- Bryn has been talking to Stephanie for a year.
- If somebody can stimulate my brain
and my heart just through a phone call,
I can imagine what it can be in person.
- He said she was staying at the hotel.
- [gasps] - Let's give 'em a call
and ask for Stephanie.
- Wow, when you can't go up to doors and knock on 'em,
you sure find other ways to be invasive.
- What the [bleep]?
- Whoa. - Oh, [bleep] me.
- Calling all Kamies. Calling all Kamies.
A catfish case and need you to report to Zoom ASAP.
Oh, there she is. Ready.
Hello?
[upbeat music]
- You know how long it takes
to find the damn investigator emoji?
- Did you update your phone? - I don't believe in updates.
- Ah, well, then don't complain about not having a way
to search for emojis,
'cause in the new update, you can just search.
- I'll learn about it on Twitter later.
Where are you?
- Now that I'm back in New York, luckily,
my brother and Henry
have a really cool little production office.
- The "Catfish" OGs. - Exactly. The original
"Catfish" documentary started in the office
that I shared with my brother and Henry.
So now in a weird way, it's kind of amazing
to be back in this HQ.
- Oh...
- Anyway, let's open the old email.
All right, we got an email here from Bryn.
It says, "I really want to see her."
"Hello. My name is Bryn. I'm a 23-year-old guy/
"And I'm living in South Carolina.
"I hope it's okay to tell you that I only saw the show
"for the first time a few days ago
and that I'm hoping you can help me."
Wow, a newcomer.
- I'll give you a pass, Bryn.
- "I met this girl, Stephanie from Washington
"about a year ago through a mutual friend.
"She's my age and a traveling nurse.
We talk on the phone all the time."
[line trilling]
"I'm really into her."
- ♪ Oh, it's like the stars aligned ♪
- "She's beautiful and caring
'and our phone conversations are incredible.
"I'd like to take our relationship
"to the next level.
"But she's so busy with the pandemic,
"we haven't been able to meet.
"I get that she's busy, but we also haven't video chatted,
"and I'm extremely frustrated.
"I believe that Stephanie is who she says she is,
"but I'm tired of not being able to see her.
"I know her traveling nurse life is stressful right now,
"so I'm okay waiting a little longer for a visit.
"But I hope you can help me convince her
"that a FaceTime call isn't asking too much.
"I've never felt this way about anyone before,
"and I'm desperate to finally meet her.
Thank you for your time, Bryn."
Wow. So, first of all, we get a lot of "nurses" on the show.
- A lot.
- What's better than being a nurse?
A traveling nurse - During a pandemic.
- Your work schedule's already hectic,
so it's very hard to get-- Where are you? Are you busy?
Are you gonna be able to come down?
I just got called. I got to travel to be a nurse.
This is a new one.
- Mm-hmm. - Well, let's--let's text Bryn.
See if he could tell us a bit more about this Stephanie.
- I mean, not FaceTiming. It's the most simple thing.
Searching emojis is very difficult
but hitting the FaceTime button is instantaneous.
- Oh, he wrote back. He said, "Okay, cool."
[computer chimes]
- Hey. - Hey, guys.
- What's up, Bryn? I like all your tchotchkes.
Is that your personal collection,
or are you at your family's house?
- This is my grandmother's house.
I just moved back here from Spartanburg,
like, six months ago,
and I'm still deciding on where I want to go next.
- What was going on in "Spartansburg"?
- That's where me and my ex-girlfriend moved to.
- Ooh. - Oh, wait.
So if you just moved back six months ago,
does that mean you only broke up six months ago?
- Basically. Right.
- You said you've been talking to Stephanie, like, a year.
- Yeah. - Ah.
- Ah, whatever. You're 23.
You're supposed to be figuring stuff out.
Tell us about Stephanie. Take us back to the beginning
and kind of give us the tour.
- All right. So there's this is this guy, Isaax, on TikTok
and he's always, like, my positive attitude,
and he's always uplifting me, and Isaax messaged me.
He was like, "I've got my friend
Stephanie who I think you would look good with."
So I was like, "Well, send me pictures of her."
And he sent me pictures of her.
I was like, "Yeah."
I was like, "Give her my number.
She's very attractive."
- And Isaax, you know him in person?
- No.
- Just through TikTok, and he's on my Snapchat.
- Got it.
- So I give him my number, and then when she called me,
it came up on a blocked number.
We talk.
And it was kind of, like, introducing ourselves,
you know, what we're about.
And it basically it just went from there--
us talking more regularly.
And when you got somebody to talk to that cares
about your feelings, I mean, it kind of makes you realize
what you actually deserve, you know what I mean?
- Right.
How often are you guys talking? - It really just depends.
