Entertainment

Priscilla's Actually A Serial Catfisher

by Nicole Pomarico

This week's Catfish seemed pretty typical on the surface — in fact, the most atypical thing about it is the fact that Max is still missing (but he comes back next week! It's OK!) — but after diving into the episode, it became pretty obvious that it was anything but. Instead of trying to track down the person she's in love with, Chitara didn't seek Nev's help until after the relationship was over. Priscilla, a woman Chitara fell in love with and wanted to marry after meeting on a dating site called Mocospace, dumped Chitara seemingly out of nowhere, and Chitara demanded answers. The good news? She got them. The bad news? The Catfish story of Chitara & Priscilla turned out to be way more twisted than I originally thought.

Because not only did Nev and this week's guest host, Alex Shaffer, discover that Priscilla was definitely lying about her identity, but there were actually dozens of fake profiles she'd created just to keep her fake world afloat — and to fool other unsuspecting people. And once they tracked her down? Yep, she's (predictably) another person entirely, but that's not all she was lying about. Priscilla's actually a girl named Ashanti, and she's 18... which is a pretty big deal considering the fact that she was 17 at the time of their relationship and Chitara is a grown woman with two children.

At first, things got dramatic fast — because duh, Chitara was pissed and I can't fault her for that. She and Ashanti were immediately at each other's throats in one of the loudest Catfish smackdowns ever. They didn't settle down 'til Chitara got into the car, and Nev was able to expose a few more of Ashanti's lies while speaking to her one on one. The biggest whopper: Her mother, who Ashanti told Chitara was dead, is actually still kicking. Who lies about that? That just seems like some bad juju to put out in the world.

The one redeeming moment for Ashanti was when she met up with Nev, Alex, and Chitara the next day and explained that she was using her fake profiles (since she was 13!) to escape from her less than perfect life. She refused to give Nev an update, but her Priscilla profile has been deleted. Maybe she can change after all?

In case Catfish hasn't scared the need to date someone online without at least requiring a video chat out of the deal, let this be yet another lesson to you. The person on the other end of the conversation might not even be legal... and that's pretty dangerous territory to cross into.

Image: MTV