Catfish: The TV Show (2012–…): Season 8, Episode 40 - Aaliyah & Paula - full transcript

- Four years ago Aaliyah
meets Paula on Instagram.

- She's beautiful.

She is the first girl
that I ever crushed on.

But Paula is very off-the-map
sometimes,

so much, she wouldn't be
on social media at all.

- Something ain't right.

- Let's do an image search.

- There's no way
that she doesn't have

an Instagram somewhere.
[gasps]

What if Paula pops in here?
What if it is Paula?

[chiming]
Oh!



- I don't know what the hell
is going on.

- ♪ Hello,
is it you I'm seeing? ♪

- All right, there he is.

Dustin.
We've got John and John.

We're in the soon-to-be
new "Catfish" HQ.

Cases of COVID are going down,
vaccinations are going up.

That means Kamie and I
can finally be back together.

- Here at the office.
About to go in.

Oh, damn, it's huge in here.

But where's the [bleep]?

- All right,
so it's not quite ready,

but the raw space
has a lot of potential.

- I agree, but it does look
like we got robbed.

- I gotta show you
the best part.



- Oh.

- Isn't this great?

- This is the most sunshine

I think I've felt
all quarantine.

- All right,
we've got work to do.

- Wow.
- Right? This is great.

- The throne.
- Good to be back.

- So let's dive on in.
We do have an email here.

"Hey, my name is Aaliyah.

I'm 23 and recently moved
from California to Tennessee.

Four years ago, I met
Paula online and we just vibed.

- ♪ You say all the
right things ♪

- Paula lived in Seattle,
but her work as a model

was constantly bringing her
to Los Angeles,

which wasn't far from
where I lived.

We quickly started
talking about meeting up

and I was looking
forward to it.

As the months passed,

I realized that I was starting
to develop feelings for Paula.

I've never been attracted
to a woman before.

And our relationship heated up.

Paula and I loved
hyping each other up.

I could be myself
with no pressure.

But while we always said
we were going to meet up,

Paula never called me
whenever she got to L.A."

Paula no call-a.

- Holla.

- ♪ Setting fire
to the roses ♪

- "About a year ago,
Paula disappeared.

- ♪ Playing with
your emotions ♪

- Then her phone number
stopped working.

This wasn't unusual for her.

Sometimes she just
shut everything down."

[slow-motion speech]

- Are you reading
a children's book, to me?

- I do read
a lot of children's books.

- That's what you've been doing
all quarantine.

- Yeah.
This time, a month passed,

and then another.

I tried to find her,
but she'd fully ghosted.

- ♪ Ignoring
all the warnings ♪

- She was really gone.

But a few weeks ago,

I got a message from someone
claiming to be Paula.

But before I pick up
where we left off,

I need more information.

There is something going on
and it's time for me

to find out what it is.
Aaliyah."

- ♪ I'm just a tease ♪

- Wow. All right, well,
let's send Aaliyah a text.

- "Hey, Aaliyah.
It's Nev and Kamie.

We just read your email
and wanna help."

- Send.
- Paula has literally

ripped a page out of
the catfisher's handbook.

She's a model.
- I know.

She travels for work a lot.

- She ghosts, she's gone.

- Disappears, come back.

- Something ain't right.

- Oh, wait, she wrote back.
"Okay, I can join now."

[chimes]

- Hi.
- Yes. Hi.

- Hey.
- Hi.

- I just wanna know,
when you were born,

how your parents had
the foreshadowing to know

that you would grow up
to look kind of like Aaliyah.

- A lot of people say that.

I think that, just,
they were really big fans,

so it just kinda
all went together.

- They're smart.

- So tell us a little bit
more about you.

What do you do in Tennessee?

- I'm currently a car salesman,

but I'm getting ready
to go back to school.

- Cool.

- Okay, what's going on
with Paula?

- Yeah, this story
is very interesting to us.

- So I met Paula, like,
almost four years ago.

We had randomly started
following each other.

Eventually, we started DMing
and then,

from there, went to texting
and then phone calls.

- Tell us more about Paula.

- Paula's about my age.
She's beautiful.

When I met her
she was doing modelling.

- And where does she live now?
- I'm not really sure.

I just know she doesn't live
in Seattle anymore.

- So you and Paula were vibing,
as you say,

but you said it took a while
before it got romantic.

When did you start feeling
attracted to her?

- It just kinda slowly
progressed into flirting

with each other, I guess.

Then we started acknowledging

that we were attracted
to each other.

- Before Paula,

were you ever attracted
to girls or was she the first?

- I think I might have already
been attracted to girls.

I just didn't acknowledge it
until Paula.

She is kinda, like,
the first girl

that I ever, like, crushed on.

That's something me
and her have spoke about.