She says she works like 12- to 16-hour shifts.
Well, I guess twice a day.
- So wait a second.
So do you even have her number at this point?
- No, it's literally a blocked number every single time.
- Do you guys text? - Never text message.
Never a FaceTime call.
- What? - She has to call you?
You can't even call her?
- Yes. - Oh, my God.
- From a blocked number every time?
- Yes, she says it's her work phone
and that's the only phone she has
and that she can't give out her work phone number.
- Oh, my God.
- So what happens if you're busy,
you get a call from no caller ID?
- I mean, I'm not gonna miss the phone call.
I only get to talk to her
when she calls me, you know what I mean?
- So you just have to drop everything.
- Basically.
- Oh, my God.
- And she says that she can't send or receive pictures
from her work phone-- I just kind of rolled with it.
- So wait. So the only pictures you've seen
are the ones that Isaax sent you?
- Correct. She said that she doesn't like social media
because it's drama.
- What 22-year-old girl doesn't have a personal phone,
a Snapchat, a Instagram?
- She's telling me that she has, like, "no friends
that she could FaceTime me off of"
or send pictures with, you know what I mean?
- Yeah.
- Like, something just kind of does not add up to me.
- So what do you know about her?
- She's 22.
She's from Moses Lake, Washington.
- Washington state, okay. - Yeah.
She grew up, not so good family life, just like I did.
My--my grandparents adopted me when I was three months old.
- Oh, wow. - Yeah.
- So Stephanie's also had some issues with her family.
So you guys obviously relate on that.
- Look, honestly, when we talk, it's really about how life
has affected us, how we can better ourselves.
I mean, she really just listens to whatever I've got to say,
and I do the same for her.
If somebody can simulate my brain and my heart,
like, just through a phone call,
I can imagine what it can be in person.
- Where would you say you're at with your feelings?
How do you feel towards her?
- I ain't never had, like, a connection
with somebody who I can just talk to.
Like, two months in, I did say, "I love you."
- Wow. - She said it back?
- Yeah. - Wow.
- So do you guys now say "I love you,"
like, when you are on the phone?
- Yeah, I really do care for her
and I want to see where things could go.
When we talk late at night,
you know, sometimes we'll get intimate.
- How intimate? - How intimate is intimate?
- That's what I'm asking you. - You know, you talk for a year
on the phone late at night,
you know, talking to the jibber jabber.
- Oh, is that what it's called? - That's what I'ma call it.
- The jibber jabber. [laughter]
- What about, like--
have you guys talked about meeting up?
- I've asked to do it, and every time it's,
"I'm working but whenever I get a month off,
we can do something."
- But you guys have been talking for a year now,
so she's got to be due, right?
- And it's not happened one time.
- I'm interested in seeing what Stephanie looks like,
because is she, like, a nurse or is she, like,
a Blink-182 cover art nurse?
- Do you still have her pictures?
- Yeah, you want to see 'em?
- Yeah, I want to see 'em. - Oh, yeah.
- Here we go. - Mm.
- Cute. She's got a little Latin flavor.
- Mm-hmm. - She's cute.
She looks like a normal, beautiful girl.
- And the voice matches how she looks.
- Now, wait a second.
What about Isaax? How does he factor into this?
'Cause aren't you still friends with him?
- Honestly, we haven't talked for the longest,
but we still have each other on social media.
- Have you ever talked to him about Stephanie
and, like, found out more?
- Not really. - Not really.
- How does he say that he knows Stephanie?
- He just said they were friends.
I really didn't get into the backstory of it.
- Is there any chance that it is Isaax?
- I would flip the hell out.
- Some guy you know through social media just wants
to set you up with this beautiful girl
but you can't FaceTime with her,
she has no social media.
- I've heard his voice, though.
- And he's talked to Stephanie on the phone,
so you would know if you're talking to a girl.
- Is there any chance that it could be your ex?
- No, their voices are different.
- All right, all right. Okay. What do you want us to do?
Because you don't even have a phone number.
- You got your work cut out for you, I know.
- I mean, I guess you have her name
and some photos, but this is a real challenge.
- I'm just really hoping
y'all can help me get to the bottom of this
so I can figure out if I need to go on with my life
or put more time into this, you know what I mean?
- For sure.
All right, so sit tight. Let us do some research.
I'm hoping that we can find something
in the next few hours, and then we'll report back,
and we'll let you know what we got.
It was a pleasure - Awestalking to you. guys.
- Thanks Bryn.
I'm sorry. The whole caller ID [bleep].
- Crazy. - What?
- But also feel like Bryn's, like, a hot guy.
He's finally starting to get to the age where he's, like,
realizing what he actually wants
is someone he can connect with who--who's caring
and listens to him.
And Stephanie is providing that.
