Yeah. One being "Survivor."
- [gasps] Did you survive?
- I was a three-time
contestant,
two-time fan favorite.
- Wow.
- That's insane.
- And Michael was on
reality TV too.
- I knew there was
something up.
And I was like,
what could it be?
But this is it.
- Yeah. Well, he was, like,
a fan favorite
on "Big Brother."
- Oh, my God.
- I met Michael
doing reality TV events.
And I've been friends with him
for about ten years now.
- Where do you guys both live?
- Well, I live in Houston.
- Oh, okay.
- He's all over the place.
Right now, he's here.
- Oh, this is so cool.
Okay, so what's the tea?
So you met this
Julia person first.
- Yes. She messaged me,
and I talked to her,
but it wasn't
anything romantic.
I didn't think anything of it.
And then Mike was like,
"Oh, I met this girl."
And he shows me
a picture of her,
and as soon as he shows me
a picture,
I recognized her immediately.
- The same girl.
- Yes.
And I believe her
to be a catfish.
Because she don't even
talk to him on the phone.
And she no only follow me,
I called a couple of my friends
that's in "Survivor"--
she's following both of them.
All reality stars.
- So she's a fangirl.
- That's what I'm thinking.
I like Mike. He's a good guy.
But he's dealing with a lot
right now in his life.
And I hope it's real.
I just know it's not.
But he thinks she's real.
- Yeah.
- I mean.
- If have you called Michael
and said, "Hey, it's Russell.
I reached out to 'Catfish.'
They want to help,"
do you think that would be
a good way
to kind of break the news
to him and get him involved?
- He's so invested in her
right now, emotionally.
So I think he would do it.
- Tell him to get in the Zoom.
'Cause we need to talk.
- Hey, man. What's happening?
- I got a little surprise
for you.
You know how
we talked about Julia?
I'm kind of on a Zoom call
with "Catfish" right now.
- [laughs]
- They wanna talk to you.
- [laughs]
- We're gonna go ahead
and put you in on a Zoom.
We'll go from there.
- Bye. Bye, man.
- All right,
you put his number
in the email, right?
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
- All right, sent.
- If anybody's gonna break
Michael's heart...
- [laughs]
[computer chimes]
- Hey. There he is.
- Hey, Michael.
- What's up, Mike?
- Oh, my goodness.
- What's happening, brother?
- Michael, obviously,
Russell reached out
'cause you're his friend,
and he understands
that you're in a situation
where you might need
some assistance.
So listen, Michael,
before we jump in with you,
I just want to give
Russell a chance to say goodbye
so that we can kind of start
focusing on the Julia thing.
- Yeah. I just wanted to say,
you know, I did this
'cause I care about you.
I just want you to find out
what's real
so you can go forward with
your life with positive things
instead of things we just don't
know anything about.
- Right. And I appreciate that.
- All right.
Russell, thank you.
- Love you, brother.
- All right, man. Thank you.
- Bye, Russell.
- Bye, bye.
- Wow. So hopefully,
we prove him wrong.
- Well--
- Well, look, to be fair,
Russell doesn't necessarily
know definitively
that Julia is not real.
He just has a hunch.
Before we get into all that,
though,
I just want to find out
a little bit more at you.
- Well, I'm 39 years old,
and I've got three
beautiful children.
I'm currently married.
But--I know, I know.
But I'm going through
a divorce.
She broke up with me
through a text message
and said that I'm done.
Yeah, 2020 started with--
in January,
my mother passed away,
which was my best friend.
And then COVID hit.
And then the split up.
And then now Julia. And so
Julia escaped that--yes.
You know, like,
wanting to live again.
- Right.
- Where does Julia say
that she lives?
- She says she lives
in South Carolina.
Myrtle Beach. Because of
my mother passing away,
I left the town
that we were living in
and I'm going cross-country.
you know, Myrtle Beach
is an option,
which is crazy that I would
even think about that. But--
- Wait, so you're trying
to move closer to be near her?
You're, like, all-in. Wow.
- So tell us how
the relationship started.
- So, in July,
basically two weeks after
my separation with my wife,
I get a message
and add from Julia,
asking me questions
about the show,
because she's a huge fan.
And here we are now.
We've been talking about three
and a half months.
We talked about our future,
things like that,
how many kids
she wants to have.
She wants four.
I've already raised three.
I'm like,
"Well, let's start with one."
- Aw--
What? Wait. Okay.
So you guys started
talking about
three and a half months ago,
and you guys have already
talked about having kids,
moving in--
- Because I do believe
she's real.
- I mean, it's a lot.
- Wait. So, hold on a second.
So, keep going. So, what else
do you know about her?
- She's 28 years old.
We're Christians--both of us.
She loves kids.
So we have that in common.
She said that she wanted
to become a nun,
and she then decided
she wanted to have kids,
and she's kind of changed
her perspective in life.
And so I kind of see
the story being legit,
especially being
she's a virgin.
And--yes.
And so, like,
I've really handled this
relationship very differently
than
I probably would with most.
- Is it her religious beliefs?
Seems like it's something
that's important to her.
- Right. And I respect that.
- Does she post about religion
a lot on her Facebook?
- Oh, absolutely.
- And does she have
any other social media,
other than the Facebook page?
- All I know about
is the Facebook.
- You're so sure
that she's real,
but your buddy Russell
has some legitimate concerns,
like, she won't even get
on the phone with you, right?
- I've only been able to get
her on the phone call one time,
and it was a very soft voice.
And we have not had
another conversation.
And then every time I've said,
"Hey, let's do video chat
or something like that,"
there's an excuse.
Just, "I'm at work"
or "I'm exhausted."
- I want to see what
this girl looks like.
- Yeah, do you know how to
share your screen?
- Absolutely.
- Oh, who's that?
- That's Julia.
- [gasps] You have her
as your wallpaper?
- I do.
- Oh, my God.
- All right, Julia [bleep].
Okay.
Wow, 52 mutual friends?
Wow.
- That's a lot.
- Yep. Reality stars.
- But doesn't it concern you
that she's friends
with so many
other reality TV contestants?
- I'm not worried about that,
because I know
she's a huge fan.
I don't know. I mean,
I could be blind, too.
- Okay. Just scroll
through some pics.
So, you got this.
Beautiful.
- She seems like a sweetheart.
- She is.
- Cute.
- She's very cute.
- She's cute.
God--Jesus first.
- Absolutely.
- Cross on the shirt.
- Well, this girl's cute,
if it's who you're talking to.
- She's beautifully, y'all.
I mean, she's gotta be real.
- I mean, look, there's
a chance Julia is real
and her name is Julia,
but she's just not the girl
in the pictures.
- Right.
- So, I guess,
what are your deal-breakers
in this situation?
If Julia's not the girl
that you know in the pictures,
would that matter?
- You know, I don't think
it would matter.
- What if it was your ex-wife
just trying to mess with you?
- I had that same thought, too.
The fact that you met Julia
so shortly after you officially
separated from your wife.
- Yeah. I think what would
hurt me the most
is if it was my ex-wife.
But I don't think it's her.
I think this is Julia.
I really think she's real.
- All right.
So let's get into it.
Send us her phone number,
her Facebook page,
things like that.
- Okay. Sounds great.
Good luck, y'all.
- All right.
Nice meet you, Michael.
- Thanks, Michael.
Michael seemed really genuine.
But it's not who he thinks
it's going to be.
- Right.
- The ex-wife is a suspect.
But with all those reality
stars Julia's following,
she could be
some sort of clout chaser.
Either way,
I think our reality star
is in for a sad dose
of reality.
- Get some fresh air.
And then we go back
to the investigation station.
Hey. Morning.
Let's go.
- I'm ready.
- All right.
We've got Michael.
He's a reality TV star
who's smitten
with a girl named Julia,
who he met online.
His reality buddy, Russell,
contacted us,
worried his friend Michael
is being catfished by a fan,
because this very same
Julia profile
also hit up Russell too.