We've never dated
a female before.

We've only ever dated guys.

When I met Paula,
I was in a relationship.

Me and her related
on boy problems, too,

from time to time.

- And then you guys
started kinda flirting.

- Mm-hmm.
- What does that mean?

Like, were you guys
sending pics? Were you--

- Yes, it got to that point
sometimes.

- Ooh.
- Ooh.

- A little Savage Fenty moment.

- So wait a second.

So you guys sent
some sexy selfies?

- Mm-hmm.

- And what were
the conversations?

- Um, some of the conversations

were just a little too explicit
for TV.

I'm just, like,
a really private person,

so I don't really...

- Boo.
We've been in quarantine.

- It went down in the DM.
I mean, all right.

- From time to time, yeah.
It went in that direction.

- And you did also talk
on the phone?

- Yeah, we did.

- And then eventually you said
she disappeared.

- Yeah. Paula is
very off-the-map sometimes.

Some months she would be
on social media

and then, for a while,

she wouldn't be
on social media at all,

but we would still
be talking on the phone

and stuff like that.
- Oh, okay.

- But there would be occasions
where her number would change.

- Why was her number changing?

- Honestly, I think
there's certain people

she just doesn't like
to be able to contact her,

so she'll just be over it
and be like,

"Forget it,
I'ma just change my number."

- But through all that,
you kept up your relationship

until, one day, she disappeared
from you as well.

- Yeah.

- Did you text her and be like,
"Hey, what's up?"

or, "What's going on?"

and, like,
she just stopped responding?

- Mm-hmm.

- I was hurt.
And then when I texted her,

the messages started
turning green and I was like,

"Oh, okay. She changed
her phone number again."

- I'm sure that must have been
tough for you.

- Yeah.

- So then, a year later,

she just sort of magically
reappeared out of nowhere.

- Yeah.

I got a message
from this random account,

saying like,
"Oh, this is Paula."

- Does the new account
have her name

and, like, a picture of her?

- No.

- So there is no picture.
No name?

- No.

- That's creepy as [bleep],

because that might
not be Paula, right?

- I think she just made
the account

so she could hit me up

'cause I don't think she had
my phone number either.

But I know she's really Paula
because we have a mutual friend

that I reached out to,

just because I was
a little bit skeptical

and I was like,
"Do you think this is her?"

and he was like, "Here,
just take her phone number."

And, you know, I texted her
and she was like,

"Yeah, it's me."
I was like, "Okay."

- Wait a second.

You have a mutual friend
from the internet?

- Yeah. His name is Jordan.

He's somebody we met
in a group chat.

We both kinda just built,

like, a internet friendship
with him as well.

- Why would Jordan have her
new number

but you didn't have
her new number?

- Yeah.
I was hurt really, really bad.

- My eyebrows are raised.
- Yeah.

- I know it's been a year.

You don't still have your old
text messages with her, do you?

- Yeah.

- So can we see those,
and also her, I guess?

Do you have any photos, like,
saved of her?

- Yeah.

- Okay, she's very pretty.

- "Doseofpaulaa,"
that was her old page?

- Yeah.

- I mean, yeah,
she's a beautiful girl.

- And then these are just
some of our conversations.

- You guys talk a lot.
- Wow.

- Some stuff from 2019.

- "Baby. I miss you.
Hope all has been well."

"Aw, I miss you too, baby."

- "Love me some you."

- "My girlfriend for life.

If you ever decide on
the other side, I'm still here.

- Ooh.

Spicy.
- Yeah.

- There's a lot of "I miss you,
I love you, I care about you."

- Those messages,
coupled with the fact

that you also sent
sexy selfies,

suggests, I think, to us, like,
you guys had something real.

- Mm-hmm.

- But why would someone ghost
out of a good thing

unless they're
hiding something?

- Can you show us
the new account,

the one that just
reached out to you?

- This is the random account.

- They chose that name. Weird.

- "Hey, girl, it's Paula.
I have a question."

- Then she just says,
"Hi, love, what's your number?"

What?
- After a year of nothing--

- "Bitch, [bleep] you,"
that's what I would say.

- Well, look, you're obviously
a smart, young woman,

but there's a lot of red flags.

How are you still believing
that she might be real?

- Mm-hmm.

- I think she is who she says
she is, for sure.

Our relationship
really meant something to me.

Me and Paula got real close.
And I don't feel like

I'm a person who can get
catfished, if that makes sense.

- Girl.
- To be optimistic.

- Well, we don't know.

- Obviously you do need to know
who this person is,

because there's this very real
connection that you guys made,

and if there's something that
she's been hiding from you--

- Yeah.
It will be nice to know.

- Yeah. All right.
We have her name.