- He's looking for more than just jibber jabber...
- [laughs] - Now.
- He's got a year of his life
and a lot invested in this girl.
We got to find something.
- All right, we got a serious situation.
Bryn was set up with Stephanie
from one of Bryn's internet friends, Isaax.
Brynn doesn't even really know Isaax,
and Isaax's setting Bryn up with Stephanie
so there's, like, three degrees
of internet intricacy here.
But long story short, now it's been a year.
Stephanie is a traveling nurse. She only has her work phone.
So she can't give that number out,
which doesn't really make sense, right?
- No.
- Clearly, there's something bogus about this girl,
because after a year of talking to this guy,
there is no excuse
why she hasn't been able to at least video chat.
- Fishy. - All right.
So let me check the email here.
"Hey, guys. All I know about Stephanie is that her name
"is Stephanie [bleep].
She's 22 and is from Moses Lake, Washington."
Well, that's a probably small area.
"Guy who introduced us
"is Isaax, and I follow him on TikToK and Snapchat.
"I hope you guys can find something out about her.
Thank you for your help." And the pictures.
All right. So what do you want to start with?
Image search? - Yes.
- All right, let's get it out of the way.
Here we go. I'm going to start with this one.
All right, so nothing there.
Blonde in this one.
No. No hits on these pictures.
- That's an old picture.
But I feel like all of these photos
are old, from the filtering that's on them.
- Right, right. - The style.
- All right. So no surprise. No hits on the pictures.
So what do we want to do?
We want to just go to Facebook and look her up?
- Yes. - All right.
Let's do a little search here for Stephanie [bleep].
And then let's do city Moses Lake, Washington.
What? Come on. Too easy. - [gasps]
- There's a Stephanie [bleep] who works at McDonald's.
- Wow. - Is that her?
- This is her. This is her. That's her smile.
- Does that look like her? - Yes.
- But this is--oh, my God.
This hasn't been used since 2013,
which feels kind of weird, right?
- Yeah. - We found an old,
defunct Facebook page, which is something.
- All right. So what are we doing?
So we have some loose leads
on a Stephanie [bleep] in Moses Lake.
So that leaves us basically with Isaax.
- I mean how far-fetched is it to think that Isaax saw Bryn,
thought Bryn was an attractive guy
and made up this girl to, like, get him interested?
- But they're talking on the phone.
Let's see if we can find this guy on Facebook.
All right. So let's look up Isaax.
We're gonna finding out a little bit more
- Oh, there he is. Number one in Moses Lake, Washington.
- You got to be kidding me.
He's from the same exact town, a tiny town.
First of all,
let's just get a sense of Moses Lake, Washington.
What are we talking about here?
Wow. I mean, they are out there.
20,000 people.
- That's very small.
- All right, so here's our guy.
He's in a relationship.
He just posted a couple days ago.
A lot of pictures of him,
but, I mean, he seems very much in love.
Very happy. So that's promising.
- Mm. Don't get ahead of yourself.
- Look, maybe they know each other in real life.
If Isaax and Stephanie are from the same small town,
then you would think that they actually know each other.
So this should be easy.
He should be able to tell us more about Stephanie.
- Yeah. - All right, I'm just
sending him this message. "Hey, Isaax.
I'm helping your friend Bryn out with his friend
Stephanie and could use your help."
All right. I mean, I don't know.
This guy seems pretty legit to me, right?
- I mean, I'm pretty sure this is his account
but I think Isaax has been shady from the beginning.
There's just something weird about it.
I just don't--how are you playing matchmaker for someone
that you barely know to someone that you might know?
- Oh, wait a second.
I got a message. - [gasps]
- Oh, he wrote back.
Although I think he thinks this is a joke.
He wrote, "Funny. Who is this? [chuckles]
It's Nev from "Catfish."
Jump in our Zoom,
and I'll prove it and explain everything.
- Don't ask any questions. Just join the Zoom.
[computer chimes]
- Oh, wait a second. It worked. Hello.
- Hey. - How's it going?
- Isaax, what's up? - Is this for real right now?
- You thought it was bull[bleep].
I know. I would, too.
- Here's what we're doing.
You introduced your internet friend
Bryn to a girl named Stephanie about a year ago.
Do you remember that? - Yes
- So I don't know if you followed up
with either of them that much about it,
but they've been talking, and it's been going well.
- Okay. - But here's the snag.
Stephanie's been very sort of shady.
She's never given Bryn her number.
She always just calls him from a blocked number.
He's been wanting to meet up with her,
and she's always too busy, and he's just starting
to wonder if she is who she says she is.
- Okay. - And you are the closest link
we have to Stephanie because you introduced them
so we just wanted to know how you know Stephanie.
