(MTV)
Catfish‘s game of co-host roulette stops on Elle King this week as she and Nev help Nique find her one true Tumblr love, Alice. MTV’s description says that “Digging deep leads to more questions than answers as Nev and Elle have concerns about who Alice could be and what her true intentions are with Nique.” Spicy! Let’s get started.
TONIGHT! @CatfishMTV @NevSchulman
Nev starts by asking King to play tic-tac-toe, thereby getting an “Ex’s and Oh’s” dad joke in right off the top. So that happened.
Nique emails Nev from a small town in Texas. Her story starts with a role-playing game she posted on Tumblr that caused Alice to message her to chat. “She gets me, she makes me feel loved, she makes me feel comfortable with who I am,” wrote Nique. Alice refuses to video chat with Nique, and suffice to say, in-person visits are out of the question since Alice is supposedly traveling all the time. The two continued role-playing and soon after started breaking character to learn more about each other.
Elle gets Nique to admit that nudes were sent back and forth between her and Alice, and also, Nique says she’s in an open polyamorous relationship with a person named Pryncess.
Nev and Elle head to Houston where Nique is staying. Nique says she met Alice the year Hurricane Harvey hit when she lost her entire house. Nique admits to having a self-harm incident during a really rough year and instead of calling anyone close to her for help, she called Alice, who reminded her that it was going to get better. The call ended with Alice telling Nique she loved her. Pryncess (along with the rest of us on planet Earth) thinks it’s weird that after all this time Nique and Alice don’t even video chat.
When Nique looks Alice up on Facebook, she finds out that she’s blocked. “We’ve got quite a story on our hands,” says Nev. The two co-hosts head out to conduct their weekly research.
Nev and Elle creep on Alice’s Facebook page and their search leads them to a woman named Madi. The hosts reach out and ask if she’ll speak to them. The co-hosts head to Instagram and the photos seem legit; at the very least, they mirror the pics the duo saw on Facebook. Nev’s phone rings: it’s Madi.
Madi confirms that Alice is a model who moves back and forth from LA a lot and that yes, she does date women. But Madi says that the number she has for Alice does not match the number that Nique gave them. Alice seems to be real, but is Nique actually talking to Alice? Doubtful.
Me when I know something is about to go down! #Catfish
Aside: Someone should make a montage reel of all the stellar Elle King reaction shots that this episode is serving. King is truly delightful on this show and her enthusiasm is infectious. OK, back to this shady catfishery.
Nev and Elle rendezvous with Pryncess and Alice. Pryncess calls the situation “suspicious and weird.” Nev and Elle sit down to explain what they found to Nique, but Alice’s Instagram is GONE! “Why would she just delete her accounts all of a sudden?” asks Nev. This is why they pay him the big bucks, kids.
Nique is already having a tough time at the mere thought of Alice being a catfish. “It just feels like I don’t matter to them in their eyes…like I’m something they can just play with and that really hurts my feelings,” she says. Viewers, prepare to be gutted.
@CatfishMTV got me like
Nique is in tears. “Are you willing to put your emotional state even more on the line?” asks Nev. “I’m going to do this for me,” Nique says, wanting to move forward.
Nev gets on the phone and calls Alice, but Alice is panicked and doesn’t want to do this on TV. She tells them, “please don’t come to LA.” Alice sounds nervous and upset; Elle texts Alice hoping that she’ll get back on the phone with them. Nev, Elle, and Nique plan on heading to LA anyways. If Alice wants to meet with them, great. If not, they’ll go visit the college Nique wants to go to. (Nique has never been on a plane before or even been outside of Texas!)
When the trio lands, they get a text from Alice saying that she doesn’t want to hurt Nique and that she’ll meet them after all. “I just want answers,” says Nique. We’re with ya, girl.
They arrive at the address Alice provided them to find…Alice, in the flesh, exactly as pictured. Hmm.
Alice feels a bit hurt that Nique needed so much proof. She got incredibly anxious about the whole process, especially since Nique didn’t trust who she was. Alice says she has two separate numbers, one for people she knows in real life and another for people she knows through role play, so that explains the phone thing.
Nique is finally satisfied after meeting Alice, but could something still be wrong? #Catfish
Elle breaks it down though: even though things are as they seemed, something doesn’t feel genuine. She says even though Alice is who she said she was, she still avoided Nique for a full year. Separately, Alice tells Nev that she doesn’t have romantic feelings for Nique anymore and that’s why she didn’t want to do this whole thing on national TV. (That’s quite reasonable, actually.)
The two finally talk and Alice tells Nique that she didn’t think it was that big of a deal since Nique is in a relationship with Pryncess. Nique asks Alice if there’s a chance they could be together in the future, but Alice tells her that’s not what she’s looking for. Nique doesn’t quite hear her and tells Nev and Elle that in the future there’s a possibility of a relationship if she moves to LA.
#Awkward.
The next day, Elle and Nev pick up Nique and head back to Alice’s house to try to correct the miscommunication. Alice reiterates what she said the day before, but has to come down hard on Nique by explicitly stating that she’s not interested in a relationship. Alice says that she’s been trying to preserve Nique’s emotions and that’s why she had been distant and indirect. “I feel like our friendship is going to be stronger after this,” says Alice.
Two months later: Nique is still talking to Alice, and admits that she was sad at first, but is happy they can be real friends. Alice is happy that a trust has been established in their friendship. Nev and Elle are happy that the two are still friends, as well. In a true twist ending for Catfish, everyone is happy and it wasn’t nearly as creepy as everyone expected! How about that?