Summary

• "Whitney & Bre" revealed a surprising twist where the supposed victims were actually scheming together for a chance to meet.
• "Alfred & Adonis" featured a shocking post-reveal fight and showed how toxic relationships can lead to manipulation and deceit.
• "Lucas & Many" exposed a serial catfisher who had been manipulating multiple people, resulting in a cathartic confrontation with the victims.

The following contains mentions of murder, suicide, bullying, violence, and sexual misconduct.

The series' premise alone means it's built for drama, but the wildest Catfish episodes contain some twists that stand head and shoulders above the rest. Nev Schulman had no idea that his 2010 independent documentary Catfish would become a critical and commercial success, coining a term for something rarely talked about but was increasing within the general population thanks to the internet. Strangers tricking unwitting victims on the internet into emotional relationships was becoming a more common phenomenon as technology progressed. Schulman was the first to bring the problem out into the open.

Schulman's documentary was so successful that MTV ordered a TV series with him answering requests from those seeking to find the true identity of their online lovers. Catfish is one of the highest-rated reality shows on MTV. Each installment sees Nev and his partner, who changed in successive seasons, take on one relationship at a time as they do deep dives to uncover a catfish's identity. While these installments do occasionally reveal a truthful individual, the most shocking Catfish episodes uncovered some truly unrepentant folk, wild schemes, and a fair few outright crimes.

28 "Jen & Skylar"

Season 2, Episode 6

This episode doesn’t see the parties involved fighting in the streets, and it doesn’t see someone being catfished by the same person multiple times, which does happen in the show. The wild aspect of Jen being catfished by Skylar is in his explanation for the catfishing.

18-year-old Jen is shy and has been bullied in the past, so she finds it easier to connect with people online. She meets Skylar, supposedly a few years older than her, on a gaming site, and they hit it off. Over the course of the show’s investigation, however, it turns out that Skylar is actually a man named Bryan who has been “connecting” with multiple young women online. In his own words, he was “brushing up on his game” in the experience and didn’t have feelings for any of the young women he was catfishing.

Jen, for her part, takes everything in stride and is able to confront him about how the entire situation makes her feel. It’s not her that gets in his face and lectures him, but instead, the hosts of the show. They even tell him to never Jen again, something that they rarely do on the show, allowing the people that agree to participate in the program to make their own mistakes. It’s clear that they connected with Jen and wanted things to work out for her.

27 "Open Investigation"

Season 6, Episode 12

This intriguing episode actually involves someone catfishing two different celebrities, something that doesn’t happen often in the show. The hosts have to track down Shelley Chartier. She manages to catfish both model Paris Roxanne and NBA player Chris Andersen. Interestingly enough, she simply claims that she’s been trying to act as an intermediary between the two to get them together.

That. however, is only the tip of the iceberg in the episode. It’s also revealed that Chartier has actually catfished numerous people under a different alias. Her previous efforts have actually led to her being charged with impersonation, extortion, and fraud. She even spent a year in prison before she appeared on the show and explained that her life of crime was done. Every bit of information uncovered about Chartier made the episode a truly wild ride.

26 "Tiana & James"

Season 4, Episode 12

Tiana requests to be on Catfish because she wants to know if James is the real deal. The two have a great connection, and as she’s gotten to know him, her friend Aisha has been ive. Aisha participates in the show alongside her to her friend in case things go sideways. Neither of them were prepared for just how sideways things could go for them.

This is one of the few Catfish episodes to have a misdirect in the middle of it. The hosts actually think they’ve found an older man who has been catfishing Tiana at one point, but they aren’t wrong. Their search eventually leads them to a mechanic’s shop that just happens to be where the father of Aisha’s child works.

As it turns out James is the father of her child, and she and Tiana are completely shocked by that outcome. Aisha and Tiana’s friendship crumbled on camera as a result.

25 "Motherwolff & David"

Season 8, Episode 74

The relationship between Motherwolff and David is an interesting one by Catfish standards. That’s because many of the people who approach the show to participate have only been talking to their online partner for a year or two. These two had been talking to one another online and over the phone, off and on, for 20 years. They had never met in person though, and Motherwolff decides to ask Catfish for help.

When the show finally tracks David down, however, everyone is surprised by what they find. David is real, in a manner of speaking. David is a persona put on by Denise, and they are more than willing to continue their relationship with Motherwolff after meeting in person - in a wig and affecting a higher pitched voice to maintain the David persona. During the meeting, however, Denise also its to performing with multiple personas and doesn’t want to reveal her true personality on the show.

The follow-up did have a positive outcome. Despite the audience finding the reveal a little strange, David and Motherwolff maintain their relationship after the events of the show. The show never reveals the intricacies of the multiple personas, but maintains David/Denise’s privacy in that regard.

24 "Mike & Caroline"

Season 2, Episode 15

When Mike reaches out to Catfish because he has been having trouble getting his online girlfriend Caroline to meet him in person, he doesn’t realize that he’s already met her before. Caroline maintains that she has severe social anxiety, so every time they’ve tried to meet up, she backs out. That doesn’t stop her from coming by his work or leaving notes on his car though, which the hosts find to be odd.