- We're pretty close.
I've known her 'cause she's actually from my hometown.
- Well, that makes sense. - Long story short,
I ended up talking to him, and I said,
"Hey, I have a friend. She's single."
And I pretty much, you know, got them to talk
but I haven't really kept up.
- So you and Stephanie are actual friends from Moses Lake,
and you spend time together in person?
- Yeah, it's--I mean,
it's been a while because she works a lot.
- But you still live in Moses Lake?
- Yeah, yeah.
- And she still does, too, right?
- No, but right now she's in town visiting family.
I do know that she's staying at the [bleep] Hotel.
- So she's from your hometown, but do you know
where you met her the first time?
- Yeah, we met at some apartments
that my friend used to live at--we met at a party.
- When did you meet Stephanie?
- I would say, like, ten years ago, nine years ago.
- Wait. But she's only 22,
and you met her nine years ago at a party?
- Yeah, people party down here. It's like Mexico.
- All right, I mean, do you have her phone number?
- Yeah. - Whoa. Really?
Bryn said she only has a work phone,
and she can't give out the number.
- I'm not quite sure. - So she has a cell phone.
Not just a work phone. - Yeah.
- And I know you guys are old friends,
but, like, I don't see any reason
why she couldn't give that number to Bryn.
- I'm not sure. - Okay.
Well, I mean, do you mind sharing
Stephanie's number with us?
- I can definitely contact her, but I feel like
if Stephanie wanted Bryn to have her number,
then he would have it, so I definitely need to talk
to Stephanie and see what's going on.
- Time is of the essence, okay? So get in touch with Stephanie.
Let her know we're trying to just help them meet up
and encourage her to reach out to us.
- Okay. - I'll message you right now
with my phone number.
- Okay, perfect. - Well, thanks, Isaax.
Hopefully, we'll hear from you soon or Stephanie.
- All right. Thanks, guys. - Okay.
- Thanks, Isaax. - Uh-huh. Bye.
- Bye. - Okay.
- I don't trust him for [bleep].
I don't trust him. I don't trust him at all.
- Well, here's what we're going to do right now.
He said she was staying at that hotel, [bleep].
- [laughs] - Moses Lake...
There's a [bleep].
- Okay. - All right, let's give 'em
a call and ask for Stephanie [bleep].
- [gasps] Nev.
- I mean, if she's staying there...
- Wow. When you can't go up to doors and knock on 'em,
you sure find other ways to be invasive.
[line trilling]
- [softly] Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
- Hey, can you connect me to Stephanie [bleep] room, please?
Yep. Thanks.
[line trilling]
[mouths words]
- [laughs]
What are you gonna say? - I don't know.
I didn't expect there would be a person with that name
registered in that hotel.
- Oh, my God.
[line trilling]
- Well, probably not home right now.
- The fact that he connected it.
- I hung up because I don't think
they're going to answer it but wait a second.
So that means that there is a Stephanie [bleep]
staying at the [bleep].
- But we don't know what she looks like.
- Right. But that at least makes me
believe Isaax a little bit more.
- I don't know.
7I met her at a house party when she was 12"?
- I know. Come on.
Well, now I don't know what to think
because it looks like there might actually be
a Stephanie [bleep] at the [bleep] Hotel.
Now, is that the girl in the pictures?
- [imitates buzzer sounding]
- I think we got to give Bryn an update
and just cross our fingers that Isaax is telling the truth
and does contact Stephanie and that we hear from her.
- I'm sure we'll be hearing from someone,
but I bet it won't be the girl in the pictures.
- Let's give Bryn an update.
See what he thinks about all this.
"Hey, buddy...
- I don't know. I feel like if Bryn wasn't weary before,
he definitely has reason to be now.
Something is not right. [computer chimes]
Hey.
- What's up, guys? - How are you?
- I'm doing pretty good. - You haven't heard
from Stephanie at all today, have you?
- No.
- No anonymous calls? - Nope.
- All right. Well, we did a lot of digging.
Found a couple little things.
Not sure exactly what it all means yet.
- Okay.
- So here, I'm going to share my screen.
All right. So we went on Facebook
and just did a search for Stephanie [bleep].
This is what came up.
Someone named Stephanie [bleep]
from Moses Lake, Washington. - Okay.
- But this profile hasn't been used since 2013.
- I mean, it kind of looks like her.
- Kind of looks like her. - I mean, it's hard to tell.
Seven years is a big difference.
- Right. So to me, the fact that this exists
could be evidence that she exists
and is likely the same as the girl in the pictures.
The question is, is that who you're talking to?
I don't know. - Right.
- So that essentially brings us now
to where we ended, which is Isaax.
We found Isaax's Facebook page, okay?