You've got Jordan,
the friend who, I guess,

is still in touch with her,

so we could talk to him
potentially, right?

- Well, I can tell you

I have already spoke to him
a couple times,

and he's just not comfortable
with being put out there.

- Okay.
- We're gonna figure this out.

Whatever you can send us,
we're gonna get to work.

- Okay.

- All right, bye, Aaliyah.
- Bye.

- Bye.

- There's a lot of weird
external factors

that make the whole thing
seem super sus.

- And why doesn't Jordan
want to be involved?

- Right.
- He's a suspect,

but I also feel like there
could just be a girl out there

who wanted to explore
with her sexuality,

and really thought
that Aaliyah's beautiful,

because she is,
and decided to hit her up.

- But she disappears
and changed her number

a bunch of times.
Something's going on with her,

out of the ordinary,
and I'm worried

that Aaliyah's first girl
crush might crush her.

[rock music]

- So Aaliyah and Paula are both
23 years old,

have now known each other
for four years,

went from being Instagram buds
to borderline girlfriends--

- They were girlfriends.

- I mean they were close.

Talked on the phone,
sent each other naked pictures.

- This is like Aaliyah's
first experience with a girl...

- Right.
- And maybe Paula's.

- Maybe even--yeah.

- That is meaningful.
- Yeah.

But Paula disappeared
a year ago.

Now, out of nowhere,
shows back up

and wants to pick things
right back up.

So before Aaliyah gets
any further into this,

gotta figure out who Paula is,
and we gotta do it now.

- Yes.

- Let's see if she sent us
that email, and she did.

Here you go.

"Hey, guys.
Here's all the info I have.

Paula Guerrero is 22
and lived in Seattle.

I think she might be
living in Los Angeles now.

The Instagram account
she messaged me

from a few weeks ago
is "randomaccount."

Her phone number is 206--"

I'm not familiar with that.
She's got the phone number of

when they first started
talking, which is also 206.

- Mm-hmm.

- "Good luck
with your searching.

I hope to hear from you soon."

All right,
let's do an image search

for the two pictures
that we have.

- I mean,
the girl is really cute.

Like, there's no way that that
girl doesn't have an Instagram

somewhere with a following.

- You would think.

All right,
here's the first one.

Okay, so first picture,
nothing.

Let's just do the second
picture 'cause it's all we got.

Nothing.

Let's go to the Instagram page
Aaliyah got a message from

and see if
there's anything there.

So she's following Aaliyah.

I want to see
if she's following Jordan,

the mutual internet friend...

- Mm-hmm.

- Who just happened to also
have Paula's new number.

Here's a Jordan.

Let's see if Jordan is also
following Aaliyah on Instagram.

There he is.
This could be Jordan.

There's a connection there.

There's something going on
with Jordan.

- He's involved, for sure.

Technically,
if we reached out to him,

she didn't put us in contact.
We just stumbled upon him.

- Yeah, I mean, look,
if we could just--

If he doesn't want to do it,
he'll say no.

- It's not our fault
we found him.

- Yeah.

- We're just really
[bleep] good at what we do.

- Right. That's true.

"Hey, Jordan. It's Nev from
the TV show 'Catfish.'

We're making an episode now

and wanted to ask you
a quick question."

All right, sent.

All right,
let's run the phone numbers.

All right, the old number
comes back with nothing.

Let's see about
this new number.

Oh. Oh, okay.
Here we go.

- Karina [bleep]. Wow.

- Interesting.
So that's something.

- Oh, she's from Seattle.
- Yes.

And this is a new number.
I mean, less than a year.

- So who is Karina?

- Shall we look up
Karina [bleep]?

I mean, Karina [bleep].

All right. Here's one
that lives in New York.

And Texas.

Surprisingly there are
a lot of people with that name.

But let's do the search
and let's do the city, Seattle.

Nothing.
So who is Karina [bleep]?

All right, well, look. I mean,
we can always just call Paula.

If she answers--
- Which she won't do.

- Well, let's have a plan
because I don't want

to get that awkward moment
as the phone's ringing

where I go like,
"What do I say?"

- That's your fault.
You just get trigger-happy.

I don't know.

- I think the best policy
is just honesty.

"Hey, Paula, it's so nice
to talk to you."

- I don't think
you should say "Paula."

I think you should say
you're calling for Karina.

- Oh.

Oh.
And see what she says.

[line ringing]

- Hello.
- Yes.

Hi, I'm looking for Karina.

- Um, who is this?

- Hung up.
- God damn it, Nev!

- Well, that's not a no.

- What?
- What am I supposed to say?

- No!

- I can't give it away
at that point.

- You can't hang up the phone!

You're supposed to come up
with something.

- I wasn't--
- Jesus Christ.