- Yeah. It's sus.
- All right.
Let's see if we've got
an email here.
"Hey.
Thanks for talking with me.
"Here's the info
I have about her.
"Her name is Julia [bleep],
and her number and photos
"she sent me are attached,
and here is her Facebook page.
"And if you want to log in
as me to see her full page,
here's my login."
Okay. "Here's to 2020
bringing more blessings.
All the best. Michael."
- Amen.
- All right.
So what do you want to do?
What do you want to start with?
- I guess we can
run the photos.
- So let's just pull
some of these photos.
Maybe we'll get lucky.
All right, let's go to images.
Nope. No hit.
Okay. No. Nothing.
- Nothing.
- Hmm.
All right.
Let's run the phone number.
♪ ♪
I think this is a dead end.
Let's go to her Facebook page.
Let's see what we can find.
- Brunswick Community College
Lady Dolphins basketball team.
- What's this?
This looks pretty legit.
I mean,
if she played on this team,
you'd think she'd show up
in some of these posts,
maybe, right?
- It would have been
a while ago, though.
What if we Googled
"Julia [bleep]
"Brunswick Community College
Lady Dolphins basketball"?
♪ ♪
- Julia Crew commits to BCC
Brunswick Community College.
- Huh.
♪ ♪
- Wait a second.
- [gasps]
Oh, my God.
- That's her!
--is the oldest,
at 18,
with a 15-year-old sister,
Cristin.
Parents have
never missed a game.
let's just see
if there's any other images.
Oh, wait. Here we go.
2010-2011 Lady Dolphins.
Here's a picture
of a girl in uniform.
Ahh! That's her!
- Oh, my God.
The main picture?
- Are you kidding?
The first photo?
Julia [bleep].
- Number 14.
- The biggest question
for me now is,
is this the girl
he's talking to?
- No. No.
Too much is adding up,
so something's not adding up.
- So you think someone made
a fake version of her,
someone who knows her.
- Yeah. He's just not talking
to the girl in the pictures.
- I mean, look, if Julia
[bleep] is a 28-year old girl
who went to that college, like,
she should absolutely have
a Facebook page
that we should be able to find.
Let's see if there are
other Facebook profiles
with the name Julia [bleep].
- Who's that one,
with the 154 followers?
- This?
- Ahh!
- Is that the same girl?
- [gasps] Yes.
- So this could be
her other profile,
or this could be the profile
for the real Julia [bleep].
Hold on a second.
Let's see if
there are any mutual friends
between Michael and this
new profile for Julia.
- Yeah. He has mutual friends
with this Julia.
- The question is,
which is the real version?
- Who are the mutual friends?
- James and James.
Interesting.
- I'm Googling.
James Zinkand is from
"Big Brother 9."
And this James is also
from "Big Brother."
- Oh, really.
- Message them. Message them.
- All right, let's message
these guys.
To James. Don't even have
to change the name.
Love it.
Oh, you know what
we didn't try?
What if we look up her phone
number on a different site?
Sometimes they get
different results.
- Worth a try.
♪ ♪
- Look at this!
Her phone number.
Julia [bleep].
What the hell's going on?
- No. There has to be a catch.
- But that's the number
he's been talking to.
- No.
- It's her.
- No.
- 28 years old.
And a social media link.
Oh, who's this? Chris Tin?
- And look,
there's Julia's face.
She has pictures
of Julia on here.
She's in the picture.
- Okay, so hold on a second.
- I think that's
Julia's sister.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah.
Check that article,
because in the article,
didn't they say,
like, Julia has a sister?
That's her right there.
That's here in the plaid.
- Oh, my God. Yes. What the
[bleep] is going on here?
Why does her sister's
social media connect
to Julia's phone number?
- Well, we need
to message Christin.
Wouldn't her sister know
if she's talking to Michael?
- Yes.
All right.
[phone ringing]
- Oh, getting a phone call.
Getting a phone call.
- Yeah. Hi, there. This is Nev.
Who's this?
- Great. Are you able to jump
in a Zoom call,
if I just send you
a quick Zoom link?
- All right.
[tense music]
[computer chimes]
- Hey. How's it going?
- It's going right now.
It's going.
- So listen. So, the reason
that we reached out
is because we're trying to help
this guy
who has also been on
"Big Brother,"
who is talking
to this girl online
named Julia [bleep].
- Yes. I am friends
with Julia [bleep].
I've been talking
to this girl forever.
- On the phone?
- No. Not on the phone.
That's what's crazy.
we've never FaceTimed.
We've never talked
on the phone.
- Right.
- You know.
But she sent me some photos.
- Were you guys just friends,
or was there, like,
a flirtation
relationship there?
- There was
a flirtatious relationship.
- Has she sent you
any other pictures?
- [laughs] You mean, like,
explicit photos?
- You know what I mean.
- [laughs] Yeah, she has.
She's sent me explicit photos.
She sent me some photos
that are from,
you know, the neck down.
- Wow.
- And when was the last time
you talked to her
that you can remember?
- Like, a couple weeks ago.
- A couple weeks ago?
- Yeah. She says she misses me.
"How have you been?"
- [sighs] Okay. Well.
- That's all very helpful.
So thank you for-for
talking to us.
- I hope y'all figure
out this dilemma.
'cause I'm dying to know too,
so--
- Thanks, James.
- Whoa. Time out.
I feel like the real takeaway
for me from that phone call
is that she's been
actively talking to this guy,
flirting with him also.
- We can't tell Michael
that she's been talking
to James in a sexual way.
He will die of a broken heart.
[phone ringing]
- Oh, boy.
- [gasps]
Hello.
- Hi. Christin?
- Hey, it's Nev.
First of all, thank you
for getting in touch with me.
Your sister is Julia, right?
- Right. Okay, your sister
Julia is friends
with a number of different
reality television
competition show contestants.
As of the last few months,
taking to this one guy,
Michael.
What can you just tell us
about your sister?
- Oh. Great.
- We're really just trying
to figure out
what's going on here.
- All right. Great.
So, call me back,
and hopefully
we'll speak to you shortly.
- All right. Thanks.
- Bye.
- Are you gonna say it,
or should I?
It's her!
- I mean, I would agree,
it does seem strange.
- She has that same soft voice
that Michael said Julia has.
"No. I don't watch reality TV."
Julia's phone number
also directly connects
to this Chris Tin page.
Christin is Julia.
But why would she catfish
as her sister?
- That's what I don't
understand.
- Somebody is lying
around here.
- This just went from an
episode of "Big Brother"
to "Oh, brother."
♪ ♪
- Wassup?
I gotta tell you.
I have been thinking about
this episode since yesterday.
I cannot come up with an answer
that makes sense.
- The first instinct that I had
when I woke up this morning
was it's still Christin,
the sister.
- I mean, look, she obviously
could have easily lied to us
that she's not a fan
and doesn't watch television.
So let's just for a moment
assume that the sister
is a big fan of reality TV
and does want to talk with
and flirt
with all of these older guys
from former competition shows.
Why wouldn't she do it
as herself?
Why would someone do that?
- I'm just really concerned
about Michael,
because whoever this
is has been talking to
and flirting with
and sending nudes to James.
And that's gonna
break his heart.
- I don't know what else
we can do right now.
We haven't heard back
from the sister.
I think we gotta just call
Michael,
walk him through all this,
see what he thinks.
- I just--it's gonna break
Michael's little heart.
- Oh, wait a second.
He says he'll come now.
[computer chimes]
- Hey, Michael.
- Hey.
- Hey, y'all.
So I'm hoping you're telling me
that you found
my beautiful angel from Heaven,
and today's gonna be the day
that I get to see her.
- We were hoping to tell you
that too, man.
We're honestly not quite sure
what to tell you right now.
- Okay. [laughs]
- So, I'm going to share
my screen with you.
- Okay.
- All right.
So this is
Julia's Facebook page.
