When Nae from Youngstown, Ohio, seeks out the help of Nev and Max from MTV's Catfish in the Aug. 8 episode, she thinks she's dealing with an elusive social media celebrity named Brannon. As they investigate the situation, however, things of course got a little more complicated than that. She found out that the culprit behind the mysterious romance was actually her ex-boyfriend from years before. Yikes. So where are Nae and Thomas from Catfish now?
They started their ill-fated relationship on Tinder, and it sure seems like that might be the only social media on which they keep up appearances. The two didn't appear to comment on or otherwise share any of Catfish's promos for the episode on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. And, given that they choose not to reveal any social media handles or last names in the episode, they're not the easiest to find online. All of which is understandable, considering how it all went down.
Fans can rest assured, though, that Nae and Thomas are not together after filming — Nae makes it clear that it'd never happen again. But let's back up and recap the history that brought them to this point. Thomas and Nae dated in high school for three years, and it ended pretty horribly. According to her, he cheated, and she never was able to forgive him. Nae said Thomas was no longer interested in her until she started talking to other guys.
That's when "Brannon" came into the picture. Nae had been talking to him for around six months when she contacted Catfish, and thought he was a social media celebrity from Pennsylvania. And "he" very well may be. But as it turns out, Thomas had been using Brannon's photos and background details he found on the internet as a cover to be able to talk to Nae again — she was never really talking to this Brannon fella at all.
They discovered the whole deal when Nae invited "Brannon" to come meet up with her, and he agreed, so long as Nev and Max weren't around. Of course, they didn't want to leave Nae to meet anybody alone, so Nev springs on the culprit as soon as he arrives at the address, and finds out once and for all that it's been Thomas all along.
Nae's temper flared as soon as she saw him, and for good reason — apparently she'd told him time and time again in the past that there was no future between the two of them. "You played me back to back to back, then when I finally move on, you decide 'I want her back," Nae said to him. She also told Max that they've talked about their relationship at length. "The reason we will never be together is because I cannot forget what you did to me those last three years," she continued.
Thomas, to his credit, has now come to acknowledge the ways he hurt her years before. "I did mess up and I did take you for granted, but when we were talking, the feelings were real," he said. "I am still in love with you ... I still think about you every day."
Unfortunately (or not, depending on how you look at it), it wasn't enough for Nae. She wasn't keen on going back to anybody who had treated her badly, and that's all there is to it. When Nev and Max checked in with her weeks after filming wrapped, she said she's playing the field and dating a couple of different people. And Thomas said in a separate video call that he only wishes her the best. It just goes to show that sometimes, no matter how much history two people have, things are better left in the past.
