Catfish: The TV Show (2012–…): Season 8, Episode 7 - Danielle & BJ - full transcript
Nev and Kamie get a letter from a woman worried that her friend Danielle is being catfished by a guy named BJ. BJ comforted Danielle when she was shot, but now she needs to know who she's really been dating for the past six years.
- Danielle has been in contact with BJ for six years.
- I was shot multiple times.
BJ was there for me.
- He's keeping a huge secret from her.
- Who is this guy?
Is this Barack Obama we're trying to find?
- "I know who Danielle is really talking to."
- Whoa.
There are two people coming to meet us.
- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
- Oh, I'm nervous.
- Is that them?
- I can't tell.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What's going on?
- "I need your help." "Help."
For almost a decade,
"Catfish" has brought desperate hopefuls
the answers they deserve.
- Thank you guys so much
for bringing us together.
- This time around, though,
we flipped the script.
Now I'm heading out with my cohost, Kamie.
- Who's ready to go fishing?
- We're helping people who need us the most.
Let's do it.
Only they have no idea.
- She doesn't know I reached out to you guys.
- Oh, my goodness.
- This season, we're being tipped off by friends...
- I care about him a lot. - Family...
- My brother's really in love with her.
- And even anonymous sources.
Whoa. - What?
- This is from the whistle-blower.
Ride-or-dies who will not sit back
while their loved ones get played.
- ♪ Come on and catch me now ♪
- Why can't we meet?
- Homey is getting played.
So many layers.
- 'Cause even when you don't know it...
Chill, chill, chill. - [bleep] him, man.
- Take a second. - [exhales]
- "Catfish" has your back.
[dramatic musical sting]
Should we put a sticker up? - Yes.
- I just carry these stickers with my son's face around.
- Cutie. Oh, look at his face.
He's so cute.
There's another one. Wow.
[laughter]
- They're everywhere.
Should we put one on the laptop?
- You can never have too many.
What is that? Do you see that?
- Come see casting? What's this?
- Oh, God. What does it all mean?
Hey, guys. I'm scared.
- I feel like I'm in trouble or something.
- I know. Same.
- No. We have a rare occurrence.
- A letter. - Snail mail.
- No way. - Yes, way.
It's my first since I've been here.
- This is crazy. So our first submission
to the show via snail mail.
"Hi, Nev." - And Kamie.
- Doesn't say that.
[laughter]
"I know you must get
"so many emails asking for help,
so I thought this might stand out."
- True.
- "I really need your help with my friend Danielle.
- ♪ Tell myself I got you ♪
- "She recently relocated from Buffalo to Atlanta
"for a fresh start,
but there is a big part of her past she's not letting go."
- ♪ Oh, why'd you leave me hanging? ♪
- "She has this guy, BJ,
"that she's been in contact with for six years,
"but they still haven't met face-to-face or video-chatted.
"Danielle has made several visits
"to South Carolina to see him,
and every time she gets there, he cancels and goes."
- ♪ Why'd you leave me hanging? ♪
♪ I know you know it's cruel, oh ♪
- "I've done all I can do to encourage her to let BJ go
"but she won't listen to me.
"My friend really needs your help
"so she can move on from the situation.
Sincerely, Domanique."
- ♪ Now I need to know what you think ♪
- All right, well, anyone have a piece of paper?
Let's write her back. - Oh, my God.
- Dear Domanique.
Sorry to hear.
I'm not sure there's anything I can do.
- What? - Please take this sticker
of my son as consolation.
XOXO.
- Don't put my name on it. [laughter]
- All right, here goes nothing.
[laughter]
- I was hoping it would land right in the trash.
- She put her handle on there.
- Perf.
- So let's call Domanique.
[computer chiming]
- Hey. - Hey, what's up?
- Look at that skin. Wow.
- Look at that smile. - Just glistening.
How are you?
- I'm fine. How are you guys?
- Great. My eyes are a little tired...
from reading this letter you sent in.
- I went old-school on you. - You did.
So you live in Atlanta?
- Yes, sir. - So tell us about Danielle,
and when did she decide she wanted to move down to Atlanta?
- Well, she wanted to move
to South Carolina with this guy BJ,
but they've never met in person.
So that's like a huge jump.
- Yeah. - I told her that I'm probably
gonna try to get her some assistance with this.
- Where is Danielle now?
- She might be at work.
I could try to bring her in.
- Yeah, I mean, obviously we want to talk to her.
Does she know you reached out?
- Yes, sir.
[computer chiming]
- Oh, hey. Surprise.
- Oh, shoot. - Surprise.
- [laughs]
- Hi. - What's up?
Don't think Domanique won't call "Catfish."
- I mean she said she was gonna do it,
but I didn't really take her seriously.
- Look at this. Your girl sent a letter
all the way to California
'cause she was worried about you.
- Oh, shoot.
- So Domanique was just giving us
a quick history of your relationship with BJ.
What's his deal?
Like, just tell us a little bit about him.
- Well, he lives in South Carolina
and he has a security business
and he has, like, a chain of laundromats.
- Nice. How did you meet?
- I met BJ on Instagram in 2014.
- Wow, you guys have been talking for six years.
- Yes, a long time.
- I would say we were friends.
I was busy talking to people at home,
but me and BJ got
a lot more serious around the time
I was going through some, like, serious medical issues.
He was there for me
through some very, very traumatizing things.
I mean, we talk a lot.
I even went as far as, like, going to see him three times,
but every time I would get on a plane
and go down there, he would disappear on me.
- You flew down there three times?
- Three times.
- What do you say to him
when he stands you up like that?
- You don't really want to know what I say.
- I do.
- He smoothes it over eventually.
- I don't know how.
- I'm at the point, like, I've invested time
in this with him,
and I need answers because this has gone on for too long.
- I think it's time for closure
so you have to get to the bottom of this
and find out what exactly is going on.
- My Spidey senses are tingling.
- Yeah. I guess we gotta go to Atlanta.
- Can I come to you guys?
- Oh, you trying to get a break.
- Yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Need a little vacation. Okay.
- You should come to L.A.
That's great. - Yes.
- So Domanique, thank you for literally writing in--
- Yeah. - On behalf of your friend.
Danielle, you're in good hands now, okay?
- See you in L.A.
- Bye. Thanks, Domanique.
- Thank you.
- She's trippin'. Three trips?
- That's bananas.
This guy's got something he's hiding.
- Something is up.
- All right, so Danielle is on her way.
[upbeat music]
On our way to pick up Danielle.
- There she is.
Hey, sis.
- Hi. - Welcome to L.A.
I'm Kamie. Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you. - Here, let me take that.
Look, you flew somewhere and people met you.
Isn't that nice how that happens?
- That is normally how it works, isn't it?
- We rented a little house for you.
♪ ♪
- How do you feel about Domanique writing in?
- She thinks I'm crazy.
But if it gets the job done, I'm not gonna be upset.
- And there it is. Nice.
♪ ♪
Cute. Have a seat.
All right, So give us the full story
from the beginning, with all the ups and downs.
- So, I met BJ on Instagram in 2014.
From there, we exchanged phone numbers
and we were talking on the phone and texting.
We were very flirty,
but I was busy talking to people at home.
But whenever I stopped talking to the person
that I was talking to,
it always went back to talking to BJ.
Me and BJ got back in contact
and we exchanged numbers all over again
because he told me he changed his phone number.
That was around the time I was at a party.
Next thing I know, the building was shot up
and I was shot multiple times.
One through my stomach.
One in my shoulder. One in my collarbone.
- My God.
- It was, like, two inches away
from the main artery in my neck,
and two inches away from my heart.
- [exhales]
That's horrible.
I can't even imagine something like that.
- When was that?
- In couple of days, it'll be two years.
It was very hard. It was a long process.
But BJ was there for me,
and, like, he would answer my phone call
whether it was 4:00 in the morning
or 4:00 in the afternoon.
He really was keeping me afloat
while I was going through such a traumatic time
because I didn't have anybody else to talk to.
As I got better, we had spoken about,
you know, meeting up and everything.
So I decided to fly down there,
but when I got there,
he stopped answering the phone.
- Were you pissed? I would be like--
- I was--I was mad, but I was worried.
- Yeah. - The first time,
for somebody to do that
and to offer to let you stay with them and everything,
I'm thinking something is wrong.