If we go to photos,
there's a reference here
to the Brunswick
Community College
Lady Dolphins basketball team.
And we found an album
from the 2010-2011
Lady Dolphins, and look who
pops up on the first picture.
Julia!
- That's promising.
- Julia [bleep].
- Yeah.
- So this not only confirms
that the girl in the pictures
is Julia [bleep],
it also confirms
that her age is her age.
- Beautiful.
- And we found another picture
on a different website
with an article
about how she's agreed
to go to that school,
with a basketball scholarship,
and even more incredibly,
mentions her whole
family--her sister,
her mom, her dad.
And they're in this photo.
So in an unbelievably
rare twist of fate,
we've now confirmed
that Julia [bleep]
is not only a real person,
but she's the girl
in the pictures.
- [sniffling]
- Oh, are you okay, Michael?
- I will be. [laughs]
- It's pretty good information.
- It is.
- So I can understand why
it's overwhelming to hear.
But there is more to show you.
So hang in there.
- Right.
So, after this article,
obviously,
we were feeling surprised.
And that only continued when
we looked up her phone number,
and her phone number came back
registered to Julia [bleep].
- But is there a "but?"
[laughs]
- Well, something
that's a little strange
is the fact
that this phone number
also directly connects to this
social media account.
- That's her sister.
- Right.
- That's right.
But it is interesting
that Christin's Facebook
is linked to that number.
- Does Julia ever talk
about her sister?
- Oh, absolutely.
They live together.
She'll say, "My sister and I
are watching 'The Challenge,'"
or "We're watching
'Big Brother.'"
That happens all the time.
- Wait. Interesting.
'Cause Kamie, you remember
what she told us yesterday?
- Right.
- Uh-oh.
- We messaged Christin.
- Oh.
- And Christin told us
that her and her sister
are not really into reality TV,
which goes very much against
what Julia has told you,
which is interesting.
And you had said you felt
like you remembered
her voice being sort of soft.
- Yeah.
- The sister also has
a very soft speaking voice.
- So that goes us thinking
that maybe her sister
has been impersonating her.
- Oh. Interesting.
- We also saw that you had
some mutual friends.
- Both named James. Both who
apparently have been on,
you know, "Big Brother."
- What we're seeing here,
obviously, is a trend now.
You, Russell, James, all former
players on reality shows
that have all been approached
at some point by Julia.
It certainly brings up
a concern of, well,
is this person just obsessed
with talking to
former reality show people?
So we messaged both of them.
- Oh!
- And the first person
that got
back to us was James Huling.
- And we asked him about Julia.
He said that he has spoken
to Julia many times.
- Huh.
- They did develop
a flirtation.
And I think you should know
that James even went so far
as to say that, at times,
she sent explicit photographs,
and has been in communication
with her periodically
in this way
up until as recently as, like,
a couple weeks ago.
- Holy crap.
- ♪ Cold nights ♪
♪ Walking on the street ♪
It hurts. I mean--
Oh, it hurt--
I mean, it does.
It's--I mean, I'm human.
You know?
I feel like now we're square
one, all over again.
I'd rather someone
be honest with me.
- ♪ When I had you
by my side ♪
♪ I fell in love with you ♪
That's why I don't
really date fans,
because they can be crazy.
- Whether it's the sister
or really Julia,
it still breaks my heart
to think
that you feel like
you found a real,
genuine connection
with someone,
and they're having
those kinds of connections
with other people.
- And that sucks.
- ♪ These pictures of you ♪
Wow.
I feel like bricks
has literally fell on my head.
- ♪ These pictures of you ♪
Can I have a breather?
- Yeah.
You want to take a minute?
Absolutely.
- All right. Give me a second.
♪ ♪
- I feel so bad.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- You're back.
- I'm blown away right now.
- Yeah .
- Well, at this point,
it could be Christin.
But we just
don't know for sure.
What we do know, though,
is that whoever Julia is,
she's having conversations
on the side
with at least this one
other person, James.
- So what can we do?
- So, do you reach out
to Christin again
and say "What's going on?"
- Well, the only thing I
haven't tried is to text Julia.
- I mean, I think that that's
probably the only option
we have.
- All right. Let me try.
Sending a text, then.
"Hey Julia. This is Nev
from the show 'Catfish.'
"We're trying to get
in touch with you
"so that we can clear up
a couple things
"and explain what's going on.
"We could use your help,
and it would be nice
to speak with you."
- Yeah.
- All right. Send.
Delivered.
So now we wait.
Do you want to maybe try
messaging her to see if--
- Yeah. Absolutely.
- I think you need
to put the pressure on her.
- Okay. So I'm gonna-
"Listen,
'Catfish' and I need to talk.
Please."
- Yeah. Send it. Hopefully
it'll push Julia to respond.
The weird thing is we've got
to remember, you know,
we keep calling her Julia,
because obviously
that's what you know her as,
but there is a chance
that the real Julia,
who we know exists,
and whoever you're talking to,
are not the same person.
- Right.
- And it could either be
that it's her sister or just
someone entirely different.
So--
[phone chimes]
Oh.
- Oh!
- Oh. Okay.
So, Julia just wrote back.
She said,
"Okay. How can I help?"
I think I'm just gonna kind of
be direct and honest about it.
- Absolutely.
- "So we had called you
"to discuss your friendship
with Michael.
"His friend contacted us
"because he was concerned
might be getting catfished.
"We would love
to prove him wrong.
"So ideally,
if you could Zoom with us
"and confirm your identity,
that would be super helpful
and put us all at ease."
- Right.
- All right. Sending.
I think the response
we get to this is gonna be
either incredibly helpful
or vague and evasive.
[phone chimes]
- Oh.
- Where's that Zoom link?
- [gasps]
- Okay, so she wants
to talk to us.
I'm just gonna send this,
and see what happens.
♪ ♪
Let's find out
who this girl really us.
- Is it just Julia?
Is it gonna be Christin?
- Feel like I'm gonna
have a heart attack.
[intense music]
[computer chimes]
- Oh.
Hi. Hello?
- Hi.
- Hey.
- Hi.
- Do you have something
covering your camera?
- Yeah.
- Okay. Well, is there any
chance we could see your face?
- I'm just super nervous.
- I know this is hard for you,
but you and Michael have been
talking now for a while.
Here he is. And would love
to get to know you better,
ideally meeting up in person,
but in the absence of that,
at least...
- Facial.
- Speaking face-to-face,
if you will.
- I've been talking to Michael.
I'm just super nervous
about what he'll think of me.
- Okay.
- I mean, my biggest thing
is I'd just
like to see who you are
for you.
I'm not a very
judgmental person.
However,
I do have some concerns
why you don't want to show
that beautiful face
that I've been looking at.
- I don't think that you're
very judgmental.
I think you're really sweet.
And I'm hoping that,
after what I tell you,
that you'll still be
accepting of me.
- I look at somebody
from the inside,
not the outside.
- I'm just really nervous.
- What will it take?
What do we have to do right now
to kind of re-assure you
that it's okay to show Michael
who you really are?
♪ ♪
- All I'm asked right now
is just the truth.
- Um--
♪ ♪
I mean, I think I'm ready.
- Okay.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Hey.
- Hey.
- You're who you are.
- I told you.
- Girl. What is going on?
- Um--I just had some things
happen to me in the past.
There's things that
I haven't really told you yet.
That's why I've been hesitant,
talking on the phone or video.
It took me a really long time
to open up about.
And I know that
we've-we've talked a lot
about our relationship with God
and with religion.
And I just--you know,
I didn't want you to judge me.
The past few years, I--
I started dating women
as well.
I just wanted you
to be able to accept me,
and I was just scared
to be vulnerable and open up.
♪ ♪
Much and I haven't even
really met yet.
And I just--I don't want
to disappoint him.
And I guess that's a big reason
why I was so hesitant.
- Sorry. Just to be clear,
are you currently seeing
someone other than Michael?