- I wasn't prepared to come up
with a whole [bleep] character.

- Hey.
- You should just call back.

I'd be curious to see
if she answers and say like,

"My partner's an idiot."

[line ringing]

- Hello.

- Hi. Okay, I don't know--
I don't know who this is.

My name is Kamie. We're from
the show "Catfish" on MTV.

I'm not sure if you've seen it.

- What the heck?
- Yes.

- So, I mean, I--
[end call tone beeping]

- Oh.
- Oh.

I--

♪ ♪

Well, why would she hang up?
If "Catfish" is calling me

and I know I'm innocent,
I'm gonna be like, "Oh."

- Right.
Let's just send a text,

and let's just explain
the deal.

"Hey. This is Nev..."
- "And Kamie."

- "And Kamie, from 'Catfish.'

We would love to talk

about a relationship
we're investigating right now."

- Perfect.

- So let's see
if she responds to our text.

Let's see if Jordan
gets back to us,

and hopefully in the morning
we'll have some new information

before we go back to Aaliyah
and give her the update.

The good news is, the number
that Aaliyah has for Paula...

- Mm-hmm.

- Was answered by a woman.
- Mm-hmm.

- So any possibility that
it was Jordan,

unless, of course,
Jordan happens

to be sitting with Paula
right now

and, like, "here--"
I don't think so.

I don't necessarily think
that her name is Paula.

It could be Karina,
which is why maybe

she didn't say yes or no,
but, like...

- Mm-hmm.

- She's not wrong to be like,
"Who's calling?"

- Yeah, but she's using
that phone number

to talk to people
that she is catfishing.

- Right. That's true.

- And we don't know how
many people she's talking to.

- Well, that might be
her phone number

that's just
for her catfishing too.

- True.

- But there's definitely
something weird about Paula.

- If her name's even Paula.

We don't even know
who we're hunting now.

- Good morning.

Clink, clink, cheers.

- So I haven't heard anything
back from Paula or Jordan

since we reached out
to them yesterday.

Let's just see
if anything even came back.

- Oh, God.
- No.

Okay, so no response
from Paula.

And...

we have a response
from Jordan--no.

- Jordan didn't get back to us,

but maybe he got back
to Aaliyah,

and probably cussed her out.

- I'll text Aaliyah.
"Jump back in the Zoom."

- [imitates chime]

Bing-boo.

[chiming]

- Hey, girl.
- Hi.

- Any update?
Have you heard anything?

- No.

- Well, we're gonna fill
you in on everything.

- Let's just go through
what we did yesterday,

so you're up to speed
with where we're at.

- Okay.

- So you had her new
Instagram account, obviously,

which is what
we're looking at here,

which has very,
well, nothing really on it.

Even though you said

that Jordan would prefer
to stay out of this...

- Mm-hmm.

- We were curious if we could
at least find out

who this guy is and do
a little research about him.

- Mm-hmm.

- And we looked to see
who is following Paula.

We saw there was someone
named Jordan.

- Yeah,
that's my friend Jordan.

- And we just thought maybe,

even though he said
he didn't wanna talk,

maybe he would want to talk,
so we sent him a message.

"Love to talk to you."

And we still haven't
heard from him.

So then we ran
the phone numbers.

The old one didn't come up
with any information

that we could find,

but the new phone number shows
a Karina [bleep].

We're just curious if you knew
anyone named Karina.

- No.

- Okay, well, we had--
You know, we wanted to show it

to you just in case
it jogged your memory.

So we think it's pretty
likely you're talking

to a girl named Karina.
Not Paula.

- Aaliyah, you're so chill.
I can't, I can't understand.

- I'm always chillin'. Sorry.

- So we did some Facebook
searching.

There are a lot
of Karina [bleep].

Like, it could be--

It could mean everything,
it could be nothing.

It doesn't help us a lot.

- Yeah.

- At this point we were like,
"Okay, well,

there's always a chance
that the person

you're talking to isn't Paula,

and those aren't pictures
of her.

- Mm-hmm.

- And maybe the real person's
name is Karina.

We just kind of didn't

find anything that felt
like a promising lead.

So at that point,
we made a decision.

We were like,
"Okay, look, let's call Paula.

So I called and I said,
"Hey, I'm looking for Karina,"

just to see what she would say.

- Okay.

- And she was like,
"Who is this?"

And I kinda just froze
and I think I just hung up.

- Yes.
- Right.

And then I thought
Kamie should call--

- I called back.

- And so Kamie called
and she was like,

"Hey, here's what's up."
And at that point...

- She was like,
"What the heck?"

and she hung up the phone.

- Oh.

- What's crazy to me is that
you haven't heard from her.

- No.
- We didn't mention you.

We'd never said "Aaliyah"
intentionally.