I went back home.
I contacted him, and he told me
he got called away to work in Vegas.
- Couldn't just text you? - Yeah.
- I was livid, but I was also--
at that point, I'm like, okay,
maybe it was some type of emergency.
He didn't think about it. I wouldn't do that.
That's not the type of person I am.
But it is what it is.
- Okay.
- The next time that I tried that to meet up with him,
he was in Atlanta, and I was going to Atlanta.
I already had plans from Buffalo.
So I'm like, perfect. I get to Atlanta.
Completely disappears.
- What was his excuse that time?
- He got caught up. He just didn't have any excuse.
- "I'm sorry. I got busy"?
- He got busy.
- Oh that would have set me the [bleep] off.
- But then even I tried to video-chat with him
and he told me, like, oh his camera doesn't work.
- This is still a thing people are saying.
- No, listen, I stopped talking to him
and then I started dating somebody back at home.
- Oh. Okay, good.
- That ended and it was like,
he had a radar or something.
Slide back in the DMs,
let me start liking her pictures again.
- They always do, child.
It's like they have Spidey senses.
They just know. - That's what I'm saying.
- How does he keep winning you back?
- I've had--I had a rough couple of years
and he was there for me.
At this point, like, I have to meet him.
- Let's see this guy.
[dramatic music]
- Oh, he's cute. - Isn't he?
He's handsome. - Yeah.
- Well, he's got the cash.
Far from broke.
Oh, wait. Unit Security.
"Book the team now."
Wait, look, he's even got, like,
a shirt with a company logo on it.
- So it looks like maybe they do--
'cause this looks like an event thing.
- Private security. - Yeah, event stuff.
- So maybe he does get hired.
- To like places, yeah. - To, like--right.
There's no reason to just ghost.
- No.
- But there might be some truth.
- To what he's saying.
- If I find out that he lied,
anything that I have asked him about specifically,
kids... - Mm-hmm.
- A wife... - Mm-hmm.
- That's a deal breaker.
- All right, so look, let us do some research.
Send us the info that you have for him,
and we'll see what we can find out.
All right.
- This is gonna be good. - Have a good night.
- Good to meet you.
See you tomorrow.
- Oh, boy.
Honestly, I'm torn here.
On one hand, my gut always just tells me
it's just not this guy.
But at least on his Instagram,
this guy seems kind of believable.
- Yeah. He has the photos back it up.
- But then what's his problem?
- He's got a family.
- And he's having a secret life
and flirting with lots of girls.
Possible.
Either he's just not that into her,
or he's keeping a huge secret.
[dramatic music]
[upbeat music] - [grunts]
- If you'd like to set your own background lights, you can--
- Oh. - Is that what this is?
- Yours is that one. - Ooh!
- Look how cute. I'm a pink mode.
- Why aren't I getting green?
- [gasps] It's Christmas! - I think mine is broken.
- That's cute. - All right.
We've got Danielle and BJ.
- Mm-hmm. - Friends for years.
Always sort of flirty, but she lived in Buffalo,
he lived in South Carolina.
Then two years ago, Danielle goes to a party.
Gets shot. Almost dies.
- That story is still-- I can't even imagine.
- This guy's there for her.
They get very close.
She starts to have real feelings for him.
And they start talking about finally meeting up.
But she gets ghosted multiple times.
He always had some excuse. - Of course.
- He would always smooth things over
and win her back.
"Dear Nev and Kamie, thanks for bringing me here
"and helping me figure this situation out.
"Here's the information I have. His name is BJ Gibbs."
So she does have his last name.
"BJ is short for Bilal. Here's his Insta.
"He says he has no other social media.
"He owns a chain of laundromats and also a security company.
"His original phone number was 414.
"When we linked back up, his number had changed
to an 803 number."
Oh, and here are some photos.
All right. Should we image search him?
- Yes.
- All right, so that picture, we didn't get any hits.
Let's try another pic.
[suspenseful music]
There's no match there.
Okay. So no hits on those.
Let's go to his Instagram.
I just want to find someone--
- Who knows him. - Right.
Like there's just so few comments.
- Yeah. - So there's this picture
of him with his security posse.
Who's this guy?
- Osha...Juan.
- So I guess this is a friend of his.
- Yeah. - All right, let's message him.
This is Nev from the MTV show "Catfish."
Can you please contact me at your earliest convenience?
[phone whooshes] All right.
She says the only social media he has Instagram,
but just to be sure, let's look him up on Facebook.
♪ ♪
Oh! - [gasps]
- Facebook profile.
- She said he didn't have Facebook.
- Boom.
This was recently. He posted two days ago.
Why is he hiding this Facebook page from Danielle?
He's got friends.
No, I can't see his friends.
Let's run some phone numbers.
Start with his old phone number.
- Hollywood, Florida? - Okay. Interesting.
And there's one other number.
His most recent phone number.
Bing, bang, boom.
- Bilal Gibbs!
- Bilal Gibbs is real.
He says his name is Bilal Gibbs.
His phone number is registered to Bilal Gibbs.
That's a good sign.
- That's a good sign,
Which means what is going on everywhere else?
- Right. - What's the problem?
- What Gibbs? - Exactly.
When things start to look good, it usually means it's bad.
- It's almost weirder... - Mm-hmm.
- That it looks like he really is this guy.
- There's something that is keeping him from meeting her.
Thank God Domanique wrote in
'cause clearly something is going on.
[ringtone chiming] - What? Oh, oh!
- Who's that?
- This is someone from Columbia, South Carolina.
- Answer it, answer it.
- Hello? - Hello.
- Yeah, hey, is this Osha?
- Oshajuan. - Oshajuan.
Thanks for calling me back.
We were just trying to find a little bit more out about BJ
and you obviously seem like, you know, you must know him.
- We're just a little confused because he's had a friend,
Danielle, that he met on Instagram
a while back and she wanted to meet up with him
and he was sort of disappeared on her.
- That's interesting.
Want to make sure that the phone number
she has for him is the same phone number you have.
So--
- Can I just tell you the number we have and if--
- No, you don't have to give his number out
if we already have it.
- I mean, yeah, we can also call it.
I mean, it's fine. We're gonna get there.
I was just curious.
The last thing, does BJ have a girlfriend now?
- All right, well, this has been good.
- Bye. [phone beeps]
Who is this guy?
Is this Barack Obama we're trying to find?
Yes or no. Is the number his?
Yes or no? What is the problem?
- I don't know why. That was weird.
- Why is he being so weird?
Why is his friend being so weird?
- There's always the possibility
that someone else was using his Instagram,
messaged her,
and then gave them a different phone number,
and somehow registered to his name.
Or it's just him,
but I cannot for the life of me figure out
why he won't meet her.
- I just don't want to give her false hope
because something about the situation is off.
- I think we should go check in with Danielle,
and then call this guy.
Just do it.
[dramatic music]
[phone chimes] - Oh.
Text from a 803 number.
They said, "I know who Danielle is really talking to.
Call me."
- Whoa.
Who is that? - I don't know.
- All right, well, call them.
[line trilling]
- Hi. Who is this?
- This is BJ?
- Who is this?
This is BJ?
- Oshajuan?
Yeah.
- We searched the number and it came up as Bilal Gibbs.
- So wait, do you know who Danielle is?
- So okay.
So you think there's a chance
your brother might be talking to her now?
- Oh, you-- - You know?
- Oh, boy.
- Oh, God. - Wait.
So you were talking to her for a long time?
- So you weren't talking to her after she got shot.
Oh, so you don't even know about all that?
- Okay, so how did your brother get her number?
- Right.
- Ah, okay.
- So were you not pissed off with him
that he was basically talking to your girl?
- Wow. How old is he?
- So he's in, like, his 30s.
- Are you both in South Carolina?
And do you know how he feels about Danielle?
- Wow. But you're not.
- Are you still interested in Danielle?
- Right. Is it cool if we call you back
if we need to ask you something?
- Okay, so the number Danielle has is your brother's number.
And what's his name?
Devon?
All right, so I guess we'll just have to talk to him now.
- We appreciate you calling.
- All right, thanks, BJ. - Thanks.
- Oh, man.
- That's so [bleep] up.
- That explains everything
because the "real" BJ's not gonna meet up with her
when she's in South Carolina.