- No. I haven't dated anyone
for a while.
- Well, Michael,
how do you feel about that?
- I would have respected that
from the beginning.
I have dated girls
that was bisexual.
If she was saying,
"Okay, I'm just with you,"
I wouldn't have judged that.
But I also know you've got
to be loyal
and you've got to see faithful
to each other.
And my question is,
have you had conversations
with other reality stars
and it went,
like, to a different level?
- Well, I've had a, like,
few conversations
with different reality stars.
Like, James from "Big Brother."
But it never really went
anywhere.
- Julia, we spoke to James,
and he basically told us
that you guys had had
a relationship
of sorts over years,
and that you were speaking up
until a couple of weeks ago,
and that you sent him,
like, explicit photos.
So I think that's something
that Michael might want
some clarification on.
- James and I--like,
in the past, I mean,
we did share sexy photos
or whatever.
A few years ago.
But, like, whenever we
talk now, it's just like,
"Hey. How are you doing?"
It wasn't a serious thing.
Like, with James,
or, like, with anyone else,
it's just, like,
casual flirtations, I guess.
- I think the concern
from us was,
are you just some reality
competition groupie
who gets sort of a kick out
of potentially messing
with these guys?
- No.
- Then what draws you,
do you think, to these guys
from these reality shows?
- Okay, so I added, like,
a bunch of people on reality TV
just because
I love "Big Brother."
And, like, Michael and I,
when we first started talking,
it was about "Big Brother."
Like, I was just gonna
casually, like, talk to him.
And then we started talking
more and more.
With Michael, it's like
we're having conversations,
like, every day.
I'm not having these
conversations with anyone else.
- Can I just clear up
a couple things, then?
Because I'll be the first
to officially say it.
We are so relieved
that you are you.
- Amen.
- Because obviously, you know,
you had only talked mainly
through Facebook and text.
You have two different
Facebook pages,
which was kind of confusing.
- I got locked out of that one.
- Okay.
- But I had, like,
already made another one.
- Okay.
And so everything we know
about you is true, then.
You're 28.
You played basketball.
You live in South Carolina.
All of that.
- Yeah. Everything is true.
- So all the sort of hesitation
about showing yourself
wasn't because
of any physical insecurity.
It was just about the sort
a vulnerability
that comes
with showing yourself.
- Yes.
- Julia, yesterday,
when we talked to Christin,
we asked her about Michael,
and she didn't seem
to know who he is.
Does your family know
about him?
- My whole family knows. Yes.
- So all the stuff
with the family not knowing,
not watching reality TV, all
that stuff, was her covering?
- I don't know.
She was covering for me,
so she said whatever.
- So the only thing that
were afraid to tell me
is that you're bisexual.
- Well, no. Um--
[somber music]
A few years ago...
I had been out
and I was drinking.
And I trusted someone
to take me home,
and they didn't-they didn't
take me home.
And...
I was assaulted.
And it's just made me
super vulnerable, like,
especially with men.
So it's just, like,
I take things,
like, super slowly.
- I'm really sorry
that that happened to you.
Obviously, your experience
and when you share it
and how long it takes you
to share it
is completely up to you,
because it's your life
and it's your body.
- That's how I feel. Thank you.
- I do wanna ask you, though,
do you even see yourself
currently mentally
and emotionally
and spiritually dating again?
And are your feelings
for Michael romantic
or are they friendship-based?
- I do wanna ask you,
are your feelings for Michael
romantic
or are they friendship-based?
[tense music]
- Well, I really like Michael.
I think he's really sweet.
And we text every day.
We connect on,
like, different levels,
and we're, like,
into the same things.
I was hoping that we'd be able
to meet
and see where things went.
- So you are interested in him
in a romantic way.
- Yeah.
Like, I want to meet him.
- So all of that is real.
That's what's blowing my mind,
is that, like, you're real,
your story is real,
the way you feel about
Michael is real.
- Like, I've had people, like,
question
if I was catfishing them
before,
because I'm just, like,
so hesitant about, like,
talking on the phone
and, like, videoing.
I'm just, like, weird about it.
- Well, I'm weird too.
- I know.
That's why we're perfect
for each other.
- Is this really happening?
Are we dreaming?
Pinch me. I don't understand.
Am I missing something?
- How do you feel, Michael?
- You know--[sighs]
There's some questions.
But I'm not judging you.
- I don't know.
I just--I don't want you to,
like, feel,
like, I was, like, hiding--
I just--it just takes me
a while to get there.
Like, I go at my own,
slow pace, I guess.
I didn't know how
to deal with it,
and all this happened,
and I was like,
"Okay, like,
I need to tell you."
- Well, here we are.
and we're gonna
get through this.
- You know, even for Julia,
I think she's still coping with
and dealing with a lot
of what she's been through.
And no one can say how long
it's going to take.
And you're never gonna get
over it, you know, magically.
But I think that it's really
brave that you came on here
and talked about it.
- So, I would love to meet you,
actually in person.
I do like
to take things slowly.
- And I know that.
- Yeah. So.
We can try meeting up, going on
a few dates, see where it goes.
If you want.
- Oh, he wants.
[laughter]
- Do you want, Michael?
- Do you want to?
- Well, of course.
I mean, I want to take her
on a date.
She is beautiful.
I mean, she is a knock-out.
I'm falling for a girl
through text message,
so I can only imagine
in real life.
- Well, look, guys,
I gotta say,
I did not expect it
to end this way,
but I am so happy that it did.
You've both been through
difficult things.
but you found each other.
So I think this could be
a really great
beginning of something.
But mainly, I just want
to let you guys start doing
whatever it is
you guys want to do
and not have us around
bothering you.
♪ ♪
So hopefully you guys
can meet up soon.
- I wanna see her next week.
- You're ready
to drive out there.
- Absolutely.
- We're excited to see
what happens,
and fingers crossed,
you know, things go well.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Well, good luck.
- Bye. Yeah, good luck.
- ♪ This is the good life ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ This is the good life ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh
whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, oh ♪
♪ Whoa, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh ♪
♪ Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
- Jason's been talking
to Mark.
- He makes me feel like--
like I'm wanted.
- But you've been sending
money to this person.
- Do you see these red flags?
[phone line beeps]
[gasps]
It was a girl.
- Deep breath, Jason.
Deep breath.
- I'm so nervous.
[doorbell rings]
- Get the [bleep]
outta here.
973
00:41:34.
who's fallen in love
with Julia,
a girl he met online.
- We talked about our future,
how many kids
she wants to have.
But this is
a very tough situation.
because he said
that she's a virgin.
- [gasps]
- Wait a second.
52 mutual friends? Wow.
- That would be reality stars.
- So she's a fangirl.
There has to be a catch.
- What the hell's going on?
- Feel like I'm gonna have
a heart attack.
[chiming]
- ♪ I'll make 'em say yeah ♪
♪ ♪
- This morning,
my four-legged son
decided to create destruction
and havoc in my home.
Why? Why'd you do that?
- ♪ I'll make 'em say yeah ♪
- Are you sorry?
No? Okay.
- ♪ I'll make 'em say yeah ♪
- Hey, Beauty Queen.
- You got texts.
Finally, Nev addresses me
as I should be addressed.
- "Finally some respect."
[laughs]
[chiming]
- Oh.
- There she is.
- Hell--wow!
Oh, my God.
Some color in your world.
- I guess that's true. I don't
really ever wear color, so--
- "Dancing with the Stars" is
turning you into a new person.
- All right, let's dive
into a new Catfish case.
- I'm ready.
- All right.
Here is our email.
This is from Russell.
"Hey, Nev and Kamie.
My name is Russell.
"Several months ago.
"A girl named Julia
reached out to me.
"She was flirty for a while.
"But it never went anywhere.
"And I never thought much of
it, until recently,
"when my friend Michael told me
he had fallen hard
for a girl he met online."
- ♪ They say the past
is the past ♪
"Then I realized
it was the same Julia."