- No, we didn't.
On purpose because we figured,

who knows how many people
that she's talking to?

But we ended up
messaging her again.

- We texted her and just said,
"Hey, I'm sorry about that.

We'd love to talk to you
about a relationship

we're investigating right now."
But she never responded.

So the ball is in her court.

- Okay.

- She knows
that we're on to her.

- We gotta figure out
what we wanna do.

- Yeah.
- Wait, we got a text?

- Yes.
- Who is this?

- "Hi, Nev. I heard
you were trying to find Paula.

I have some information

that I think is important
for you to hear."

- Who is that?
Who even has this number?

- But how did they know
we're trying to find Paula?

We never said Paula's name
to Karina yesterday.

Let's look up the number.

- Yeah, let's look up
the number.

- It's getting interesting.

- "Lanna?"

- Lanna Hooper.

- Do you know a Lanna?
- No.

- Who is that?

- It says Seattle.

- Let's do a little
Facebook search.

- "Lanna Hooper."

- Here's Seattle, Washington.

- This person doesn't look
familiar to you, right?

- Mm-mm.
- Wait, who's that?

- That's Paula.
- [gasps]

Lanna is her mom, maybe?

- Boom.

- It could be her mom
or her aunt or a cousin

but definitely a family member.

"I love my family."

- This is the girl
in the pictures.

That's definitely her, right?

- That's definitely Paula.

- And that looks like Lanna
next to her.

- Maybe.

- We should just respond
to this person.

Maybe the text
we got just came from her.

"Hey.
Yes, we are looking for Paula."

- "Can you jump into Zoom?"
- "Can you come in a Zoom?"

- What the hell is going on?
I don't know.

- Someone, obviously connected
to the girl in the pictures,

found out
we were investigating.

- She said,
"Yeah, that's fine."

Or they said.
- Oh, my God.

- 'Cause no shade, Aaliyah,

I did not think that this was
ever gonna come back

to that girl in the pictures.

I thought that she was
out of this completely,

but now she's fully back in.

- I don't think
she's a catfish.

- But what if Paula is real?

- I'ma keep saying she's real.
I think she's real.

- What if Paula pops in here?
What if it is Paula?

- Okay, they're gonna join.

Oh, boy, well,
we're about to find out.

[dramatic music]

[chimes]
- Oh.

- Oh!

- What if Paula pops in here?
What if it is Paula?

- Well,
we're about to find out.

[dramatic music]

[chimes]

- Oh!

- Hi, boo.
- Hi.

- Hey.

- Hi.
- Hello.

- I told y'all she was real.

[laughs]

- I'm not Paula.

- You're not Paula?

- No.

- Okay, we're very confused.

Can--What do--Please explain.

- My name's Nayonni.

I am the girl in the pictures.

However, I am not Paula.

I'm not the one who's been
running the accounts.

Paula actually
reached out to me

and told me you guys
reached out to her,

and she got a little frantic.

She asked if I would come
and share the story

as to how we all got here.
And--

- Wait. Okay, so hold on.

So after we spoke
to Paula yesterday,

she reached out to you.

Did you know that there was
a fake account of you?

- Yes.

- Wait. What?

- So basically, in 2016,

somebody reached out
to me through DM,

informing me that there were
several fake accounts,

depicting me to be somebody
that I'm not.

- Okay.

- I couldn't see them myself
due to me being blocked,

and these people
who reached out to me

were friends of the girl

who was catfishing
with the pictures.

They gave me a phone number
to reach out to,

and I confronted her
about what was going on,

and I asked her
to take the accounts down.

I asked her
why she was doing it,

and basically she was going
through a lot in her life,

and this was her outlet
to feel like she was somebody.

- And what--is her name
actually Paula?

- No.
- What is her name?

- What the hell is going on?

- Her name is Rayven.

- Rayven?
- Yes.

- And did you assume,

after that conversation,
that she would stop?

- Yeah. I really felt like
I got through to her that time.

However, it's been seven years
that this has been going on.

- Seven years?

- Yeah, since I was 14.
I'm 22 now.

Every time an account
would come up,

I found a method
to contact Instagram

and give them my ID, and they
would just take it down,

but it would be down.

And then, obviously, a new one
would just pop right back up.

- Aaliyah has been talking to
who she thought was you

for four years now,

and, you know, it started off

to be just a friendship

and then turned more
on a romantic level.

- And here we are on "Catfish."

- Wait, let's just clear
something up, so--

All right, so wait a second.

Okay, so, look, she should be
the one doing this. Not you.

- Right.

- It's so unfair of her
to not only do

what she's been doing to you
but then to ask you to--

- To come forth
and speak for her.

- Right.
- Right. I wanna see Rayven.