He can't, not only because
he'd have to explain that he's not his little brother,
but he is married with kids.
- There's a black cat walking by.
This is not a good situation right now.
You can't make that [bleep] up.
- [meows] - That is scary.
- All right, let's go talk to Danielle.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Hello. - Hey, what's up?
- How are you? - I'm doing all right.
- Good to see you.
- So we've got some news.
But I'm gonna be straight up with you.
We found out some crazy [bleep].
- Okay.
- All right, so the Instagram page,
there's really not that much on there.
But we saw this guy, Oshajuan, who commented.
- Okay. - Okay.
So I DMed him, just like, "Hey, we want to talk."
Then we did a Facebook search--
- Okay. - For BJ Gibbs.
- He's not on Facebook.
- Well, we did a Facebook search for him
and found a Facebook page.
- Okay.
- So if anything, kind of just confirms
that his name is BJ Gibbs
and this is-- he's the guy in the pictures,
or he's got fake accounts, but he definitely uses this.
It does mention Unit Security. - Wow.
- So then, the phone number that you have for him.
- Mm-hmm. - We searched.
And sure enough, it comes registered up as Bilal Gibbs.
- Okay. - So we thought this is good.
I mean that doesn't usually happen.
Usually if it comes up with anything,
it's some weird different name. - Okay.
- And it says Columbia, South Carolina.
- Which is where he says he lives.
- Okay.
- So that points to him being him.
It's very rare that we find a lot of evidence
that proves the person is exactly who they say they are.
- Right.
- And that's when we got a text,
literally driving over here.
And it just said, "I know who BJ is," right, or something?
- "I know who Danielle is really talking to.
Call me."
- So we called.
And it's BJ.
And he says, "Hey, my friend called me
"because he said 'Catfish' called asking about me
"and I know who Danielle is talking to.
It's my brother."
- [laughs] What?
- So this is what he explained to us.
He knows who you are
because when you first started talking to him,
it was him on his Instagram,
and you were texting and talking to him for years,
but then he says you guys sort of stopped talking.
I guess it was some time before you got shot,
and apparently his older brother,
who's I guess in his early 30s,
they share Internet passwords and I guess
he went on BJ's Instagram and saw you
and took over and started talking to you
as BJ without BJ knowing
'cause BJ called him and was like, "What's going on?
Have you been talking to Danielle?"
And his brother "confessed" that for the last two years,
it's been him talking to you.
- And the reason that the phone number you have
comes up as Bilal is because he has a family plan
that his brother is on with him.
His brothers real name is--
- Devon. - Devon.
- He's married with kids.
- Oh, Lord have mercy.
- But if it's his brother, don't you think
you would have noticed, like, a different voice?
- I know I'm not crazy enough
that I've been talking to somebody I did not know.
- Yeah.
- How do we know whoever we just spoke to
is telling the truth? - True.
- Ever mentioned a brother?
- [stammers]
I don't remember him mentioning a brother.
I really don't.
- Let's just look up Devon and see if he's a real person.
♪ ♪
Devon Gibbs.
- Devon Gibbs in South Carolina.
- Looks like he's a real person.
- Oh, my gosh.
I just can't-- I just can't believe
that I've been talking to his brother.
- Well, in the last few years, have you had any interaction
with BJ through Instagram?
- Yeah. - Let's just see.
You guys have been talking on here a lot.
And this is all very current.
- But Oshajuan did tell us that BJ is more active on Facebook
than he is on Instagram.
So maybe that's how his brother has basically been able
to take over the whole entire page.
- Right. I think whoever we spoke on the phone
gave us a piece of the truth, maybe.
I mean there's a chance that it's only been BJ
the whole time and he just made up
the whole brother thing.
- It's got to be some type of explanation.
This is--this is a joke.
It's got to be a joke.
I don't know why somebody would do that.
- ♪ All the hands ♪
♪ I've made ♪
- I'm mad.
- ♪ So take it all ♪
♪ I want to be out of control ♪
- It's a sick game.
- ♪ Only you know what to do ♪
- If it's Devon that you have been talking to,
not BJ,
are you willing to let that relationship go?
- Like everything that was in my mind
about this person being there for me
while I was in my worst position and everything,
that's out the window. It actually seems sick.
Like, that's a sick game to play with a sick person.
I got to let it go,
but I have to find out why they did it.
- I just want someone to tell us
what the hell's going on.
So I think we should just call the number you have, Devon.
[line trilling]
- Please leave your message for--
- I mean, I can just text, right?
Should I just say, "Hey, Devon, this is Nev from 'Catfish'?
"Need to speak with you regarding Danielle.
Thank you."
Boom. We could try calling back
the real BJ who called us.
Let's see if he answers.
[dramatic music]
- I'm sorry, but the person you called--
- Please give me a call when you can.
Want to ask you a quick question
and see if you would want to come to L.A.
to clear this up?
All right, hopefully tomorrow, we'll have something to pursue.
- Okay. See you tomorrow. - All right, later.
[dramatic music]
- I mean it's hard to say which one is better.
Is it better if Devon is real
and has this whole entire family
and this whole other life?
Or is it better if it's BJ
and he's just been playing her this entire time?
- I'm not feeling particularly optimistic
that we're gonna hear back from anybody.
Could this just be a dead end?
♪ ♪
[ringtone chiming]
Hello?
- Yeah, hey. BJ?
What's up, man?
- Right.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- Like if we booked you guys on a flight right now,
could you fly out to, like,
first thing tomorrow morning?
All right, great.
So I look forward to meeting you tomorrow.
- All right, cool. Thanks, man.
- Bye. Wow. All right.
We'll get both brothers.
So BJ called me and long story short,
he said they'll both fly to L.A.
- BJ and Devon? - The brothers.
- Did we tell Danielle?
- Let's call her.
[line trilling]
- Good morning, Danielle. Hi.
I spoke to BJ.
He and his brother do want to meet up with you.
So they're arriving in Los Angeles soon.
- Hang tight.
We'll be over there in a minute.
- All right. - Okay.
So I'm going to text him, and see if he's here.
Did you make it to L.A.?
- They just said, "Landed. What's the address?"
- Make him come to us, I guess. Right?
[dramatic music]
- All right. - Let's do this.
- Oh, wow. What's wrong?
- Aggravated. - But you look cute.
- Thank you. Come on in.
I'm pissed.
No matter what it is,
it's [bleep] up.
- Yeah. - True.
- You haven't heard anything, though?
- No.
- Apparently, there are two people coming to meet us.
[cell phone chimes] Oh.
They're almost here.
Should we wait for them out front?
- Ooh, Lord.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- I don't think this is...
- I don't think so.
- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. - Oh.
- Is that an Uber?
This looks like they're stopping here.
- My heart...
♪ ♪
Ooh, I'm nervous.
- Is that them?
- I can't tell.
♪ ♪
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[dramatic music]
- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
- Is that an Uber?
This looks like they're stopping here.
Is that them?
- I can't tell.
♪ ♪
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
♪ ♪
- That's him.
- Is that--that is him.
- What's going on, man? - What's going on?
- Hi.
- Solo?
- Solo. - Oh, okay.
- What's up? - What's going on?
- BJ. - Yeah.
- Right. So that's you.
- Kamie. Nice to meet you.
- So obviously you know Danielle.
- Yeah.
- I thought-- when we spoke yesterday,
you mentioned you were gonna maybe come with...
- Yeah, I couldn't-- - Devon.
- Yeah.
- So he decided not to come.
- Right.
- Okay. Well, we're all ears.
We're very eager to find out
what's been going on here, and kind of--
- Yeah, like, last two years, it hasn't been me.
I tell my brother everything.
So he went through my social media and all that,
and, like, he started talking to her.
So I wanted to just clear it up, you know?
- I'm just curious, like, do you log into his Instagram?
- No, it's like, my phone is already on,
like, my--it's already logged in,
so he on my phone, and something like that,
and, like, he'll go through it.
Go through here. Go through here.
Like, I didn't. I didn't-- I wouldn't question him.
- So why is your brother and not stepping up
to the plate and saying that it was him--
- Because-- - This whole time.
- Yeah, I don't know. Like when I was talking,
when I talked to him, he wasn't upfront.
Like he wanted to say "Bro, I want nothing to do with this.