- Ooh.
- ♪ Oh, I believe ♪
- "Michael has been talking to
her for four months.
- ♪ I believe, I believe,
I believe ♪
- "And she only wants to text.
No video calls.
"But Michael is ready to uproot
his life to be with her
and even give her a kid."
- ♪ I believe in this ♪
- "I don't trust her.
"And Michael and I have
a shared experience
that makes us vulnerable
to online advances."
- Hm.
"I don't want to see
my friend get played.
"And I need you guys to knock
some sense into Michael
"and see this girl
for who she potentially is:
"a catfish and a liar.
All the best. Russell."
Wow.
- So, Russell was catfished
by Julia.
- Presumably.
- Possibly.
- Right.
These two friends have both
interacted with the same girl.
Russell's convinced
she's a catfish,
but now Michael's on the hook
and doesn't want to hear it.
- Hm, and what's this weird
vulnerability?
- So we gotta call Russell
and get a little bit more info.
Let me text him.
- I wanna know
what this thing is.
What is the secret?
- What is this--
is this secret?
He said, "Hey Nev. Thanks,
yeah hope y'all
can help my boy."
- Oh yeah, he didn't say
where he's from.
- Did not say where he's from.
But we'll find
out soon enough.
- But he said "y'all."
[computer chimes]
Ah!
- Oh.
- Hi!
- Wait, "The Russell--"
What
What does that shirt say?
- "The Russell Hantz Show."
It's a YouTube podcast.
And I was on a few reality
TV events.
- Oh?
- Yeah. One being "Survivor."
- [gasps] Did you survive?
- I was a three-time
contestant,
two-time fan favorite.
- Wow.
- That's insane.
- And Michael was on
reality TV too.
- I knew there was
something up.
And I was like,
what could it be?
But this is it.
- Yeah. Well, he was, like,
a fan favorite
on "Big Brother."
- Oh, my God.
- I met Michael
doing reality TV events.
And I've been friends with him
for about ten years now.
- Where do you guys both live?
- Well, I live in Houston.
- Oh, okay.
- He's all over the place.
Right now, he's here.
- Oh, this is so cool.
Okay, so what's the tea?
So you met this
Julia person first.
- Yes. She messaged me,
and I talked to her,
but it wasn't
anything romantic.
I didn't think anything of it.
And then Mike was like,
"Oh, I met this girl."
And he shows me
a picture of her,
and as soon as he shows me
a picture,
I recognized her immediately.
- The same girl.
- Yes.
And I believe her
to be a catfish.
Because she don't even
talk to him on the phone.
And she no only follow me,
I called a couple of my friends
that's in "Survivor"--
she's following both of them.
All reality stars.
- So she's a fangirl.
- That's what I'm thinking.
I like Mike. He's a good guy.
But he's dealing with a lot
right now in his life.
And I hope it's real.
I just know it's not.
But he thinks she's real.
- Yeah.
- I mean.
- If have you called Michael
and said, "Hey, it's Russell.
I reached out to 'Catfish.'
They want to help,"
do you think that would be
a good way
to kind of break the news
to him and get him involved?
- He's so invested in her
right now, emotionally.
So I think he would do it.
- Tell him to get in the Zoom.
'Cause we need to talk.
- Hey, man. What's happening?
- I got a little surprise
for you.
You know how
we talked about Julia?
I'm kind of on a Zoom call
with "Catfish" right now.
- [laughs]
- They wanna talk to you.
- [laughs]
- We're gonna go ahead
and put you in on a Zoom.
We'll go from there.
- Bye. Bye, man.
- All right,
you put his number
in the email, right?
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
- All right, sent.
- If anybody's gonna break
Michael's heart...
- [laughs]
[computer chimes]
- Hey. There he is.
- Hey, Michael.
- What's up, Mike?
- Oh, my goodness.
- What's happening, brother?
- Michael, obviously,
Russell reached out
'cause you're his friend,
and he understands
that you're in a situation
where you might need
some assistance.
So listen, Michael,
before we jump in with you,
I just want to give
Russell a chance to say goodbye
so that we can kind of start
focusing on the Julia thing.
- Yeah. I just wanted to say,
you know, I did this
'cause I care about you.
I just want you to find out
what's real
so you can go forward with
your life with positive things
instead of things we just don't
know anything about.
- Right. And I appreciate that.
- All right.
Russell, thank you.
- Love you, brother.
- All right, man. Thank you.
- Bye, Russell.
- Bye, bye.
- Wow. So hopefully,
we prove him wrong.
- Well--
- Well, look, to be fair,
Russell doesn't necessarily
know definitively
that Julia is not real.
He just has a hunch.
Before we get into all that,
though,
I just want to find out
a little bit more at you.
- Well, I'm 39 years old,
and I've got three
beautiful children.
I'm currently married.
But--I know, I know.
But I'm going through
a divorce.
She broke up with me
through a text message
and said that I'm done.
Yeah, 2020 started with--
in January,
my mother passed away,
which was my best friend.
And then COVID hit.
And then the split up.
And then now Julia. And so
Julia escaped that--yes.
You know, like,
wanting to live again.
- Right.
- Where does Julia say
that she lives?
- She says she lives
in South Carolina.
Myrtle Beach. Because of
my mother passing away,
I left the town
that we were living in
and I'm going cross-country.
you know, Myrtle Beach
is an option,
which is crazy that I would
even think about that. But--
- Wait, so you're trying
to move closer to be near her?
You're, like, all-in. Wow.
- So tell us how
the relationship started.
- So, in July,
basically two weeks after
my separation with my wife,
I get a message
and add from Julia,
asking me questions
about the show,
because she's a huge fan.
And here we are now.
We've been talking about three
and a half months.
We talked about our future,
things like that,
how many kids
she wants to have.
She wants four.
I've already raised three.
I'm like,
"Well, let's start with one."
- Aw--
What? Wait. Okay.
So you guys started
talking about
three and a half months ago,
and you guys have already
talked about having kids,
moving in--
- Because I do believe
she's real.
- I mean, it's a lot.
- Wait. So, hold on a second.
So, keep going. So, what else
do you know about her?
- She's 28 years old.
We're Christians--both of us.
She loves kids.
So we have that in common.
She said that she wanted
to become a nun,
and she then decided
she wanted to have kids,
and she's kind of changed
her perspective in life.
And so I kind of see
the story being legit,
especially being
she's a virgin.
And--yes.
And so, like,
I've really handled this
relationship very differently
than
I probably would with most.
- Is it her religious beliefs?
Seems like it's something
that's important to her.
- Right. And I respect that.
- Does she post about religion
a lot on her Facebook?
- Oh, absolutely.
- And does she have
any other social media,
other than the Facebook page?
- All I know about
is the Facebook.
- You're so sure
that she's real,
but your buddy Russell
has some legitimate concerns,
like, she won't even get
on the phone with you, right?
- I've only been able to get
her on the phone call one time,
and it was a very soft voice.
And we have not had
another conversation.
And then every time I've said,
"Hey, let's do video chat
or something like that,"
there's an excuse.
Just, "I'm at work"
or "I'm exhausted."
- I want to see what
this girl looks like.
- Yeah, do you know how to
share your screen?
- Absolutely.
- Oh, who's that?
- That's Julia.
- [gasps] You have her
as your wallpaper?
- I do.
- Oh, my God.
- All right, Julia [bleep].
Okay.
Wow, 52 mutual friends?
Wow.
- That's a lot.
- Yep. Reality stars.
- But doesn't it concern you
that she's friends
with so many
other reality TV contestants?
- I'm not worried about that,
because I know
she's a huge fan.
I don't know. I mean,
I could be blind, too.
- Okay. Just scroll
through some pics.
So, you got this.
Beautiful.
- She seems like a sweetheart.
- She is.
- Cute.
- She's very cute.
- She's cute.
God--Jesus first.
- Absolutely.