- Mm-hmm. - And we were looking
just to get a sense of who this guy is
because he's at the center of this whole thing.
- He's the one that made it happen.
- Yeah, we just went through his page.
We saw that he's got a very serious boyfriend.
- Okay. Did y'all talk to Isaax?
- We did. I messaged him.
He did come in the Zoom, and we talked to him.
- It was weird. It was weird to me.
He says that he met Stephanie at a house party ten years ago.
Ten years ago she would have been how old?
Everyone, math class.
- 12 years old.
- Yeah. - Right.
- At a house party? - Exactly.
But he says that they've been friends ever since
and that they keep in touch and that they're pretty close
and he knows that she's in town right now
staying at a very specific hotel.
But he wouldn't give us
Stephanie's number when we asked.
It just sounded like a bunch of crap to me.
- Right. So did he say he was going to talk to her or...?
- He said he was going to get in touch
with her and let her know.
I mean, the whole thing is weird, obviously.
This guy, Isaax, I want to believe him.
- Mm-hmm. - I don't.
- Sounds very sketchy to me. - Right.
- Go on there, Georgie.
- Even the dog's coming in for assistance.
- Now here's the [bleep] crazy part.
- Oh, hell.
- The second we hang up with Isaax,
I called that hotel in Moses Lake.
The front-desk guy answered, and I said,
"Hey, can you connect to Stephanie [bleep], please?"
And he said, "Okay, hold on."
And then connected me to a room.
Now, no one answered, but presumably there is a guest
at that hotel named Stephanie [bleep].
- Stephanie [bleep]. Right.
- 'Cause otherwise the guy would have come back
on the phone and been like, "I'm sorry.
I don't have a guest under that name."
So now I'm all messed up
because if there is a Stephanie [bleep] at the hotel,
that means that he was telling the truth at least about that,
which now makes me wonder
what else he might be telling the truth about.
- I'm, like, mind-boggled right now.
- We are no closer to knowing that it's not her.
We also really don't have any strong evidence
that it is her at this point.
The only way we're getting in touch with Stephanie
is if she either calls you or Isaax speaks to her.
And it sounds like Isaax is sort of the gatekeeper,
so we're kind of at his mercy right now.
- Right. - So I think
we should just message Isaax one more time
and let them know that we're still waiting.
I just said, "Hey, Isaax.
Let me know once you've talked to Stephanie."
All right, I'm sending it. Now we wait.
- It just doesn't look good to me.
I don't know how you feel.
- I don't know how to feel right now.
I feel flabbergasted, honestly.
I don't even know whether to trust her or not.
- Yeah, I mean, we'll just have to check in in the morning
and see what we got.
- All right. Thank you, guys. Y'all have a good night.
- Try to get some rest. - I will.
[cell phone ringing]
- Hello?
Yeah, hi. Who's this?
- Hey, Stephanie. How you doing?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool.
- Yeah. So Bryn reached out, because as you know,
you guys have been talking now for a while,
and he felt like sometime in that year,
you might've been able to FaceTime or maybe even meet up.
I know it's been a crazy year, but he was just wondering
if we could help organize, like, a video chat.
- Okay. Wow. Okay.
- Yeah, look, I understand that.
Okay.
- I mean, it's not really so much us.
- Just tell the truth.
- Bryn's been opening up to you and making time for you
for the last year, and he just deserves to know
where that's going or if it's going anywhere.
And I think for him, part of that is seeing
and hearing you tell him whatever it is
you feel he should know, and in this case, it might just be
that you're in a relationship that's going well
and that you're not interested in pursuing anything with him
so that he can go pursue someone else.
- Yeah.
Bye.
[dramatic music]
- Wow.
- I mean, I'm--I don't know.
- My first thought was, "This is an older woman."
Like, this is a grown woman
Yeah.
- I was like, "Okay, this person is not 22."
- That sounds like Bryn's
about to get his heart broken is what it sounds like.
- Well...
- Great. Well, this is going to make tomorrow very interesting.
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
"Kamie.
I've got an update." Where you at, girl?
[computer chimes]
There she is. Listen to this. I have a text.
Hello, Nev. It's Stephanie. I'm with my family.
So, if you need to reach me, do not call.
Just text.
At least now we've got a number.
- I don't know.
I'm still reeling from that call last night
because I just feel a way.
Like, the way that Stephanie was coming off felt very, like,
"You guys are trying to ruin my family.
I participated willingly and, like, sought him out,
but, like, don't take it too far."
- Well, yeah. I mean, look, you can't be surprised that
after a year of talking to a guy--
well, having romantic conversations,
I should say-- you can't be surprised
that he's trying to meet you and, like, wants to FaceTime.
- Duh. - All right.
Well, let's get Bryn back on. Fill him in.