"I don't know-- yeah, I did it,
"but I don't want to go out there.
I got a whole family and all that."
- But did he think about that when he was talking to her
for the past 2 1/2 years?
- I don't know, 'cause I just found out last-minute.
- But people are gonna find out
about this either way, right?
And he's gonna be in trouble anyway.
- Yeah. - I don't believe this.
I don't believe it.
This isn't true. Like this is who I've been talking to.
Like you sound like yourself.
- We sound alike.
- I don't--I don't--
I don't believe you.
If that's the case, call him and show.
- He won't answer.
He don't want--like,
I tried to get him to come here and clear my name.
You know? So he--
he wouldn't do it.
I'm like, "Damn, bro, come on and clear my name, bro.
What you got going on?"
- Right. - So I don't care how he feel.
He might see it. They might see it.
I mean, I want to clear my name.
- I don't want to do this anymore.
♪ ♪
- You understand the situation is strange.
- Right.
- Don't you think it's kind of [bleep] up
that your brother would see you had a relationship with a girl
and that he would then go behind your back and sneak
and get her to start messaging him.
- Very malicious. Yes.
- That just feels weird to me, like why?
- I don't know. I don't know.
♪ ♪
- I don't-- I don't believe this.
I don't believe it.
I don't want to talk to him no more if he gonna sit there
and lie dead in my face.
Something else is going on and I don't have to put up with it.
I don't have to put up with this [bleep].
That's what I don't have to do.
- So you think it was him the whole time.
- I think it was him the whole time.
- I know you haven't had any interaction with her.
- My first time meeting her.
- In a while, right, in a few years.
But like, do you still feel
like any kind of like, friendship with her?
Do you feel any connection to her connection?
- Yeah. I mean I feel a connection,
and I came here to clear things up.
- You were right to say
"if you have a brother, then call him."
He might not answer our phone calls,
but why would he not answer his brother phone calls?
- If he's not gonna call his brother,
I don't want to say nothing to him.
- Let's get him to call him. That's the least he can do.
♪ ♪
- You never lied. - Right.
- About anything, right?
You were friends with her from Instagram
and then you stopped talking and then that was it for you.
- There's something else. - What do you mean?
♪ ♪
- I don't have to put up with this [bleep].
Does not make [bleep] sense.
- What's this something else?
- Something is not right.
♪ ♪
- Why don't you just tell us what's going on?
♪ ♪
- Something is not right.
- Why don't you just tell us what's going on?
♪ ♪
- Um...
- Basically, yesterday,
so I kind of like, I kind of panicked, you feel me?
I panicked.
To give me leeway.
Give me leeway to take
the pressure off me, you know what I'm sayin'?
- Wow. This is now a whole new story.
- Yeah. - So not what you just said.
To be clear,
the only person Danielle has been talking to you
the whole time has been you.
- Yes. - Okay.
- Do you have a brother? - I have a brother, yeah.
- But he has nothing to do with this.
- Nah, he ain't got nothing to do with it.
- And he's married. - Yeah, that's true.
- With kids. - Right.
- And you threw him under the bus.
- Why would you even play like that?
- I panicked.
And I ain't want to have a confrontation.
- So the real reason that you encouraged her
to come to South Carolina
and then decided not to meet her was just because what?
You were nervous?
- I wanted you to come.
But I never was gonna go through with it.
- [laughs] Yeah.
- I wasn't in a place for you to come.
- Why?
- I didn't have those things to show,
you know what I'm saying?
So that's a big lie.
I got the security business. That's mine.
But the laundromat thing, I said that to keep her around.
- Wait. Wait. Wait.
What made you think that that would be something
that would have been a big deal?
- Danielle, were you particularly interested
in his money or something?
- No. - I feel like if I lied
and said I had those things
that she would be still fond of me.
Felt bad...
- But not bad enough to show up.
- Couldn't you have at least have sent a text that said
"Oh, [bleep]. I just got called on a job,"
like, just keep-- just to let her know.
So she doesn't fly all the way down there?
- Like you didn't realize that you didn't have it together
before I came down there?
- It's not that I have it together,
you know what I'm saying, I'm just an average joe.
You feel me?
I'm coming, you know what I'm saying.
It ain't like I have it together.
It's that everything I told you, that wasn't it.
And once you see that,
you'll be turned off, you know what I'm saying?
- I don't understand why you lied.
You didn't even have to make it
seem like it was something else.
- I feel like I did.
♪ ♪
- I just really want to lay it all out there.
What's true and what things have--
aren't true that she doesn't know are lies.
Can you kind of just clear the air a little?
- Everything is a lie. You're a liar.
- Everything is not a lie.
Me living an extravagant lifestyle.
Traveling and all that. That's lie.
Everything else, how I feel, that's not a lie.
I said things to keep you around.
- Bro, I don't even have all the things
that you're trying to tell me that you have.
- Were you just waiting for the right opportunity
until the business grew and you had all these things?
- Yeah, I didn't want to meet like this.
♪ ♪
- Why not FaceTime her?
- Yeah, why couldn't you FaceTime?
- Because I feel like she's gonna see my lifestyle.
- Yeah, but you could have just been at [bleep]
Burger King having lunch.
- Sometimes I'd say
I'm out of town when I'm really not out of town.
She'd try to FaceTime me.
I wouldn't do it.
- He's the [bleep] up thing.
Like, the truth isn't even that bad.
Like the fact that you embellished your lifestyle
a little bit,
pretty insignificant in the big picture of things.
What's really [bleep] up
is that you wasted her emotional time and energy.
- I know, but I'm here to come clear.
I'm here to let you know that I'm coming clean.
You know what I'm saying? I want to go forward.
- [laughs] Forward how?
- I want to hopefully keep our relationship.
- You want me to go ahead and let go of everything?
I don't know what you told me is true.
- That's--that was the biggest lie.
Everything else I told you is true.
I don't have no kids. I mean, I'm single.
I'm a bachelor. That's the truth.
♪ ♪
- It didn't have to be like this.
You could have told me eventually.
You could have even phased it out.
- I'm telling you now.
- Thank you.
- Do you love her?
- I got love for her.
I only did what I did, like looking out,
being there when she got shot.
That's love.
♪ ♪
- Ooh, um...
♪ ♪
- You guys just want to talk?
- Yeah. Yeah.
I do.
- All right, yeah, why don't we go inside.
You guys can sit down
and we can just let you guys talk for a minute.
♪ ♪
Okay, you can sit over there.
Why don't you guys just take a minute
now that, now that all that stuff is aired out
and we'll just be outside.
♪ ♪
- I can't believe this.
- Face to face. It's crazy.
- I just don't understand me flying there.
Like you didn't think about the fact that that cost money.
- Yeah.
I understand that.
And I apologize for wasting your time.
I care about you. Obviously, you got to see that.
I know the lies are bad, but...
You know I do.
It's still me.
The feeling never changed.
I know you mad at me.
But if you feel like we could be friends like that?
You know, be cool.
♪ ♪
- It's kind of hard to stay mad at somebody
that has been such a good friend.
Right now, I'm gonna say yes,
but I might change my mind.
♪ ♪
[upbeat music]
- Hey. - Hey!
- Wow! - Look at this hair.
You lookin' real fresh, sis.
- We're all dying to know.
Did you keep talking to BJ? What's the deal?
- I mean we talked a few times.
I tried to be cool about stuff
but it's kind of hard for me to let it go.
- Well are you talking to anybody new?
- No, I just been doing my thing.
Just like, enjoying life.
- Do you, sis.
- Nice to talk to you and good luck.
- Thank you. - Bye.
- Bye. - Later. Bye.
[ringtone chiming]
- Hey! - BJ!
- What's up?
- How you doing? - Good.
We just spoke to Danielle. We're just trying to find out
you know, what's going on with you guys.
- Not too much.
- Mm-mm. - All right, well there,
you said it, man.
- What ever happened with your brother, Devon?
You know what I'm saying?
- I'm just hoping his wife
was along for the laugh.
I hope she thought it was funny.
- Anyway, glad to hear things are going well.
- Appreciate y'all. - Bye, BJ.
- Good luck. - Good luck.
- All right, y'all. - Later, man.
for over a year or two.
- She just got the purest soul.
Want to ask her for her hand in marriage.
- [gasps] This is madness.
