The term "catfish" simply meant a fish before 2010 when Nev Schulman's documentary became popular. After watching that movie, people knew that it meant someone who was lying about who they were while chatting with someone online or entering a virtual relationship. In 2012, MTV started airing its reality series Catfish: The TV Show with hosts Nev Schulman and Max Joseph.
Catfishing has been part of popular culture again recently as Lance Bass's assistant pretended to be him on The Circle.
Nev is paid $100,000 for each episode of Catfish, and as hosting the reality show has become his main career, fans are curious about how he feels about it. Let's take a look at what it's really like Nev Schulman to host Catfish.
The Message Of The Show
For some of season 7 and all of season 8, Nev Schulman has had different co-hosts since Max Joseph decided to leave.
When watching any episode of Catfish, Nev Schulman stays very cool and calm (in most cases), and at the end, he tries to talk to the person doing the catfishing to get to the real reason why they did so. He is always professional and polite and offers up compassion, even in the most difficult situations.
It seems like Nev can be so caring because of what he went through himself. In 2010, his documentary Catfish came out, which told the story of how he got catfished. Nev was living in NYC and working as a photographer, and he was touched when a young girl named Abby mailed him a painting that she made of one of his photos.
This led to Nev "meeting" the whole family virtually: Abby's parents Vince and Angela, along with their daughter, Megan. Nev and Megan began a virtual romance and their chemistry seemed real.
Nev noticed that some things seemed, well, fishy (no pun intended), and after driving to Michigan and finding that Megan's address was really just an empty building, Nev realized that things might be too good to be true. He then learned that he was really talking to Angela and she made everything up.
Because of this experience, it sounds like Nev wanted to make sure that Catfish: The TV Show had good message. In a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" from six years ago, he said, "The only thing that I think is relevant in the show is the stories of the people, and the choices they are making, and the issues they are dealing with."
Nev called the show "authentic" and said he is dealing with people who have gone through some tough times. He explained, "And as I understand it, compared to the majority of 'reality TV programs,' ours is far and away the most authentic and more importantly than that, we are dealing with real issues in a meaningful way. And so as far as I'm concerned, even if the whole thing was completely scripted it would be serving the same purpose. I know it's real. And I think the people who have lived these things and gone through these things know it's real. So i don't feel like I need to prove whether it's authentic or not because the issues and the emotions and the stories on the show are real and I'm seeing them."
Hosting 'Catfish' After Max
Max Joseph quit Catfish in season 7 and Nev told Hidden Remote that he had become "complacent" before that point as he was so used to doing the show.
Nev explained, "As much as I hate to admit it, Max leaving the show really helped sort of change that for me. All of a sudden, I couldn’t depend on him to back me up or take the lead in certain conversations or with certain issues that he might have been better with than me. I really had to find new ideas and new ways to explain those ideas and connect with people, and really push myself to dig deeper and grow and extend. I really enjoyed that."
Nev also said that when hosting the show, he always thinks about how these are actual people who are dealing with something. He also said that when people wonder why these couples are in online relationships for so long, it's because they remain hopeful that it will work out. He likened it to the lottery.
Nev shared that he thinks that everyone wants to meet a partner who genuinely understands them. In an interview with Marie Claire, Nev said, "The simple truth is we all want someone who likes us for us. In real life, physicality often complicates or gets in the way of forming a genuine connection. It's a traditional romantic courtship type of communication, like pen pals or love letters, which makes you feel something different, more special, than just meeting someone at the bar and make out. It's about being known. There's more romance, and it's exciting. It feels more real, not less."
Catfish fans can keep tuning in to the latest season, with new episodes coming June 1st and June 8th.