- I'd be willing to reach out
to her and see what she says.

- Call her, text her, whatever.

Explain that we're eager
to talk to her

and give her an opportunity to
sort of explain herself and...

- Okay.

- And then you could send her
the Zoom link.

- Okay.
- I don't know.

I don't know what the hell
is going on right now.

- All right.
- Talk later.

- Thanks, Nayonni.
We'll see you soon.

- Later.

- Girl.

- What the hell is going on?

I don't know. I don't do this.

- So you really don't Nayonni
is telling the truth?

Why do you think that?

- But I just feel like,

this isn't how
this was supposed to go.

- What do you mean this was not
how it was supposed to go?

- I don't know
what's happening right now.

- Well, look, either way,
I still think it's important

that we do talk to Rayven,

if there even is a Rayven.

[chimes]
- Nayonni just texted us.

- She has spoken to Rayven.

"Does the Zoom link
you sent still work?"

- "Yes, it does.

We are in the Zoom now,
so join anytime."

- Okay, so Nayonni is sending
the Zoom link to Rayven.

She could pop in at any minute.
Get ready.

- At this point, I don't even
know what's going on.

All of this is weird.

I'm just weirded out
right now, so--

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[chimes]

♪ ♪

- Are you Rayven?
- Hi, yeah.

- Hi, Rayven.
- Hi.

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

- Good. We're all kind of just
catching up

and finding a lot
of new information

and just wanted
to give you a chance

to kind of introduce yourself
and then tell the story

however you feel
best reflects the truth.

- Okay. My name is Rayven.
I'm from Seattle,

which is how I originally
came across Nayonni's pictures.

There was multiple accounts.
A lot of them got deleted.

The most people
that I've talked to, like,

on the accounts would be Paula.

- And how many people
were you talking to?

- I was talking to a lot of
people,

like, 800 people, altogether.

- What?

- I'm kinda confused
right now 'cause--

Yeah, I'm confused.

- I started to see that,
when I was someone else,

I was getting more attention
than I was as me.

And so I started
to go with that.

I know that this sounds crazy,

but, like, it was literally
like an addiction.

Sometimes what I would do
is create mutual friends

so that people would think
that it was a real account,

this person knew people
in real life.

I was behind the Jordan account

that Aaliyah had
reached out to.

First of all, I'm sorry.
I really did like you.

I think that you're
a really good person.

I've always thought that you
were a very beautiful person.

All I want to do is come clean

and come forward
with the truth.

- Yeah.

- And I think
that you deserve that.

- Go ahead if you have
something

you want to say, Aaliyah.

- Well, I just wanted to talk
to y'all two

without her present.

- Like, just us?
- Yeah.

- Sure. I mean, if that's okay
with you, Rayven?

- Aaliyah, we'll check in
with you for a minute.

Rayven,
we'll bring you back on,

and we can finish
the conversation.

- Okay, sounds good.

- Okay. So I just--

I only want to talk to two
right now real quick,

so we can get some stuff
out the way.

This girl is sitting here,
continuing to lie.

Everything I've told you guys
is the truth about me

and Paula's relationship.
We've never Facetimed.

We have been talking
for that period of time.

Everything is real.

But the reason why I'm so blown
out of the water and confused,

the reason I did believe Paula
was the girl in the pictures

is because Paula,
she hit me up.

She still had me convinced
she was a real person.

She was like,

"Let's meet on this TV show."

- What?

- It was gonna be like
a I see you,

you see me, it's a happy
ending type episode.

- Whoa.

- That's why it's weird now,
and it's scaring me.

- Basically,
everything I've told you guys

is the truth about me and
Paula's relationship.

We've never Facetimed.

We have been talking
for that period of time.

Everything is real.
But Paula, she hit me up.

It was like,
"Let's meet on this TV show."

It was gonna be like
a I see you,

you see me, it's a happy
ending type episode.

- Whoa.

- That's why it's weird now,
and it's scaring me.

I was down because
I really believed

Paula was a real person.

That's why, when she popped up
on the screen,

I really thought that she
just changed our whole story

and was going her own direction
with it,

and it was making me mad.

- When Nayonni came on?
- Yes.

- Wait, did you--but did you
already know who Rayven was?

- No.

- She thought she was
meeting Paula, genuinely.

- Paula.
- That's why she was so sure.

- Yeah.
- Because Paula told her.

Like, "It's gonna be a good--

It's gonna be a happy ending,
so it doesn't really matter..."

- Oh, my God.
- "But it will be good."

- So Rayven,
in a unbelievably selfish

and, also, additionally,
like, deceptive move...

- Twisted.

- Convinced you to write in,

and tricks you
into coming on the show

by telling you
that it was just really her

and that you guys
were gonna have a happy ending.