There's a lot on the line now.
Nobody's here.
- Oh. I see someone. - You do?
- Someone just came down the stairs.
What the--
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- John, he's been talking to Cashay
- I was shot multiple times.
BJ was there for me.
- He's keeping a huge secret from her.
- Who is this guy?
Is this Barack Obama we're trying to find?
- "I know who Danielle is really talking to."
- Whoa.
There are two people coming to meet us.
- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
- Oh, I'm nervous.
- Is that them?
- I can't tell.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What's going on?
- "I need your help." "Help."
For almost a decade,
"Catfish" has brought desperate hopefuls
the answers they deserve.
- Thank you guys so much
for bringing us together.
- This time around, though,
we flipped the script.
Now I'm heading out with my cohost, Kamie.
- Who's ready to go fishing?
- We're helping people who need us the most.
Let's do it.
Only they have no idea.
- She doesn't know I reached out to you guys.
- Oh, my goodness.
- This season, we're being tipped off by friends...
- I care about him a lot. - Family...
- My brother's really in love with her.
- And even anonymous sources.
Whoa. - What?
- This is from the whistle-blower.
Ride-or-dies who will not sit back
while their loved ones get played.
- ♪ Come on and catch me now ♪
- Why can't we meet?
- Homey is getting played.
So many layers.
- 'Cause even when you don't know it...
Chill, chill, chill. - [bleep] him, man.
- Take a second. - [exhales]
- "Catfish" has your back.
[dramatic musical sting]
Should we put a sticker up? - Yes.
- I just carry these stickers with my son's face around.
- Cutie. Oh, look at his face.
He's so cute.
There's another one. Wow.
[laughter]
- They're everywhere.
Should we put one on the laptop?
- You can never have too many.
What is that? Do you see that?
- Come see casting? What's this?
- Oh, God. What does it all mean?
Hey, guys. I'm scared.
- I feel like I'm in trouble or something.
- I know. Same.
- No. We have a rare occurrence.
- A letter. - Snail mail.
- No way. - Yes, way.
It's my first since I've been here.
- This is crazy. So our first submission
to the show via snail mail.
"Hi, Nev." - And Kamie.
- Doesn't say that.
[laughter]
"I know you must get
"so many emails asking for help,
so I thought this might stand out."
- True.
- "I really need your help with my friend Danielle.
- ♪ Tell myself I got you ♪
- "She recently relocated from Buffalo to Atlanta
"for a fresh start,
but there is a big part of her past she's not letting go."
- ♪ Oh, why'd you leave me hanging? ♪
- "She has this guy, BJ,
"that she's been in contact with for six years,
"but they still haven't met face-to-face or video-chatted.
"Danielle has made several visits
"to South Carolina to see him,
and every time she gets there, he cancels and goes."
- ♪ Why'd you leave me hanging? ♪
♪ I know you know it's cruel, oh ♪
- "I've done all I can do to encourage her to let BJ go
"but she won't listen to me.
"My friend really needs your help
"so she can move on from the situation.
Sincerely, Domanique."
- ♪ Now I need to know what you think ♪
- All right, well, anyone have a piece of paper?
Let's write her back. - Oh, my God.
- Dear Domanique.
Sorry to hear.
I'm not sure there's anything I can do.
- What? - Please take this sticker
of my son as consolation.
XOXO.
- Don't put my name on it. [laughter]
- All right, here goes nothing.
[laughter]
- I was hoping it would land right in the trash.
- She put her handle on there.
- Perf.
- So let's call Domanique.
[computer chiming]
- Hey. - Hey, what's up?
- Look at that skin. Wow.
- Look at that smile. - Just glistening.
How are you?
- I'm fine. How are you guys?
- Great. My eyes are a little tired...
from reading this letter you sent in.
- I went old-school on you. - You did.
So you live in Atlanta?
- Yes, sir. - So tell us about Danielle,
and when did she decide she wanted to move down to Atlanta?
- Well, she wanted to move
to South Carolina with this guy BJ,
but they've never met in person.
So that's like a huge jump.
- Yeah. - I told her that I'm probably
gonna try to get her some assistance with this.
- Where is Danielle now?
- She might be at work.
I could try to bring her in.
- Yeah, I mean, obviously we want to talk to her.
Does she know you reached out?
- Yes, sir.
[computer chiming]
- Oh, hey. Surprise.
- Oh, shoot. - Surprise.
- [laughs]
- Hi. - What's up?
Don't think Domanique won't call "Catfish."
- I mean she said she was gonna do it,
but I didn't really take her seriously.
- Look at this. Your girl sent a letter
all the way to California
'cause she was worried about you.
- Oh, shoot.
- So Domanique was just giving us
a quick history of your relationship with BJ.
What's his deal?
Like, just tell us a little bit about him.
- Well, he lives in South Carolina
and he has a security business
and he has, like, a chain of laundromats.
- Nice. How did you meet?
- I met BJ on Instagram in 2014.
- Wow, you guys have been talking for six years.
- Yes, a long time.
- I would say we were friends.
I was busy talking to people at home,
but me and BJ got
a lot more serious around the time
I was going through some, like, serious medical issues.
He was there for me
through some very, very traumatizing things.
I mean, we talk a lot.
I even went as far as, like, going to see him three times,
but every time I would get on a plane
and go down there, he would disappear on me.
- You flew down there three times?
- Three times.
- What do you say to him
when he stands you up like that?
- You don't really want to know what I say.
- I do.
- He smoothes it over eventually.
- I don't know how.
- I'm at the point, like, I've invested time
in this with him,
and I need answers because this has gone on for too long.
- I think it's time for closure
so you have to get to the bottom of this
and find out what exactly is going on.
- My Spidey senses are tingling.
- Yeah. I guess we gotta go to Atlanta.
- Can I come to you guys?
- Oh, you trying to get a break.
- Yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Need a little vacation. Okay.
- You should come to L.A.
That's great. - Yes.
- So Domanique, thank you for literally writing in--
- Yeah. - On behalf of your friend.
Danielle, you're in good hands now, okay?
- See you in L.A.
- Bye. Thanks, Domanique.
- Thank you.
- She's trippin'. Three trips?
- That's bananas.
This guy's got something he's hiding.
- Something is up.
- All right, so Danielle is on her way.
[upbeat music]
On our way to pick up Danielle.
- There she is.
Hey, sis.
- Hi. - Welcome to L.A.
I'm Kamie. Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you. - Here, let me take that.
Look, you flew somewhere and people met you.
Isn't that nice how that happens?
- That is normally how it works, isn't it?
- We rented a little house for you.
♪ ♪
- How do you feel about Domanique writing in?
- She thinks I'm crazy.
But if it gets the job done, I'm not gonna be upset.
- And there it is. Nice.
♪ ♪
Cute. Have a seat.
All right, So give us the full story
from the beginning, with all the ups and downs.
- So, I met BJ on Instagram in 2014.
From there, we exchanged phone numbers
and we were talking on the phone and texting.
We were very flirty,
but I was busy talking to people at home.
But whenever I stopped talking to the person
that I was talking to,
it always went back to talking to BJ.
Me and BJ got back in contact
and we exchanged numbers all over again
because he told me he changed his phone number.
That was around the time I was at a party.
Next thing I know, the building was shot up
and I was shot multiple times.
One through my stomach.
One in my shoulder. One in my collarbone.
- My God.
- It was, like, two inches away
from the main artery in my neck,
and two inches away from my heart.
- [exhales]
That's horrible.
I can't even imagine something like that.
- When was that?
- In couple of days, it'll be two years.
It was very hard. It was a long process.
But BJ was there for me,
and, like, he would answer my phone call
whether it was 4:00 in the morning
or 4:00 in the afternoon.
He really was keeping me afloat
while I was going through such a traumatic time
because I didn't have anybody else to talk to.
As I got better, we had spoken about,
you know, meeting up and everything.
So I decided to fly down there,
but when I got there,
he stopped answering the phone.
- Were you pissed? I would be like--
- I was--I was mad, but I was worried.
- Yeah. - The first time,
for somebody to do that
and to offer to let you stay with them and everything,
I'm thinking something is wrong.
I went back home.
I contacted him, and he told me
he got called away to work in Vegas.
- Couldn't just text you? - Yeah.