What they discover is that “Caroline” has been using photos of another woman named Caroline who lives in North Carolina, not Florida, where Mike is. The fake Caroline is actually a woman named Heather who has met Mike before - when she accidentally catfished him as a woman named Claire.

Heather initially created a dating profile online to catfish a friend’s husband because her friend suspected her husband of cheating. That was Claire, who Mike had approached in the past. When he discovered the truth, however, he let her know how much she had hurt him by lying to him, and his anger upset her so much she intentionally catfished him again under another name.

This story does have a happy ending though. When the show did a follow-up with Mike over a year later, he had actually met someone new and got married. His wife had seen his story on the show and reached out to him. It’s nice to see someone featured on the show get a happy ending.

23 "Kya & Alyx"

Season 1, Episode 6

In the first season, one of the best Catfish episodes was the sixth outing, "Kya and Alyx." In this episode, the show proved that they weren't just about proving people aren't really who they seem when meeting online and destroying relationships. This was one of the wildest early episodes because it turned things on its head and showed that sometimes online love connections are real. This episode started late in the story, as Kya had already itted to Alyx that she used a fake identity to catfish him, and she wanted to meet so they could meet each other for real.

Alyx itted that they are transgender, which didn't bother Kya at all.

However, this is when the catfisher became concerned that Alyx might have also been catfishing her. She went to Nev and learned that she was right. Alyx is named Dani and wasn't using a real identity either. With that said, they met and Kya was happy anyway. Alyx itted that they are transgender, which didn't bother Kya at all. It all ended happily — until after the show when they broke up because they lived too far apart.

22 "Antoinette & Albert"

Season 3, Episode 3

The Catfish season 3 episode "Antoinette & Albert" is one that doesn't stand up as well today as it did when it was first released. This is because Nev took the time to basically insult Antoinette for how she dresses, tells her dad that she brings these things on herself by her attire, and tells her that she doesn't have to dress so scantily if she wants to find a good man. It is a terrible lesson and Nev way overstepped his boundaries here, making this a wild Catfish episode without even talking about the catfisher himself.

She wasn't being catfished and T-Lights really was who she was talking to online.

That was a man known as "Albert" and Antoinette was so happy to be hooking up with him online because he was a Florida-based rapper known as T-Lights. This really made this an episode that bucked the trend in that aspect because she wasn't being catfished and T-Lights really was who she was talking to online all this time. However, even after a date, they didn't really progress much more because Antoinette didn't want to leave her family in Texas and take the chance.

21 "Dejay, Malik & Josiah"

Season 5, Episode 13

The season 5 episode of Catfish focusing on Dejay, Malik, and Josiah was very different. This was the first love triangle to appear on the reality TV series. The first person to show up is Dejay, who is in love with Josiah. They met online seven years before, but they had never met in person or even video chatted. This raises all the red flags that Catfish fans know so well. However, this episode goes off the rails because there is a third person, who is named Malik, who is also in love with Josiah — and it's the same catfish for both guys.

This is tough because Josiah is who helped both men come out to their families.

Nev and Max meet Dejay and get all his details. Then, they go and meet Malik, and they realize the two guys are talking to the same person. When the connection is made, Josiah refuses to talk to either and blocks them on Facebook. This is tough because Josiah is the one who helped both men come out to their families. The big twist is that Josiah is who he says he is and wasn't using fake photos. However, he has a son and a boyfriend of two years and won't leave him for either Dejay or Malk.

20 "Danny & Rosa"

Season 6, Episode 3

What makes the "Danny and Rosa" episode stand out from other Catfish episodes is that it features a religious-type incident — a first for the reality TV series. In this episode, Danny met Rosa on Facebook in 2014 and fell in love with her as soon as he saw her photos. It took almost a year, but she finally responded to him and the online love affair began. However, Nev learned that Rosa was actually a guy named Jose. He did this to humiliate and hurt a woman named Natalie (the woman in the photos) because she bullied him in school.

The shocking end came when Danny agreed to talk to Jose and began to counsel him before asking him if he could pray for him. What is most ironic about this episode is that the catfisher, Jose, was catfished himself later in the same season. In that case, it was a new suitor named Jay, and, ironically, it turned out his catfisher was also named Jose. In a bit of irony, Jose was distraught that the person he was falling for was catfishing him, despite him doing the same thing to someone earlier in the season.

19 "Paul & Caitea"

Season 8, Episode 32

Not only is "Paul & Caitea" one of the best Catfish episodes, but it is also one of the most disturbing. The episode starts with Paul's fiancé, Samantha, being the one to call the show and see if they can help her. She thinks that Paul hasn't gotten over his "first love," which was a woman he met online years before while he was still a teenager. However, it turns out that his "first love" wasn't who they claimed to be, and he was the victim of an online dating scam. This was only the first layer though, and the truth was much more disturbing.

Paul was a teenager at the time, but the age of consent in Michigan is 16.

The naked photos sent to Paul by "Caitea" were of a younger girl named Katy. The person catfishing Paul and sending the photos was Katy's mother Martha, who did it without her knowledge or permission. Paul was a teenager at the time, but the age of consent in Michigan is 16, so it turns out that Martha didn't commit any real crimes, although it was still one of the most disturbing moments of the series. Katy also revealed that Martha catfished more teenage boys and Paul was just one of her victims.