- Maybe he's heard from Stephanie
- All right. Hey, Bryn...
All right, he said he's hopping in.
[computer chimes] There he is.
- Hello.
- How y'all doing today? - Confused.
- Okay.
- Did you hear anything from Stephanie?
- No. Nothing. Did you guys?
- We did. - No way.
- So last night she called me.
And the gist of it was that she said,
"I'm in a relationship. And I'm happy.'
And she even said, "And--and we have a family."
- Oh, wow. - But then I was like,
"Okay, well, so do you want to just tell him that?
Why don't you just, you know, jump on a Zoom and..."
- Instead of carrying it on
for a year, you know what I mean?
- Let him know what's up so he can move on.
And then, you know, she started getting vague.
"Well, I don't know.
"I don't know if that's a good idea.
"I don't know if it's safe for me,
or it could be bad for my family."
And I didn't know what to say.
I said, "We owe it to Bryn to at least tell him the truth,
however you think that's best."
- Yeah, tell me something. - Right.
- At first, the conversation on the phone felt
a little dismissive.
She was like, "He's a young guy.
I don't know, like, what he kind of thought this was."
And even the way that she said that,
like, "He's a young guy,"
I don't feel like a 22-year-old girl would say,
"He's a young guy.
Like, I don't know what he thought this was."
I don't know how she speaks on the phone with you.
- I mean, I've never really gotten the notion
that she could be older.
You know, she's still sounds
like somebody in their 20s would.
- 'Cause to me, she sounded like a grown-ass woman.
- Really? That is crazy.
- Maybe she is the Stephanie in the photos.
She's just older. - Right.
- It would explain the old photos.
The fact that Isaax said that he met
Stephanie nine years ago. - Mm-hmm.
- It all fits.
- And then this morning we got a text.
"Hey, Nev. If you need to reach me, here's my number.
"It's Stephanie. I am with my family.
"So, if you do want to reach me, don't call.
Please text."
So at least now we have a number.
- How are you feeling? - I don't know.
I don't even know what to say.
- ♪ Been playing with the weight of the world ♪
♪ Inside my head ♪
I just want to know what the hell's going on here.
- ♪ Praying for a change ♪
♪ I lay awake all night again ♪
I just wanted to get down to the bottom of it
and ask why.
What happened in your life to make you want to do this?
You know what I mean?
'Cause obviously you've been hurt before.
You're just an ass.
♪ ♪
- ♪ Electrified, I'm just a light ♪
♪ Dimming in the dark ♪
- The fact that she texted is an indication
that she's willing to now engage.
So I can text her back now.
- Yeah. - "Good morning.
"I'm hoping you have decided to do the right thing.
Can you join our Zoom now?"
I know what her response now will be.
She might be like, "Well, I'm with my family. I can't Zoom."
But, like, step outside. We only need five minutes.
Oh, oh, oh, she wrote back.
- Oh, wowza.
That's [bleep].
- "We'll take whatever we can get."
- Are you guys sweating? I'm sweating.
- Have you thought about what you would say?
- I'm just sitting here going, "I got no clue."
[computer chimes] - Whoa.
Hey.
- Hi.
- What's up?
- I just wanted to start off
and say that I wanted to apologize to Bryn.
- Mm-hmm. Okay.
- I didn't think that it was this serious.
I thought it was just, like, flirty and having fun.
I didn't tell him the truth.
- Well, is there any way you could show us your face?
- I don't know if I can show my face.
I'm actually married. - Wowza.
- And I'm older than I told him.
I know that was a lie. I do care about Bryn.
He's a great guy,
but our relationship can't grow past this.
And I think this whole thing is done now,
and I have to get back to my marriage.
I mean, I think that Bryn should move on.
- Well, do you have anything to say to Bryn?
'Cause he's been talking to you for a year,
and, you know, he's right here
and this is-- this is a big moment for him.
I know it's scary for you,
but it's also equally just as scary for him.
- Um... [sighs]
I mean, yeah, there's a lot, you know,
that I do have to say.
Um...
[clears throat] Dude, I can't [bleep] do this anymore.
I'm sorry.
- Wait, what just happened? - What the [bleep]?
- [clears throat] Dude, I can't [bleep] this anymore.
I'm sorry.
- Wait, what just happened? - What was that?
- What the [bleep]?
- Is there any ways I can talk to you guys alone?
- You mean just Kamie and I? - Sure. Why the [bleep] not?
- Sure. All right, so we're here to listen.
So, Bryn, why don't you hang out for a second?
We'll put you in, like, a waiting room.
- Yeah. - And we'll talk to Stephanie
for a second and see what's up.
- Sure. Why not?
[computer chimes]
- Okay. So now it's just us.