- I was livid, but I was also--
at that point, I'm like, okay,
maybe it was some type of emergency.
He didn't think about it. I wouldn't do that.
That's not the type of person I am.
But it is what it is.
- Okay.
- The next time that I tried that to meet up with him,
he was in Atlanta, and I was going to Atlanta.
I already had plans from Buffalo.
So I'm like, perfect. I get to Atlanta.
Completely disappears.
- What was his excuse that time?
- He got caught up. He just didn't have any excuse.
- "I'm sorry. I got busy"?
- He got busy.
- Oh that would have set me the [bleep] off.
- But then even I tried to video-chat with him
and he told me, like, oh his camera doesn't work.
- This is still a thing people are saying.
- No, listen, I stopped talking to him
and then I started dating somebody back at home.
- Oh. Okay, good.
- That ended and it was like,
he had a radar or something.
Slide back in the DMs,
let me start liking her pictures again.
- They always do, child.
It's like they have Spidey senses.
They just know. - That's what I'm saying.
- How does he keep winning you back?
- I've had--I had a rough couple of years
and he was there for me.
At this point, like, I have to meet him.
- Let's see this guy.
[dramatic music]
- Oh, he's cute. - Isn't he?
He's handsome. - Yeah.
- Well, he's got the cash.
Far from broke.
Oh, wait. Unit Security.
"Book the team now."
Wait, look, he's even got, like,
a shirt with a company logo on it.
- So it looks like maybe they do--
'cause this looks like an event thing.
- Private security. - Yeah, event stuff.
- So maybe he does get hired.
- To like places, yeah. - To, like--right.
There's no reason to just ghost.
- No.
- But there might be some truth.
- To what he's saying.
- If I find out that he lied,
anything that I have asked him about specifically,
kids... - Mm-hmm.
- A wife... - Mm-hmm.
- That's a deal breaker.
- All right, so look, let us do some research.
Send us the info that you have for him,
and we'll see what we can find out.
All right.
- This is gonna be good. - Have a good night.
- Good to meet you.
See you tomorrow.
- Oh, boy.
Honestly, I'm torn here.
On one hand, my gut always just tells me
it's just not this guy.
But at least on his Instagram,
this guy seems kind of believable.
- Yeah. He has the photos back it up.
- But then what's his problem?
- He's got a family.
- And he's having a secret life
and flirting with lots of girls.
Possible.
Either he's just not that into her,
or he's keeping a huge secret.
[dramatic music]
[upbeat music] - [grunts]
- If you'd like to set your own background lights, you can--
- Oh. - Is that what this is?
- Yours is that one. - Ooh!
- Look how cute. I'm a pink mode.
- Why aren't I getting green?
- [gasps] It's Christmas! - I think mine is broken.
- That's cute. - All right.
We've got Danielle and BJ.
- Mm-hmm. - Friends for years.
Always sort of flirty, but she lived in Buffalo,
he lived in South Carolina.
Then two years ago, Danielle goes to a party.
Gets shot. Almost dies.
- That story is still-- I can't even imagine.
- This guy's there for her.
They get very close.
She starts to have real feelings for him.
And they start talking about finally meeting up.
But she gets ghosted multiple times.
He always had some excuse. - Of course.
- He would always smooth things over
and win her back.
"Dear Nev and Kamie, thanks for bringing me here
"and helping me figure this situation out.
"Here's the information I have. His name is BJ Gibbs."
So she does have his last name.
"BJ is short for Bilal. Here's his Insta.
"He says he has no other social media.
"He owns a chain of laundromats and also a security company.
"His original phone number was 414.
"When we linked back up, his number had changed
to an 803 number."
Oh, and here are some photos.
All right. Should we image search him?
- Yes.
- All right, so that picture, we didn't get any hits.
Let's try another pic.
[suspenseful music]
There's no match there.
Okay. So no hits on those.
Let's go to his Instagram.
I just want to find someone--
- Who knows him. - Right.
Like there's just so few comments.
- Yeah. - So there's this picture
of him with his security posse.
Who's this guy?
- Osha...Juan.
- So I guess this is a friend of his.
- Yeah. - All right, let's message him.
This is Nev from the MTV show "Catfish."
Can you please contact me at your earliest convenience?
[phone whooshes] All right.
She says the only social media he has Instagram,
but just to be sure, let's look him up on Facebook.
♪ ♪
Oh! - [gasps]
- Facebook profile.
- She said he didn't have Facebook.
- Boom.
This was recently. He posted two days ago.
Why is he hiding this Facebook page from Danielle?
He's got friends.
No, I can't see his friends.
Let's run some phone numbers.
Start with his old phone number.
- Hollywood, Florida? - Okay. Interesting.
And there's one other number.
His most recent phone number.
Bing, bang, boom.
- Bilal Gibbs!
- Bilal Gibbs is real.
He says his name is Bilal Gibbs.
His phone number is registered to Bilal Gibbs.
That's a good sign.
- That's a good sign,
Which means what is going on everywhere else?
- Right. - What's the problem?
- What Gibbs? - Exactly.
When things start to look good, it usually means it's bad.
- It's almost weirder... - Mm-hmm.
- That it looks like he really is this guy.
- There's something that is keeping him from meeting her.
Thank God Domanique wrote in
'cause clearly something is going on.
[ringtone chiming] - What? Oh, oh!
- Who's that?
- This is someone from Columbia, South Carolina.
- Answer it, answer it.
- Hello? - Hello.
- Yeah, hey, is this Osha?
- Oshajuan. - Oshajuan.
Thanks for calling me back.
We were just trying to find a little bit more out about BJ
and you obviously seem like, you know, you must know him.
- We're just a little confused because he's had a friend,
Danielle, that he met on Instagram
a while back and she wanted to meet up with him
and he was sort of disappeared on her.
- That's interesting.
Want to make sure that the phone number
she has for him is the same phone number you have.
So--
- Can I just tell you the number we have and if--
- No, you don't have to give his number out
if we already have it.
- I mean, yeah, we can also call it.
I mean, it's fine. We're gonna get there.
I was just curious.
The last thing, does BJ have a girlfriend now?
- All right, well, this has been good.
- Bye. [phone beeps]
Who is this guy?
Is this Barack Obama we're trying to find?
Yes or no. Is the number his?
Yes or no? What is the problem?
- I don't know why. That was weird.
- Why is he being so weird?
Why is his friend being so weird?
- There's always the possibility
that someone else was using his Instagram,
messaged her,
and then gave them a different phone number,
and somehow registered to his name.
Or it's just him,
but I cannot for the life of me figure out
why he won't meet her.
- I just don't want to give her false hope
because something about the situation is off.
- I think we should go check in with Danielle,
and then call this guy.
Just do it.
[dramatic music]
[phone chimes] - Oh.
Text from a 803 number.
They said, "I know who Danielle is really talking to.
Call me."
- Whoa.
Who is that? - I don't know.
- All right, well, call them.
[line trilling]
- Hi. Who is this?
- This is BJ?
- Who is this?
This is BJ?
- Oshajuan?
Yeah.
- We searched the number and it came up as Bilal Gibbs.
- So wait, do you know who Danielle is?
- So okay.
So you think there's a chance
your brother might be talking to her now?
- Oh, you-- - You know?
- Oh, boy.
- Oh, God. - Wait.
So you were talking to her for a long time?
- So you weren't talking to her after she got shot.
Oh, so you don't even know about all that?
- Okay, so how did your brother get her number?
- Right.
- Ah, okay.
- So were you not pissed off with him
that he was basically talking to your girl?
- Wow. How old is he?
- So he's in, like, his 30s.
- Are you both in South Carolina?
And do you know how he feels about Danielle?
- Wow. But you're not.
- Are you still interested in Danielle?
- Right. Is it cool if we call you back
if we need to ask you something?
- Okay, so the number Danielle has is your brother's number.
And what's his name?
Devon?
All right, so I guess we'll just have to talk to him now.
- We appreciate you calling.
- All right, thanks, BJ. - Thanks.
- Oh, man.
- That's so [bleep] up.
- That explains everything
because the "real" BJ's not gonna meet up with her
when she's in South Carolina.
He can't, not only because
he'd have to explain that he's not his little brother,
but he is married with kids.
- There's a black cat walking by.
This is not a good situation right now.
You can't make that [bleep] up.
