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After nine seasons of shocking discoveries and online romances gone wrong, Catfish: The TV Show has been cancelled by MTV. A Variety article published on 22 September 2025 reveals that the show is allowed to be shopped around to other networks. While that gives fans hope for more episodes, a rewatch of the show's controversial episodes might be in order in the meantime.
The premise is straightforward: Host Nev Schulman gets a call from an everyday person who suspects their online romance might be a catfish. Schulman, with co-host Max Joseph (for the first seven seasons, later replaced by other celebrity hosts), investigates the suspicious trail of clues to a grand reveal. One can obviously tell how these situations go south fairly quickly.
From an alleged actor using Catfish: The TV Show for fame to legal issues with a catfish named Kidd Cole, there is no dearth of controversy.
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Disclaimer: All opinions in this article belong to the writer. Spoilers ahead.
Artis and Jess, Lucille and Kidd Cole, and other controversial Catfish: The TV Show episodes to watch
1) Lucille and Kidd Cole
Season 3, episode 4
Nev lost his cool in one of the rare instances, so fans know this is one of the most controversial episodes on Catfish: The TV Show. Not all cons are romantic, and the relationship between Lucille and Kidd Cole is a great example. After discovering Cole's music on the internet, Lucille reached out to him to fulfill her dream of being in the music industry. She was even promised a salary of $70,000.
Things became worse when all payments got rerouted to her because Kidd Cole (whose real name is Jerez Coleman) and his "company" had created fake contracts. She approached Nev and Max after she was in debt, and when they exposed his fraud, the perpetrator showed no remorse at all.
Coleman pretended to be busy on his phone when Lucille poured her heart out to him. Nev's rage bubbled over, and he threw Coleman's phone in the river mid-conversation. To make matters more controversial on Catfish: The TV Show, Coleman got arrested a year later and imprisoned for making terrorist threats to con the authorities.
2) Artis and Jess
Season 2, episode 9
Artis was already in a relationship and a father of three kids when he connected with Jess, a supposed supermodel, online. But after hitting it off, Artis suspected that Jess might be a catfish, and this is where Nev and Max got involved. He risked losing his relationship with his girlfriend in search of the elusive Jess.
What happened was weird and shocking. Jess was a man named Justin, and came riding on his metaphorical horse to tell Artis that he was scamming him to teach him a lesson about infidelity. If his loud proclamations weren't controversial enough on Catfish: The TV Show, there were claims later that Justin was a wannabe actor and could have been on the show to gain his minutes of fame.
He also tried capitalizing on his and Artis' infamous confrontation by becoming friends with him and trying to do YouTube sketch videos, which ultimately failed.
3) Falesha and Jacqueline
Season 4, episode 13
The most controversial episodes from Catfish: The TV Show are when the perpetrators are stone-cold about their actions. That's what happened with Falesha and her identity thief, Jacqueline. Falesha's nightmares came to life when she saw that her name and photos were stolen and being used by someone else.
Nev and Max don't dig too deep before finding the catfish's true identity, AKA Tracey. The girl seemed happy to be caught. When the duo questioned her, she went on a giggly monologue about how she wanted to be someone else and was proud of her online persona.
She didn't care about the consequences, even going as far as blaming her victims if they ended up taking their own lives because of her. Her chilling personality had even seasoned catfish expert, Nev, stunned speechless.
4) Antwane & Tony
Season 3, episode 2
This reality TV show explores the darkest parts of the human psyche. One of the biggest feelings? Holding a years-long grudge. Nobody knows that better than the antagonist of one of the most controversial episodes from Catfish: The TV Show. Antwane hits it off with Tony online, and the couple "dated" for three years before Antwane's cousin Carmen realized something was fishy about the whole thing.
Nev, Max, and Antwane's cousin, Carmen, go deep into the rabbit hole to find out who Tony actually is, with Carmen's help proving invaluable at the time. Later, at the opportune moment, Carmen had her moment in the sun: She was the catfish all along. While everyone's busy picking their jaws up off the floor, she reveals that she got her revenge on Antwane because he body shamed her several years ago.
5) Paul and Caitea
Season 8, episode 32
One of the most controversial episodes from Catfish: The TV Show was close to becoming a case of pedophilia if the legal age of consent in the state of Michigan (where the event occurred) hadn't been 16. The episode starts innocently: Samantha wants Nev and Max's help in finding her fiancé Paul's first online girlfriend from several years ago.
The truth is shocking. Paul's online girlfriend, Katy, AKA Caitea, sent him explicit images and "dated" him for a while, but it turned out that the images were being used without permission by Katy's mother, Martha. She used her daughter's identity and images taken from her without consent to catfish several teenagers.
Watch Catfish: The TV Show on MTV.
