MTV Invites Viewers To Hunt Their Own ‘Catfish’

Image via Steve Angello

The catfish. Although the word once immediately brought to mind images of an unattractive bottom-dwelling fish, it’s now known in the world of pop culture as one who pretends to be someone else by posting false information online, generally for the purpose of scamming another in the name of love. MTV has turned the phenomenon into a business with the hit TV show “Catfish.

The show follows hosts Nev Shulman—who starred in the documentary of the same name—and Max Joseph around the country as they unite online love interests. Each episode begins with Schulman reading an email from someone interested in meeting an online love. Each episode reveals whether one or both parties of the relationship have been dishonest in order to “hook” the other.

Now MTV is taking the show’s premise a step further with a social media campaign and contest. The network has teamed up with DJ and producer Steve Angello—who is not affiliated with the show—to give fans the opportunity to hunt down their own “catfish.

Angello has agreed to take on the catfish role by hiding behind any one of the millions of Facebook profiles for one week. Fans have the opportunity to visit www.catchsteveangello.com, where they can answer questions about Angello and “Catfish: The TV Show” in order to unlock clues and narrow down the search for Angello’s “catfish” profile. Fans will also be able to use Facebook’s new Graph Search—the first time MTV has used the new Facebook feature in a campaign. Whoever finds Angello first will win a trip for two to meet him in Miami.

When MTV approached me about the concept for a ‘Catfish: the TV-show’ themed campaign, I was immediately on board. I’m really enamored with the power of the online world and social media. Everyone knows how difficult relationships can be, and how it’s possible to hide behind a fake profile online, so I’m intrigued to see how the campaign will play out,” Angello said.