- Yeah.

- So she came up with this
whole plan and you said yes

because you thought
it was really just Paula.

But actually the girl
in the pictures was Nayonni.

Wow.

- She had me convinced
she was a real person

when we were doing this.

- Wow.

- So I genuinely assumed
that she was real.

That's why this is
all weirding me out.

Like, when the real Paula...

- Right, Nayonni.

- Came on the screen,
that's why I was thrown off

because I thought that

she was coming up with a whole
other storyline by herself.

- When she said, I'm not Paula,

and you're like,
"What the [bleep]."

- Yes, it threw me off
'cause I'm like, "That's--"

But they sound just alike.

- Yeah.
- Her and this girl.

- Yeah, they do sound
very similar.

- I guess that's how girls
talk in Washington.

I don't know.

- But now that
you've heard Rayven,

you're sure that was

the voice you've been
talking to this whole time?

- Yeah. That's definitely her.

This is why
I'm telling you this.

- Right, right.
- Because it's weird now.

- She's definitely not coming
on the show

to tell you the truth
and come clean

and, like, do the right thing.

She lied to you to get you
and her on the show.

- Yeah.

- And then she lied to us
and you right now on the show

while she's supposed
to be changing her life

and making good decisions to,
like, be a better person.

- Like, I'm really, really bad.

Like, this was not
supposed to happen.

- And she [bleep] made it seem
like

you were actually coming on
to finally meet her...

- Right.

- Which is what you've been
wanting this whole time.

That is [bleep] crazy.

- This is how I really am,

so she has me
looking dumb on TV,

and it's messing
with my anxiety right now.

Like, I'm really not feeling
this at all.

Like, it's weird.

- The thing that obviously
bothers me is we take

this job very seriously.
We're trying to help people,

and it's just not okay
what you did either, Aaliyah.

I mean, it's messed up on your
end that you lied to us,

not giving us all
the information to help you.

It's pretty messed up.

- No, I do wanna
apologize though.

When the plan was told to me,

it was something super-simple,
quick,

and it wasn't really
a lie on my end, so I was like,

"Okay, that's fine."
Because she was Paula, like,

she was still acting like Paula
this whole time with me.

- She [bleep].
She catfished you.

She [bleep] played you out.
That's what she did.

- Yeah.

- And though it's messed up
what you did,

you genuinely believed
that you were gonna be able

to finally meet this person,
by any means necessary.

And although, it's not
something that we encourage,

I understand it.

- Right.
- But she is a manipulator.

She's been doing this
since she was a teenager.

- The worst part is, like,
she even thought

that she could play you
like that,

play the show,
and then get Nayonni...

- Mm-hmm.

- The girl she's been
playing the longest...

- Mm-hmm.

- To do her dirty work...
- Mm-hmm.

- And tell her story,
so she wouldn't even have to.

She could just, like, sit back.

Obviously, we need
to call out Rayven.

- Obviously.

- 'Cause I'm not gonna let her
get away with...

- I wanna be messy about it.
- Taking both--

I mean, forget what
she's done to you now.

It's personal.
I mean, now she's playing us

and I'm not about
to let that happen on my show.

So I think we should
bring her back in.

And we'll just confront her
and then say our goodbyes.

Here she comes.

- But who wants to start?
- Me.

- Okay, we're all back.

- Aaliyah, the floor is yours.

- Okay.

So I blew up our spot,
so we are exposed.

I told them me and you have
spoke behind the scenes.

I wouldn't have done this had
I known that you were not gonna

end up being the person
you swore you were.

You almost got the other girl
cussed out

because I thought
that she was Paula coming up

with a new plan out of nowhere
and not telling me.

So she was about
to get cussed out,

but then I had to think
about it, like,

"Maybe that's
really not Paula."

I'm weirded out by all this.

Still kinda disappointed
in myself that I even thought

that this was a good idea to do

'cause now I'm on TV,
looking stupid.

So I'm trying to, like,
just keep my composure

'cause we're on TV.

I don't want to say something
I can't take back.

But after three
and a half years of mine,

you're not gonna get
a friendship from me.

I'ma just say that now.
So that's it.

- Okay. I understand.

If I was put in your position,
I'd be the same way.

I'm not trying
to embarrass anybody.

- But you did.

- But I'm not trying to,
and nor was that my intention.

- You were deceiving Aaliyah
behind the scenes into thinking

that she was actually
going to meet the real Paula.

That is how you were able
to get here

to this point right now
and get on our show.

And why even want
to get on the show?

- So I'm coming up here now
to set the record straight

and to come clean.

I'm sure a lot of people
are gonna see this.

I'm sure a lot of people
are gonna know of

the real person
behind the pictures,

and that's why I'm here.