- Cross on the shirt.
- Well, this girl's cute,
if it's who you're talking to.
- She's beautifully, y'all.
I mean, she's gotta be real.
- I mean, look, there's
a chance Julia is real
and her name is Julia,
but she's just not the girl
in the pictures.
- Right.
- So, I guess,
what are your deal-breakers
in this situation?
If Julia's not the girl
that you know in the pictures,
would that matter?
- You know, I don't think
it would matter.
- What if it was your ex-wife
just trying to mess with you?
- I had that same thought, too.
The fact that you met Julia
so shortly after you officially
separated from your wife.
- Yeah. I think what would
hurt me the most
is if it was my ex-wife.
But I don't think it's her.
I think this is Julia.
I really think she's real.
- All right.
So let's get into it.
Send us her phone number,
her Facebook page,
things like that.
- Okay. Sounds great.
Good luck, y'all.
- All right.
Nice meet you, Michael.
- Thanks, Michael.
Michael seemed really genuine.
But it's not who he thinks
it's going to be.
- Right.
- The ex-wife is a suspect.
But with all those reality
stars Julia's following,
she could be
some sort of clout chaser.
Either way,
I think our reality star
is in for a sad dose
of reality.
- Get some fresh air.
And then we go back
to the investigation station.
Hey. Morning.
Let's go.
- I'm ready.
- All right.
We've got Michael.
He's a reality TV star
who's smitten
with a girl named Julia,
who he met online.
His reality buddy, Russell,
contacted us,
worried his friend Michael
is being catfished by a fan,
because this very same
Julia profile
also hit up Russell too.
- Yeah. It's sus.
- All right.
Let's see if we've got
an email here.
"Hey.
Thanks for talking with me.
"Here's the info
I have about her.
"Her name is Julia [bleep],
and her number and photos
"she sent me are attached,
and here is her Facebook page.
"And if you want to log in
as me to see her full page,
here's my login."
Okay. "Here's to 2020
bringing more blessings.
All the best. Michael."
- Amen.
- All right.
So what do you want to do?
What do you want to start with?
- I guess we can
run the photos.
- So let's just pull
some of these photos.
Maybe we'll get lucky.
All right, let's go to images.
Nope. No hit.
Okay. No. Nothing.
- Nothing.
- Hmm.
All right.
Let's run the phone number.
♪ ♪
I think this is a dead end.
Let's go to her Facebook page.
Let's see what we can find.
- Brunswick Community College
Lady Dolphins basketball team.
- What's this?
This looks pretty legit.
I mean,
if she played on this team,
you'd think she'd show up
in some of these posts,
maybe, right?
- It would have been
a while ago, though.
What if we Googled
"Julia [bleep]
"Brunswick Community College
Lady Dolphins basketball"?
♪ ♪
- Julia Crew commits to BCC
Brunswick Community College.
- Huh.
♪ ♪
- Wait a second.
- [gasps]
Oh, my God.
- That's her!
--is the oldest,
at 18,
with a 15-year-old sister,
Cristin.
Parents have
never missed a game.
let's just see
if there's any other images.
Oh, wait. Here we go.
2010-2011 Lady Dolphins.
Here's a picture
of a girl in uniform.
Ahh! That's her!
- Oh, my God.
The main picture?
- Are you kidding?
The first photo?
Julia [bleep].
- Number 14.
- The biggest question
for me now is,
is this the girl
he's talking to?
- No. No.
Too much is adding up,
so something's not adding up.
- So you think someone made
a fake version of her,
someone who knows her.
- Yeah. He's just not talking
to the girl in the pictures.
- I mean, look, if Julia
[bleep] is a 28-year old girl
who went to that college, like,
she should absolutely have
a Facebook page
that we should be able to find.
Let's see if there are
other Facebook profiles
with the name Julia [bleep].
- Who's that one,
with the 154 followers?
- This?
- Ahh!
- Is that the same girl?
- [gasps] Yes.
- So this could be
her other profile,
or this could be the profile
for the real Julia [bleep].
Hold on a second.
Let's see if
there are any mutual friends
between Michael and this
new profile for Julia.
- Yeah. He has mutual friends
with this Julia.
- The question is,
which is the real version?
- Who are the mutual friends?
- James and James.
Interesting.
- I'm Googling.
James Zinkand is from
"Big Brother 9."
And this James is also
from "Big Brother."
- Oh, really.
- Message them. Message them.
- All right, let's message
these guys.
To James. Don't even have
to change the name.
Love it.
Oh, you know what
we didn't try?
What if we look up her phone
number on a different site?
Sometimes they get
different results.
- Worth a try.
♪ ♪
- Look at this!
Her phone number.
Julia [bleep].
What the hell's going on?
- No. There has to be a catch.
- But that's the number
he's been talking to.
- No.
- It's her.
- No.
- 28 years old.
And a social media link.
Oh, who's this? Chris Tin?
- And look,
there's Julia's face.
She has pictures
of Julia on here.
She's in the picture.
- Okay, so hold on a second.
- I think that's
Julia's sister.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah.
Check that article,
because in the article,
didn't they say,
like, Julia has a sister?
That's her right there.
That's here in the plaid.
- Oh, my God. Yes. What the
[bleep] is going on here?
Why does her sister's
social media connect
to Julia's phone number?
- Well, we need
to message Christin.
Wouldn't her sister know
if she's talking to Michael?
- Yes.
All right.
[phone ringing]
- Oh, getting a phone call.
Getting a phone call.
- Yeah. Hi, there. This is Nev.
Who's this?
- Great. Are you able to jump
in a Zoom call,
if I just send you
a quick Zoom link?
- All right.
[tense music]
[computer chimes]
- Hey. How's it going?
- It's going right now.
It's going.
- So listen. So, the reason
that we reached out
is because we're trying to help
this guy
who has also been on
"Big Brother,"
who is talking
to this girl online
named Julia [bleep].
- Yes. I am friends
with Julia [bleep].
I've been talking
to this girl forever.
- On the phone?
- No. Not on the phone.
That's what's crazy.
we've never FaceTimed.
We've never talked
on the phone.
- Right.
- You know.
But she sent me some photos.
- Were you guys just friends,
or was there, like,
a flirtation
relationship there?
- There was
a flirtatious relationship.
- Has she sent you
any other pictures?
- [laughs] You mean, like,
explicit photos?
- You know what I mean.
- [laughs] Yeah, she has.
She's sent me explicit photos.
She sent me some photos
that are from,
you know, the neck down.
- Wow.
- And when was the last time
you talked to her
that you can remember?
- Like, a couple weeks ago.
- A couple weeks ago?
- Yeah. She says she misses me.
"How have you been?"
- [sighs] Okay. Well.
- That's all very helpful.
So thank you for-for
talking to us.
- I hope y'all figure
out this dilemma.
'cause I'm dying to know too,
so--
- Thanks, James.
- Whoa. Time out.
I feel like the real takeaway
for me from that phone call
is that she's been
actively talking to this guy,
flirting with him also.
- We can't tell Michael
that she's been talking
to James in a sexual way.
He will die of a broken heart.
[phone ringing]
- Oh, boy.
- [gasps]
Hello.
- Hi. Christin?
- Hey, it's Nev.
First of all, thank you
for getting in touch with me.
Your sister is Julia, right?
- Right. Okay, your sister
Julia is friends
with a number of different
reality television
competition show contestants.
As of the last few months,
taking to this one guy,
Michael.
What can you just tell us
about your sister?
- Oh. Great.
- We're really just trying
to figure out
what's going on here.
- All right. Great.
So, call me back,
and hopefully
we'll speak to you shortly.
- All right. Thanks.
- Bye.
- Are you gonna say it,
or should I?
It's her!
- I mean, I would agree,
it does seem strange.
- She has that same soft voice
that Michael said Julia has.
"No. I don't watch reality TV."
Julia's phone number
also directly connects
to this Chris Tin page.
Christin is Julia.