Stephanie, are you still there?
- Yes, I'm still here.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Ahh!
- Ah. Hi, guys.
- Wow.
- Hello, Isaax. - Hi.
I just have to confess that it's definitely me.
Obviously, me, clearly.
- Wait a second.
Who is that woman that was just talking to us?
- That was my friend.
I really--I-I didn't want to hurt Bryn.
I felt like it was less embarrassing, like,
if it was to be a--like, a woman, a married woman.
And I just didn't expect it to get this far.
I didn't think that it was going to end up like that.
- Right, but who did I talk to last night?
Was that you, or was that your friend?
- That was me. - So it has been you
talking to Bryn this whole time?
- It has.
- When your friend started talking,
I felt like Bryn would've noticed
if her voice was different,
but was she trying sort of do a voice that you've been doing?
- That wasn't her talking. That was me.
- Oh, that was you talking off camera.
- Yes. - What?
- I need evidence.
Where's the voice that we heard last night?
- Did you want to meet Stephanie?
- Yes, we want to meet Stephanie
- [high-pitched voice] Hi, I'm Stephanie, and how are you?
- Yeah, there it is.
- Kamie, you look a little shocked?
- [squeals]
- We had a little bit of a suspicion
that it could have been you,
but you seem so happy and in love with your boyfriend
that we just figured that it couldn't be.
- I am. I'm in an open relationship
and so came across Bryn and his TikToks,
and I didn't think it was gonna progress.
I think the more that I got to know him,
the more that I started to fall for him
and the more that I started to feel guilty.
So, with or without the show,
I was already planning on ending things
because I felt
that it was getting a little too out of hand
and a little too serious. - Wait a second.
I called the hotel after we spoke yesterday,
and I asked to be connected to Stephanie [bleep]'s room.
Are you checked in under Stephanie [bleep]?
Like, I'm just confused.
- No. I actually work here,
and I created the account.
- So you're not even really checked in.
You just, like, put a room under Stephanie [bleep]
'cause you can?
- Correct. - Okay.
Well, that answers that.
Why take it to such crazy lengths?
- I really care about him.
You know, he seems to be an open-minded guy,
so I'm hoping that he maybe can see that love is love.
- Still? You want to be in a relationship with Bryn?
- I do.
- Isaax, I just don't think
that it's fair to say, well, love is love,
and he should just love me as me, when you know that Bryn
is straight and into heterosexual women.
And you also knew that before creating Stephanie,
which is why you created Stephanie in the first place.
- Well, I'm just hoping for the best,
because I really feel
that my personality is still the same personality.
I just--appearance-wise, it's not.
- Wait, wait, you should be telling all this to Bryn.
Why don't we just bring Bryn back in
so he can hear all this?
- I'm just--I'm really nervous, but okay.
- It's better for him to know
and to hear it from you, and now's the moment.
So I'm going to bring him back in the room,
and you'll just explain.
- Okay. - All right.
Let's bring Bryn back in.
- He is going to be shocked.
♪ ♪
[computer chimes]
♪ ♪
- Oh, [bleep] me.
- Why don't we just bring Bryn
back in so he can hear all of this?
- I'm just--I'm really nervous, but okay.
[computer chimes]
- Isaax is the one you've been talking to on the phone.
- Oh, [bleep] me. - Hi, Bryn.
So, you know, I'm Stephanie.
- Who was that? - The girl on the chair?
- Yeah.
- So that was my friend.
- I think the idea was, he was hoping to play it off
like you were actually talking with this married woman,
and that way, it would be less embarrassing for you.
- That's just insane to me.
- But she wasn't really talking.
It was Isaax's voice off camera.
- Kind of blows my mind, honestly.
- I just want to say that my intentions weren't bad.
I didn't think it was going to go this far.
And, you know, the more that I got to see your social medias
and the more I got to know you through that,
the more that I, like, started to like you
and the more that I felt like I started to fall for you.
- I don't even know how to feel right now, dude.
Like, we told each other so much [bleep].
It's probably made up on your end.
- I'm still the same person.
- You're not the same person.
- I am the same person, same personality.
Every time that I told you
I'd be supportive for you, every time I told you
I'd be there for you, that was me.
- Isaax was there, not Stephanie.
- Right now I feel like you're trying
to be brand-new about the situation.
And, like, I'm telling you that I'm putting my heart out there.
That was still me.
- I understand completely,
but that's not me, you know what I mean?
Like, I don't--
- That's not you. Okay, Bryn, really?
Like, let's keep it real.
I feel like Bryn has given me mixed signals.
Like, you know, he has talked to me as me as Isaax
and, I mean, he wanted to come in my back door
and play in this mud, so quit playing, Bryn.
You're acting real brand-new right now, so...
