MTV's Catfish: The TV Show has been calling out Internet trolls and fakes for years, and viewers have been following along. Fans of the show have even called out catfishes of their own. Nev Schulman and his co-host, Max Joseph, were an undefeated team but Max left the show this year to focus on his filmmaking career
The show first debuted back in 2012 and it celebrated its eighth season earlier this month. When season 7 came to an end in 2018, Joseph called it quits to work on his personal career, but left on a good note with no bad blood. Since then, there have been various guest hosts, but Kamie Crawford, former Miss Teen USA, has officially been signed on as the new co-host for the show. While it hasn't been the same without the original Catfish: The TV Show duo, Crawford's humor, and adaptability are impressive.
Before Joseph made his final departure from the show, he posted a sentimental carousel of photos on Instagram with the caption, "working on the show for the last seven years had been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life." Cheatsheet reported that since 2018, he's attended a few movie premieres and has even participated in a telethon with other celebrities like Amy Schumer and Pharrell Williams. In 2019, he released a short documentary, Bookstores. This year, he announced that he's working with Monica Lewinsky on an HBO Max Documentary called 15 Minutes of Shame, which is slated to be released this year. See a post from Max Joseph below:
Since Catfish centralizes around Internet drama, transitioning to a virtual Catfish: The TV Show season was easy for the show. Schulman and Crawford started the show's eighth season off via Zoom, and this will be Catfish's first all-virtual season. MTV explains that people are online more than ever since they have to practice social distancing, so this season is just as exciting to watch as the previous ones before. Instead of the uncertain couple meeting in person with the entire show's crew, the catfish will be invited to a private zoom call with the hosts, and then BAM, the guest on the show will pop in at any moment to give a piece of their mind.
Catfish: The TV Show is getting accustomed to a new way of filming, having a new host, and mourning the loss of the bromance that was Schulman and Joseph. However, Joseph is off pursuing his dream career and Schulman is still the host of one of the very popular Catfish: The TV Show, so you might just call that a win-win.
Sources: Cheatsheet, MTV, Max Joseph