- But you didn't need
to do this to come clean.

You could've just stopped lying
and told people the truth.

- Well, I didn't have any more
of my accounts.

I'm sure as, you know,
you may know, like,

my accounts have been deleted
by Instagram.

So I didn't have the chance
because I was gonna go on

Instagram Live
with Nayonni at one point,

and tell everybody that Paula
was not a real person.

- But I don't believe that
for a second.

- But I could've easily--
- No.

You would have kept doing that.

You would've kept using
the accounts

if they hadn't been shut down.

You got called multiple times
by Nayonni...

- Right.

- Asking you to stop.
And you didn't.

And the only reason
you may have slowed down

was because Instagram did,
thankfully, do their job

and take down
the multiple accounts

that you've continued to make.

One would get shut down,
you'd make a new one.

So don't tell me the only
reason you decided to stop

was because you couldn't get
on your account

and do a Facebook Live.

- I didn't think that this was
the only way to stop.

You're kind of attacking me
in a way,

and I don't like that.

I've tried to stop
and it's not easy for me.

I understand that I've hurt
a lot of people.

I understand that.

I was young, I'm still young,
and I'm still learning.

You don't know what I struggle
with every day.

Yes, I'm a [bleep] up person.

Yes, I've done [bleeped] up
things to people.

And I've had a lot of [bleep]
up things done to me too.

So, like, don't attack me.
Like, don't do that.

- I don't think that
it's an attack.

What I think is happening
is it's hard to hear somebody,

plain and simple,

tell you exactly
what the [bleep] it is

that has been going on
and what you have been doing,

because sometimes
when you're in it,

it's hard to see the reality
of the situation.

- Exactly.

- No one is negating
what you've been through.

Nayonni told us
you've been through a lot,

and everyone understands that.

And I think it would be even
more easy to empathize with you

if we did not know
the behind-the-scenes.

That is where things
take a turn for us.

Our job is to help people,

but when you are behind
the scenes

actively and maliciously trying
to make some [bleep] pop,

we have to call you out
on that.

- Right.

- This is, like,
a real addiction

and a real issue for me.

So the way that I might've
went about it to come--

To be on here
and to come on here

might have been, like,
[bleep] up.

But I'm still here.

We want for you to be able
to put these pages behind you

and move forward,
but in order to move forward,

we have to acknowledge
how we even got to this point.

- I think that this was wrong,
you know, as far as, like,

you know, me keeping
in contact with Aaliyah

and, you know, portraying that
I'm still this person,

but in all honesty,
I did like Aaliyah.

Like, there was a connection
from me.

Like, it's not like
that was fake.

I'm sorry that I put you

in this position
in the first place.

I think that I could've
told you in a different way,

most definitely,

rather than leading you
to believe something else.

That was a dick move,
and I'm really sorry for that.

And I'm really sorry
for everything.

You shared a lot of personal
information with me

not only in your life,
but your body,

and that's not okay
to do to anybody.

- The nude pictures
that you got from Aaliyah,

where are those pictures now?

- As the accounts got deleted,

those pictures also got deleted
with the accounts.

And, yeah, I'm really sorry
for that.

Nobody deserves that.

- It's not that I don't accept
your apology or nothing.

I'm just, like, I'm kinda ready
for all of this to be over.

- So that's the big question.
Is this all over?

Are you ready to say

you won't use fake profiles,

you won't speak to anyone,
and just be you?

- I would say that I'm done
with the fake accounts.

I'm sorry, Aaliyah,
for everything that I've done.

- ♪ Should be locked
behind bars ♪

- We wish you the best and hope
that this is the end.

- Yeah.

- It's been way too long,
I think we all agree,

so I'm glad this is over.

- Bye, guys.

- Good luck with everything.

- Bye, thank you for coming.

- Thank you for having me.

- All right, well, look.
She's out of your life.

- Yeah, this is a weird day.

- Sorry for the craziness,
but you also provided some.

- Yeah. Don't dig yourself
a hole like that in the future.

- Yeah, 'cause this
was way too much.

This was extra.

- All right, all right.
It was great meeting you.

- It was nice meeting you guys.
- Bye, Aaliyah.

- Goodbye, guys.
- Bye.

- ♪ Funny how danger
keeps me coming ♪

♪ Funny how I crash
but keep on longing ♪

♪ Can I grow up? ♪

♪ Can I grow up? ♪

- For two years, Naiji
has been talking to Ciana,

who may not even be real.

- She just really, like,
bring out this vibe,

like that you wanna
be around her.

- Let's look up
the phone number.

Wow. Zero.
- That's suspicious.

- I feel like I'm getting like
used or played,

and I hate that feeling.
[chimes]

- Oh.
- Oh, [bleep].

1049
00:42:04.