- [meows] - That is scary.
- All right, let's go talk to Danielle.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Hello. - Hey, what's up?
- How are you? - I'm doing all right.
- Good to see you.
- So we've got some news.
But I'm gonna be straight up with you.
We found out some crazy [bleep].
- Okay.
- All right, so the Instagram page,
there's really not that much on there.
But we saw this guy, Oshajuan, who commented.
- Okay. - Okay.
So I DMed him, just like, "Hey, we want to talk."
Then we did a Facebook search--
- Okay. - For BJ Gibbs.
- He's not on Facebook.
- Well, we did a Facebook search for him
and found a Facebook page.
- Okay.
- So if anything, kind of just confirms
that his name is BJ Gibbs
and this is-- he's the guy in the pictures,
or he's got fake accounts, but he definitely uses this.
It does mention Unit Security. - Wow.
- So then, the phone number that you have for him.
- Mm-hmm. - We searched.
And sure enough, it comes registered up as Bilal Gibbs.
- Okay. - So we thought this is good.
I mean that doesn't usually happen.
Usually if it comes up with anything,
it's some weird different name. - Okay.
- And it says Columbia, South Carolina.
- Which is where he says he lives.
- Okay.
- So that points to him being him.
It's very rare that we find a lot of evidence
that proves the person is exactly who they say they are.
- Right.
- And that's when we got a text,
literally driving over here.
And it just said, "I know who BJ is," right, or something?
- "I know who Danielle is really talking to.
Call me."
- So we called.
And it's BJ.
And he says, "Hey, my friend called me
"because he said 'Catfish' called asking about me
"and I know who Danielle is talking to.
It's my brother."
- [laughs] What?
- So this is what he explained to us.
He knows who you are
because when you first started talking to him,
it was him on his Instagram,
and you were texting and talking to him for years,
but then he says you guys sort of stopped talking.
I guess it was some time before you got shot,
and apparently his older brother,
who's I guess in his early 30s,
they share Internet passwords and I guess
he went on BJ's Instagram and saw you
and took over and started talking to you
as BJ without BJ knowing
'cause BJ called him and was like, "What's going on?
Have you been talking to Danielle?"
And his brother "confessed" that for the last two years,
it's been him talking to you.
- And the reason that the phone number you have
comes up as Bilal is because he has a family plan
that his brother is on with him.
His brothers real name is--
- Devon. - Devon.
- He's married with kids.
- Oh, Lord have mercy.
- But if it's his brother, don't you think
you would have noticed, like, a different voice?
- I know I'm not crazy enough
that I've been talking to somebody I did not know.
- Yeah.
- How do we know whoever we just spoke to
is telling the truth? - True.
- Ever mentioned a brother?
- [stammers]
I don't remember him mentioning a brother.
I really don't.
- Let's just look up Devon and see if he's a real person.
♪ ♪
Devon Gibbs.
- Devon Gibbs in South Carolina.
- Looks like he's a real person.
- Oh, my gosh.
I just can't-- I just can't believe
that I've been talking to his brother.
- Well, in the last few years, have you had any interaction
with BJ through Instagram?
- Yeah. - Let's just see.
You guys have been talking on here a lot.
And this is all very current.
- But Oshajuan did tell us that BJ is more active on Facebook
than he is on Instagram.
So maybe that's how his brother has basically been able
to take over the whole entire page.
- Right. I think whoever we spoke on the phone
gave us a piece of the truth, maybe.
I mean there's a chance that it's only been BJ
the whole time and he just made up
the whole brother thing.
- It's got to be some type of explanation.
This is--this is a joke.
It's got to be a joke.
I don't know why somebody would do that.
- ♪ All the hands ♪
♪ I've made ♪
- I'm mad.
- ♪ So take it all ♪
♪ I want to be out of control ♪
- It's a sick game.
- ♪ Only you know what to do ♪
- If it's Devon that you have been talking to,
not BJ,
are you willing to let that relationship go?
- Like everything that was in my mind
about this person being there for me
while I was in my worst position and everything,
that's out the window. It actually seems sick.
Like, that's a sick game to play with a sick person.
I got to let it go,
but I have to find out why they did it.
- I just want someone to tell us
what the hell's going on.
So I think we should just call the number you have, Devon.
[line trilling]
- Please leave your message for--
- I mean, I can just text, right?
Should I just say, "Hey, Devon, this is Nev from 'Catfish'?
"Need to speak with you regarding Danielle.
Thank you."
Boom. We could try calling back
the real BJ who called us.
Let's see if he answers.
[dramatic music]
- I'm sorry, but the person you called--
- Please give me a call when you can.
Want to ask you a quick question
and see if you would want to come to L.A.
to clear this up?
All right, hopefully tomorrow, we'll have something to pursue.
- Okay. See you tomorrow. - All right, later.
[dramatic music]
- I mean it's hard to say which one is better.
Is it better if Devon is real
and has this whole entire family
and this whole other life?
Or is it better if it's BJ
and he's just been playing her this entire time?
- I'm not feeling particularly optimistic
that we're gonna hear back from anybody.
Could this just be a dead end?
♪ ♪
[ringtone chiming]
Hello?
- Yeah, hey. BJ?
What's up, man?
- Right.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- Like if we booked you guys on a flight right now,
could you fly out to, like,
first thing tomorrow morning?
All right, great.
So I look forward to meeting you tomorrow.
- All right, cool. Thanks, man.
- Bye. Wow. All right.
We'll get both brothers.
So BJ called me and long story short,
he said they'll both fly to L.A.
- BJ and Devon? - The brothers.
- Did we tell Danielle?
- Let's call her.
[line trilling]
- Good morning, Danielle. Hi.
I spoke to BJ.
He and his brother do want to meet up with you.
So they're arriving in Los Angeles soon.
- Hang tight.
We'll be over there in a minute.
- All right. - Okay.
So I'm going to text him, and see if he's here.
Did you make it to L.A.?
- They just said, "Landed. What's the address?"
- Make him come to us, I guess. Right?
[dramatic music]
- All right. - Let's do this.
- Oh, wow. What's wrong?
- Aggravated. - But you look cute.
- Thank you. Come on in.
I'm pissed.
No matter what it is,
it's [bleep] up.
- Yeah. - True.
- You haven't heard anything, though?
- No.
- Apparently, there are two people coming to meet us.
[cell phone chimes] Oh.
They're almost here.
Should we wait for them out front?
- Ooh, Lord.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- I don't think this is...
- I don't think so.
- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. - Oh.
- Is that an Uber?
This looks like they're stopping here.
- My heart...
♪ ♪
Ooh, I'm nervous.
- Is that them?
- I can't tell.
♪ ♪
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[dramatic music]
- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
- Is that an Uber?
This looks like they're stopping here.
Is that them?
- I can't tell.
♪ ♪
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
♪ ♪
- That's him.
- Is that--that is him.
- What's going on, man? - What's going on?
- Hi.
- Solo?
- Solo. - Oh, okay.
- What's up? - What's going on?
- BJ. - Yeah.
- Right. So that's you.
- Kamie. Nice to meet you.
- So obviously you know Danielle.
- Yeah.
- I thought-- when we spoke yesterday,
you mentioned you were gonna maybe come with...
- Yeah, I couldn't-- - Devon.
- Yeah.
- So he decided not to come.
- Right.
- Okay. Well, we're all ears.
We're very eager to find out
what's been going on here, and kind of--
- Yeah, like, last two years, it hasn't been me.
I tell my brother everything.
So he went through my social media and all that,
and, like, he started talking to her.
So I wanted to just clear it up, you know?
- I'm just curious, like, do you log into his Instagram?
- No, it's like, my phone is already on,
like, my--it's already logged in,
so he on my phone, and something like that,
and, like, he'll go through it.
Go through here. Go through here.
Like, I didn't. I didn't-- I wouldn't question him.
- So why is your brother and not stepping up
to the plate and saying that it was him--
- Because-- - This whole time.
- Yeah, I don't know. Like when I was talking,
when I talked to him, he wasn't upfront.
Like he wanted to say "Bro, I want nothing to do with this.
"I don't know-- yeah, I did it,
"but I don't want to go out there.
I got a whole family and all that."
- But did he think about that when he was talking to her
for the past 2 1/2 years?