But why would she catfish
as her sister?
- That's what I don't
understand.
- Somebody is lying
around here.
- This just went from an
episode of "Big Brother"
to "Oh, brother."
♪ ♪
- Wassup?
I gotta tell you.
I have been thinking about
this episode since yesterday.
I cannot come up with an answer
that makes sense.
- The first instinct that I had
when I woke up this morning
was it's still Christin,
the sister.
- I mean, look, she obviously
could have easily lied to us
that she's not a fan
and doesn't watch television.
So let's just for a moment
assume that the sister
is a big fan of reality TV
and does want to talk with
and flirt
with all of these older guys
from former competition shows.
Why wouldn't she do it
as herself?
Why would someone do that?
- I'm just really concerned
about Michael,
because whoever this
is has been talking to
and flirting with
and sending nudes to James.
And that's gonna
break his heart.
- I don't know what else
we can do right now.
We haven't heard back
from the sister.
I think we gotta just call
Michael,
walk him through all this,
see what he thinks.
- I just--it's gonna break
Michael's little heart.
- Oh, wait a second.
He says he'll come now.
[computer chimes]
- Hey, Michael.
- Hey.
- Hey, y'all.
So I'm hoping you're telling me
that you found
my beautiful angel from Heaven,
and today's gonna be the day
that I get to see her.
- We were hoping to tell you
that too, man.
We're honestly not quite sure
what to tell you right now.
- Okay. [laughs]
- So, I'm going to share
my screen with you.
- Okay.
- All right.
So this is
Julia's Facebook page.
If we go to photos,
there's a reference here
to the Brunswick
Community College
Lady Dolphins basketball team.
And we found an album
from the 2010-2011
Lady Dolphins, and look who
pops up on the first picture.
Julia!
- That's promising.
- Julia [bleep].
- Yeah.
- So this not only confirms
that the girl in the pictures
is Julia [bleep],
it also confirms
that her age is her age.
- Beautiful.
- And we found another picture
on a different website
with an article
about how she's agreed
to go to that school,
with a basketball scholarship,
and even more incredibly,
mentions her whole
family--her sister,
her mom, her dad.
And they're in this photo.
So in an unbelievably
rare twist of fate,
we've now confirmed
that Julia [bleep]
is not only a real person,
but she's the girl
in the pictures.
- [sniffling]
- Oh, are you okay, Michael?
- I will be. [laughs]
- It's pretty good information.
- It is.
- So I can understand why
it's overwhelming to hear.
But there is more to show you.
So hang in there.
- Right.
So, after this article,
obviously,
we were feeling surprised.
And that only continued when
we looked up her phone number,
and her phone number came back
registered to Julia [bleep].
- But is there a "but?"
[laughs]
- Well, something
that's a little strange
is the fact
that this phone number
also directly connects to this
social media account.
- That's her sister.
- Right.
- That's right.
But it is interesting
that Christin's Facebook
is linked to that number.
- Does Julia ever talk
about her sister?
- Oh, absolutely.
They live together.
She'll say, "My sister and I
are watching 'The Challenge,'"
or "We're watching
'Big Brother.'"
That happens all the time.
- Wait. Interesting.
'Cause Kamie, you remember
what she told us yesterday?
- Right.
- Uh-oh.
- We messaged Christin.
- Oh.
- And Christin told us
that her and her sister
are not really into reality TV,
which goes very much against
what Julia has told you,
which is interesting.
And you had said you felt
like you remembered
her voice being sort of soft.
- Yeah.
- The sister also has
a very soft speaking voice.
- So that goes us thinking
that maybe her sister
has been impersonating her.
- Oh. Interesting.
- We also saw that you had
some mutual friends.
- Both named James. Both who
apparently have been on,
you know, "Big Brother."
- What we're seeing here,
obviously, is a trend now.
You, Russell, James, all former
players on reality shows
that have all been approached
at some point by Julia.
It certainly brings up
a concern of, well,
is this person just obsessed
with talking to
former reality show people?
So we messaged both of them.
- Oh!
- And the first person
that got
back to us was James Huling.
- And we asked him about Julia.
He said that he has spoken
to Julia many times.
- Huh.
- They did develop
a flirtation.
And I think you should know
that James even went so far
as to say that, at times,
she sent explicit photographs,
and has been in communication
with her periodically
in this way
up until as recently as, like,
a couple weeks ago.
- Holy crap.
- ♪ Cold nights ♪
♪ Walking on the street ♪
It hurts. I mean--
Oh, it hurt--
I mean, it does.
It's--I mean, I'm human.
You know?
I feel like now we're square
one, all over again.
I'd rather someone
be honest with me.
- ♪ When I had you
by my side ♪
♪ I fell in love with you ♪
That's why I don't
really date fans,
because they can be crazy.
- Whether it's the sister
or really Julia,
it still breaks my heart
to think
that you feel like
you found a real,
genuine connection
with someone,
and they're having
those kinds of connections
with other people.
- And that sucks.
- ♪ These pictures of you ♪
Wow.
I feel like bricks
has literally fell on my head.
- ♪ These pictures of you ♪
Can I have a breather?
- Yeah.
You want to take a minute?
Absolutely.
- All right. Give me a second.
♪ ♪
- I feel so bad.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- You're back.
- I'm blown away right now.
- Yeah .
- Well, at this point,
it could be Christin.
But we just
don't know for sure.
What we do know, though,
is that whoever Julia is,
she's having conversations
on the side
with at least this one
other person, James.
- So what can we do?
- So, do you reach out
to Christin again
and say "What's going on?"
- Well, the only thing I
haven't tried is to text Julia.
- I mean, I think that that's
probably the only option
we have.
- All right. Let me try.
Sending a text, then.
"Hey Julia. This is Nev
from the show 'Catfish.'
"We're trying to get
in touch with you
"so that we can clear up
a couple things
"and explain what's going on.
"We could use your help,
and it would be nice
to speak with you."
- Yeah.
- All right. Send.
Delivered.
So now we wait.
Do you want to maybe try
messaging her to see if--
- Yeah. Absolutely.
- I think you need
to put the pressure on her.
- Okay. So I'm gonna-
"Listen,
'Catfish' and I need to talk.
Please."
- Yeah. Send it. Hopefully
it'll push Julia to respond.
The weird thing is we've got
to remember, you know,
we keep calling her Julia,
because obviously
that's what you know her as,
but there is a chance
that the real Julia,
who we know exists,
and whoever you're talking to,
are not the same person.
- Right.
- And it could either be
that it's her sister or just
someone entirely different.
So--
[phone chimes]
Oh.
- Oh!
- Oh. Okay.
So, Julia just wrote back.
She said,
"Okay. How can I help?"
I think I'm just gonna kind of
be direct and honest about it.
- Absolutely.
- "So we had called you
"to discuss your friendship
with Michael.
"His friend contacted us
"because he was concerned
might be getting catfished.
"We would love
to prove him wrong.
"So ideally,
if you could Zoom with us
"and confirm your identity,
that would be super helpful
and put us all at ease."
- Right.
- All right. Sending.
I think the response
we get to this is gonna be
either incredibly helpful
or vague and evasive.
[phone chimes]
- Oh.
- Where's that Zoom link?
- [gasps]
- Okay, so she wants
to talk to us.
I'm just gonna send this,
and see what happens.
♪ ♪
Let's find out
who this girl really us.
- Is it just Julia?
Is it gonna be Christin?
- Feel like I'm gonna
have a heart attack.
[intense music]
[computer chimes]
- Oh.
Hi. Hello?
- Hi.
- Hey.
- Hi.
- Do you have something
covering your camera?
- Yeah.
- Okay. Well, is there any
chance we could see your face?
- I'm just super nervous.
- I know this is hard for you,
but you and Michael have been
talking now for a while.
Here he is. And would love
to get to know you better,
ideally meeting up in person,
but in the absence of that,
at least...
- Facial.