- Listen here, I am comfortable with sexuality.
- I'm a little confused.
Have you two had sexual conversations as each other?
- No. - In the very begi--yes.
In the very beginning, there would be times
where he would forget to say send this to Stephanie,
and it'd be a shirtless picture.
So was that solely for Stephanie?
And then he would be, like, flirty.
- That's crazy. - He definitely has sent,
like, kissy emojis.
Little kissy emojis when he's telling me good night,
you know, as Isaax.
- I mean, look, this does sound petty,
but, like, did you send him a kissy-face emoji?
- I probably did. [chuckles] I probably did.
- I feel like that's how young guys texts these days.
What you take as flirty is just me being who I am.
And the "conversations" we would have late at night,
I would never have those conversations with a man.
That's just personally not me.
- But, look-it, you did. You did. I mean...
- Yeah, I did.
- And you got to see that there was a personality
that could care about you, like,
if you just took away the image.
- Oh, if that's your real personality as Stephanie,
then you have a beautiful personality,
but doing things like that,
that [bleep] with somebody's head and heart, man.
It's not cool.
- But, listen, Isaax, you had your own friendship with Bryn.
You already had an opportunity
to see if he was interested in you.
If he had been, it would have happened.
Like, the opportunity was there.
So, for you to say, "Well, I just feel like he needed
to get to know my personality better," is basically saying,
"I didn't like that he wasn't interested in me,
so I wanted to make him interested in me,"
and that's not okay.
- But, you know, like, okay, look-it, in the past,
I've catfished,
and there has been incidences where I go for straight guys.
And some of these guys have got to know me as Isaax.
I came clean to them... - Okay.
- And it ended up
being a relationship, you know what I mean?
- Well, Isaax, even though you've done it in the past
and it's worked out for you, that doesn't make it right.
If you are talking to Bryn
and you know that Bryn is talking to you
because he thinks that you are a woman,
you are actively trying to manipulate the situation
to get what you want.
If somebody is not into you,
you can't make them be into you.
- Yeah. I mean, I can see what you're saying.
I see it differently.
I just didn't see that I was making him do anything.
- We know you see it differently.
That's the problem.
Listen, I don't blame you for falling in love with Bryn.
He's an attractive guy.
He's always spreading positivity.
What's not to like?
But you can't be [bleep] perpetuating the stereotype
that gay guys are out to turn straight men.
Like, it's a stereotype that's rooted
in lies and homophobia,
and we can't make anyone think
that it's even remotely true when it's not.
- Right. I understand. It's worked for me in the past.
So I guess that's why I went this route.
And I know that some people are not going to agree,
but let's keep it real.
Not all of us are gonna agree on every single thing,
'cause what is love? Love is what you make it.
It's your world. You create it.
But I do want to apologize.
I know that you were looking for a woman.
I felt like that was a fantasy I believe that I created.
But at the time that's what seemed right to me.
And I'm sure it hurt you.
But I mean, I hope that we can, you know, be friends.
- [sighs]
- We won't be talking after this.
But I'll still be on my Snapchat.
If you ever need anything, I'll be there.
- Sounds good.
- Well, Isaax, look, now he knows the truth.
You've come clean,
which I think you'll feel better about,
and hopefully this whole situation
can now be over with.
- I'm definitely going to hang up Stephanie's heels.
It's definitely something that I think I do need to do.
- Right. - But if Bryn ever gets
that wild hair in his ass
and, you know, he wants to call Stephanie, I'm still here.
Only for Bryn.
- Okay. Well, we'll give him your number, so he has it.
Goodbye, Isaax.
- Bye, guys. Bye. - Jesus.
- All right. Well, that's that. - Oh, my God.
- Sorry it didn't work out
and that, you know, this guy wasted your time.
- Are you gonna be okay? - Yeah, I'll be straight.
I promise you I will never be doing that again.
- Yeah. - FaceTime, pictures.
I want to know.
- Yeah, a phone number. How about to start there?
- Yeah, no [bleep]. This has been an adventure, guys.
It was a pleasure to meet y'all.
- Nice to meet you. All the best.
- Thank y'all.
- Yeah. - Thanks, Bryn. Good luck.
- ♪ And you keep on playing games with me, games ♪
♪ And you always got to play with me, play ♪
♪ And I hate the way you're breaking and taking ♪
♪ You tell me you don't ♪
♪ Boy, you really ought to knock it off right now ♪
- "I drew a picturege from your photos."
- The fact that somebody is making drawings of me.
- You're his muse.
- He does say that to me.
- But you've never heard his voice or seen him?
- No.
- I want to search his profile.
- [gasps] - Something is definitely up.
- I'm really freaking out.
[computer chimes] Oh, my goodness.