- I don't know, 'cause I just found out last-minute.
- But people are gonna find out
about this either way, right?
And he's gonna be in trouble anyway.
- Yeah. - I don't believe this.
I don't believe it.
This isn't true. Like this is who I've been talking to.
Like you sound like yourself.
- We sound alike.
- I don't--I don't--
I don't believe you.
If that's the case, call him and show.
- He won't answer.
He don't want--like,
I tried to get him to come here and clear my name.
You know? So he--
he wouldn't do it.
I'm like, "Damn, bro, come on and clear my name, bro.
What you got going on?"
- Right. - So I don't care how he feel.
He might see it. They might see it.
I mean, I want to clear my name.
- I don't want to do this anymore.
♪ ♪
- You understand the situation is strange.
- Right.
- Don't you think it's kind of [bleep] up
that your brother would see you had a relationship with a girl
and that he would then go behind your back and sneak
and get her to start messaging him.
- Very malicious. Yes.
- That just feels weird to me, like why?
- I don't know. I don't know.
♪ ♪
- I don't-- I don't believe this.
I don't believe it.
I don't want to talk to him no more if he gonna sit there
and lie dead in my face.
Something else is going on and I don't have to put up with it.
I don't have to put up with this [bleep].
That's what I don't have to do.
- So you think it was him the whole time.
- I think it was him the whole time.
- I know you haven't had any interaction with her.
- My first time meeting her.
- In a while, right, in a few years.
But like, do you still feel
like any kind of like, friendship with her?
Do you feel any connection to her connection?
- Yeah. I mean I feel a connection,
and I came here to clear things up.
- You were right to say
"if you have a brother, then call him."
He might not answer our phone calls,
but why would he not answer his brother phone calls?
- If he's not gonna call his brother,
I don't want to say nothing to him.
- Let's get him to call him. That's the least he can do.
♪ ♪
- You never lied. - Right.
- About anything, right?
You were friends with her from Instagram
and then you stopped talking and then that was it for you.
- There's something else. - What do you mean?
♪ ♪
- I don't have to put up with this [bleep].
Does not make [bleep] sense.
- What's this something else?
- Something is not right.
♪ ♪
- Why don't you just tell us what's going on?
♪ ♪
- Something is not right.
- Why don't you just tell us what's going on?
♪ ♪
- Um...
- Basically, yesterday,
so I kind of like, I kind of panicked, you feel me?
I panicked.
To give me leeway.
Give me leeway to take
the pressure off me, you know what I'm sayin'?
- Wow. This is now a whole new story.
- Yeah. - So not what you just said.
To be clear,
the only person Danielle has been talking to you
the whole time has been you.
- Yes. - Okay.
- Do you have a brother? - I have a brother, yeah.
- But he has nothing to do with this.
- Nah, he ain't got nothing to do with it.
- And he's married. - Yeah, that's true.
- With kids. - Right.
- And you threw him under the bus.
- Why would you even play like that?
- I panicked.
And I ain't want to have a confrontation.
- So the real reason that you encouraged her
to come to South Carolina
and then decided not to meet her was just because what?
You were nervous?
- I wanted you to come.
But I never was gonna go through with it.
- [laughs] Yeah.
- I wasn't in a place for you to come.
- Why?
- I didn't have those things to show,
you know what I'm saying?
So that's a big lie.
I got the security business. That's mine.
But the laundromat thing, I said that to keep her around.
- Wait. Wait. Wait.
What made you think that that would be something
that would have been a big deal?
- Danielle, were you particularly interested
in his money or something?
- No. - I feel like if I lied
and said I had those things
that she would be still fond of me.
Felt bad...
- But not bad enough to show up.
- Couldn't you have at least have sent a text that said
"Oh, [bleep]. I just got called on a job,"
like, just keep-- just to let her know.
So she doesn't fly all the way down there?
- Like you didn't realize that you didn't have it together
before I came down there?
- It's not that I have it together,
you know what I'm saying, I'm just an average joe.
You feel me?
I'm coming, you know what I'm saying.
It ain't like I have it together.
It's that everything I told you, that wasn't it.
And once you see that,
you'll be turned off, you know what I'm saying?
- I don't understand why you lied.
You didn't even have to make it
seem like it was something else.
- I feel like I did.
♪ ♪
- I just really want to lay it all out there.
What's true and what things have--
aren't true that she doesn't know are lies.
Can you kind of just clear the air a little?
- Everything is a lie. You're a liar.
- Everything is not a lie.
Me living an extravagant lifestyle.
Traveling and all that. That's lie.
Everything else, how I feel, that's not a lie.
I said things to keep you around.
- Bro, I don't even have all the things
that you're trying to tell me that you have.
- Were you just waiting for the right opportunity
until the business grew and you had all these things?
- Yeah, I didn't want to meet like this.
♪ ♪
- Why not FaceTime her?
- Yeah, why couldn't you FaceTime?
- Because I feel like she's gonna see my lifestyle.
- Yeah, but you could have just been at [bleep]
Burger King having lunch.
- Sometimes I'd say
I'm out of town when I'm really not out of town.
She'd try to FaceTime me.
I wouldn't do it.
- He's the [bleep] up thing.
Like, the truth isn't even that bad.
Like the fact that you embellished your lifestyle
a little bit,
pretty insignificant in the big picture of things.
What's really [bleep] up
is that you wasted her emotional time and energy.
- I know, but I'm here to come clear.
I'm here to let you know that I'm coming clean.
You know what I'm saying? I want to go forward.
- [laughs] Forward how?
- I want to hopefully keep our relationship.
- You want me to go ahead and let go of everything?
I don't know what you told me is true.
- That's--that was the biggest lie.
Everything else I told you is true.
I don't have no kids. I mean, I'm single.
I'm a bachelor. That's the truth.
♪ ♪
- It didn't have to be like this.
You could have told me eventually.
You could have even phased it out.
- I'm telling you now.
- Thank you.
- Do you love her?
- I got love for her.
I only did what I did, like looking out,
being there when she got shot.
That's love.
♪ ♪
- Ooh, um...
♪ ♪
- You guys just want to talk?
- Yeah. Yeah.
I do.
- All right, yeah, why don't we go inside.
You guys can sit down
and we can just let you guys talk for a minute.
♪ ♪
Okay, you can sit over there.
Why don't you guys just take a minute
now that, now that all that stuff is aired out
and we'll just be outside.
♪ ♪
- I can't believe this.
- Face to face. It's crazy.
- I just don't understand me flying there.
Like you didn't think about the fact that that cost money.
- Yeah.
I understand that.
And I apologize for wasting your time.
I care about you. Obviously, you got to see that.
I know the lies are bad, but...
You know I do.
It's still me.
The feeling never changed.
I know you mad at me.
But if you feel like we could be friends like that?
You know, be cool.
♪ ♪
- It's kind of hard to stay mad at somebody
that has been such a good friend.
Right now, I'm gonna say yes,
but I might change my mind.
♪ ♪
[upbeat music]
- Hey. - Hey!
- Wow! - Look at this hair.
You lookin' real fresh, sis.
- We're all dying to know.
Did you keep talking to BJ? What's the deal?
- I mean we talked a few times.
I tried to be cool about stuff
but it's kind of hard for me to let it go.
- Well are you talking to anybody new?
- No, I just been doing my thing.
Just like, enjoying life.
- Do you, sis.
- Nice to talk to you and good luck.
- Thank you. - Bye.
- Bye. - Later. Bye.
[ringtone chiming]
- Hey! - BJ!
- What's up?
- How you doing? - Good.
We just spoke to Danielle. We're just trying to find out
you know, what's going on with you guys.
- Not too much.
- Mm-mm. - All right, well there,
you said it, man.
- What ever happened with your brother, Devon?
You know what I'm saying?
- I'm just hoping his wife
was along for the laugh.
I hope she thought it was funny.
- Anyway, glad to hear things are going well.
- Appreciate y'all. - Bye, BJ.
- Good luck. - Good luck.
- All right, y'all. - Later, man.
for over a year or two.
- She just got the purest soul.
Want to ask her for her hand in marriage.
- [gasps] This is madness.
There's a lot on the line now.
Nobody's here.
- Oh. I see someone. - You do?
- Someone just came down the stairs.
What the--
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- John, he's been talking to Cashay