- Speaking face-to-face,
if you will.
- I've been talking to Michael.
I'm just super nervous
about what he'll think of me.
- Okay.
- I mean, my biggest thing
is I'd just
like to see who you are
for you.
I'm not a very
judgmental person.
However,
I do have some concerns
why you don't want to show
that beautiful face
that I've been looking at.
- I don't think that you're
very judgmental.
I think you're really sweet.
And I'm hoping that,
after what I tell you,
that you'll still be
accepting of me.
- I look at somebody
from the inside,
not the outside.
- I'm just really nervous.
- What will it take?
What do we have to do right now
to kind of re-assure you
that it's okay to show Michael
who you really are?
♪ ♪
- All I'm asked right now
is just the truth.
- Um--
♪ ♪
I mean, I think I'm ready.
- Okay.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Hey.
- Hey.
- You're who you are.
- I told you.
- Girl. What is going on?
- Um--I just had some things
happen to me in the past.
There's things that
I haven't really told you yet.
That's why I've been hesitant,
talking on the phone or video.
It took me a really long time
to open up about.
And I know that
we've-we've talked a lot
about our relationship with God
and with religion.
And I just--you know,
I didn't want you to judge me.
The past few years, I--
I started dating women
as well.
I just wanted you
to be able to accept me,
and I was just scared
to be vulnerable and open up.
♪ ♪
Much and I haven't even
really met yet.
And I just--I don't want
to disappoint him.
And I guess that's a big reason
why I was so hesitant.
- Sorry. Just to be clear,
are you currently seeing
someone other than Michael?
- No. I haven't dated anyone
for a while.
- Well, Michael,
how do you feel about that?
- I would have respected that
from the beginning.
I have dated girls
that was bisexual.
If she was saying,
"Okay, I'm just with you,"
I wouldn't have judged that.
But I also know you've got
to be loyal
and you've got to see faithful
to each other.
And my question is,
have you had conversations
with other reality stars
and it went,
like, to a different level?
- Well, I've had a, like,
few conversations
with different reality stars.
Like, James from "Big Brother."
But it never really went
anywhere.
- Julia, we spoke to James,
and he basically told us
that you guys had had
a relationship
of sorts over years,
and that you were speaking up
until a couple of weeks ago,
and that you sent him,
like, explicit photos.
So I think that's something
that Michael might want
some clarification on.
- James and I--like,
in the past, I mean,
we did share sexy photos
or whatever.
A few years ago.
But, like, whenever we
talk now, it's just like,
"Hey. How are you doing?"
It wasn't a serious thing.
Like, with James,
or, like, with anyone else,
it's just, like,
casual flirtations, I guess.
- I think the concern
from us was,
are you just some reality
competition groupie
who gets sort of a kick out
of potentially messing
with these guys?
- No.
- Then what draws you,
do you think, to these guys
from these reality shows?
- Okay, so I added, like,
a bunch of people on reality TV
just because
I love "Big Brother."
And, like, Michael and I,
when we first started talking,
it was about "Big Brother."
Like, I was just gonna
casually, like, talk to him.
And then we started talking
more and more.
With Michael, it's like
we're having conversations,
like, every day.
I'm not having these
conversations with anyone else.
- Can I just clear up
a couple things, then?
Because I'll be the first
to officially say it.
We are so relieved
that you are you.
- Amen.
- Because obviously, you know,
you had only talked mainly
through Facebook and text.
You have two different
Facebook pages,
which was kind of confusing.
- I got locked out of that one.
- Okay.
- But I had, like,
already made another one.
- Okay.
And so everything we know
about you is true, then.
You're 28.
You played basketball.
You live in South Carolina.
All of that.
- Yeah. Everything is true.
- So all the sort of hesitation
about showing yourself
wasn't because
of any physical insecurity.
It was just about the sort
a vulnerability
that comes
with showing yourself.
- Yes.
- Julia, yesterday,
when we talked to Christin,
we asked her about Michael,
and she didn't seem
to know who he is.
Does your family know
about him?
- My whole family knows. Yes.
- So all the stuff
with the family not knowing,
not watching reality TV, all
that stuff, was her covering?
- I don't know.
She was covering for me,
so she said whatever.
- So the only thing that
were afraid to tell me
is that you're bisexual.
- Well, no. Um--
[somber music]
A few years ago...
I had been out
and I was drinking.
And I trusted someone
to take me home,
and they didn't-they didn't
take me home.
And...
I was assaulted.
And it's just made me
super vulnerable, like,
especially with men.
So it's just, like,
I take things,
like, super slowly.
- I'm really sorry
that that happened to you.
Obviously, your experience
and when you share it
and how long it takes you
to share it
is completely up to you,
because it's your life
and it's your body.
- That's how I feel. Thank you.
- I do wanna ask you, though,
do you even see yourself
currently mentally
and emotionally
and spiritually dating again?
And are your feelings
for Michael romantic
or are they friendship-based?
- I do wanna ask you,
are your feelings for Michael
romantic
or are they friendship-based?
[tense music]
- Well, I really like Michael.
I think he's really sweet.
And we text every day.
We connect on,
like, different levels,
and we're, like,
into the same things.
I was hoping that we'd be able
to meet
and see where things went.
- So you are interested in him
in a romantic way.
- Yeah.
Like, I want to meet him.
- So all of that is real.
That's what's blowing my mind,
is that, like, you're real,
your story is real,
the way you feel about
Michael is real.
- Like, I've had people, like,
question
if I was catfishing them
before,
because I'm just, like,
so hesitant about, like,
talking on the phone
and, like, videoing.
I'm just, like, weird about it.
- Well, I'm weird too.
- I know.
That's why we're perfect
for each other.
- Is this really happening?
Are we dreaming?
Pinch me. I don't understand.
Am I missing something?
- How do you feel, Michael?
- You know--[sighs]
There's some questions.
But I'm not judging you.
- I don't know.
I just--I don't want you to,
like, feel,
like, I was, like, hiding--
I just--it just takes me
a while to get there.
Like, I go at my own,
slow pace, I guess.
I didn't know how
to deal with it,
and all this happened,
and I was like,
"Okay, like,
I need to tell you."
- Well, here we are.
and we're gonna
get through this.
- You know, even for Julia,
I think she's still coping with
and dealing with a lot
of what she's been through.
And no one can say how long
it's going to take.
And you're never gonna get
over it, you know, magically.
But I think that it's really
brave that you came on here
and talked about it.
- So, I would love to meet you,
actually in person.
I do like
to take things slowly.
- And I know that.
- Yeah. So.
We can try meeting up, going on
a few dates, see where it goes.
If you want.
- Oh, he wants.
[laughter]
- Do you want, Michael?
- Do you want to?
- Well, of course.
I mean, I want to take her
on a date.
She is beautiful.
I mean, she is a knock-out.
I'm falling for a girl
through text message,
so I can only imagine
in real life.
- Well, look, guys,
I gotta say,
I did not expect it
to end this way,
but I am so happy that it did.
You've both been through
difficult things.
but you found each other.
So I think this could be
a really great
beginning of something.
But mainly, I just want
to let you guys start doing
whatever it is
you guys want to do
and not have us around
bothering you.
♪ ♪
So hopefully you guys
can meet up soon.
- I wanna see her next week.
- You're ready
to drive out there.
- Absolutely.
- We're excited to see
what happens,
and fingers crossed,
you know, things go well.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Well, good luck.
- Bye. Yeah, good luck.
- ♪ This is the good life ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ This is the good life ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh
whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, oh ♪
♪ Whoa, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh ♪
♪ Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
- Jason's been talking
to Mark.
- He makes me feel like--
like I'm wanted.
- But you've been sending
money to this person.
- Do you see these red flags?
[phone line beeps]
[gasps]
It was a girl.
- Deep breath, Jason.
Deep breath.
- I'm so nervous.
[doorbell rings]
- Get the [bleep]
outta here.
973
00:41:34.