'Catfish' Recap: Max Joseph Gets Emotional in His Final Episode
The end of an era! After a seven-year run as the cohost of MTV’s Catfish, Max Joseph has finally decided to part ways with the hit reality show. In one final hurrah, he joined longtime friend and cohost Nev Schulman on a tear-filled journey to help Nick from Philadelphia discover the true identity of his online beau of five months, Jasmine.
Nick, a 29-year-old single father from Philly, had fallen for Jasmine after meeting on a dating site and continuing their flirtation on Snapchat. The lovestruck security guard even visited Jasmine in person once, only to be bizarrely blindfolded for the entirety of their interaction. Frustrated, Nick reached out to Nev and Max just as Max was embarking on his final Catfish mission.
Nev and Max uncovered that Jasmine’s photos belonged to a woman named “Jasselene” who claimed to not be talking to anyone named “Nick.” Crestfallen when learning Jasmine was not the woman in her pictures, Nick admitted, “I’m speechless, it pisses me off a little bit.”
Eventually, Nev and Max, with Nick in tow, met up with the woman behind the account — the well-meaning but anxiety-rattled Nicole. Nicole confessed that she didn’t “feel good” about herself and that creating a fake account was a way to “to talk to somebody.” After accepting her apology, the two former lovebirds agreed to be friends. Three months later, Nick was still single and Nicole was busy focusing on school. The duo had even managed to keep in touch and maintain a friendship in spite of their rocky past.
As the episode wrapped up, Max took the opportunity to say goodbye in a heartfelt speech filmed at the Catfish headquarters. The host emotionally confessed, “Working on the show for the last seven years has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life.” He continued, gushing about his cohost, “Nev and I have become brothers and our bromance has blossomed before your eyes.” He explained his departure adding, “This is just something I’ve gotta do. It’s no secret that I have passions straddling two careers; as a TV host and a filmmaker. I feel like it’s finally time for me to make my exit.”
Max concluded with an important lesson, saying, “If I’ve learned one thing over the course of making this show it’s that we all have inclinations — especially online — to ignore people’s humanity and flatten them into our minds as a monster, a liar, a profile pic with no feelings or other qualities.” He continued, “I’ve met them and heard their story. I’ve realized they were just a human being; real, complicated. They’re just people — people who’ve been hurt, people who want to be loved.”
Nev then clarified that Catfish would go on in spite of Max’s farewell, saying, “We’re going to keep making the show and we’re going to find a new cohost. We’re going to be trying out a number of people over the next eight or 10 episodes.”
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As the duo hugged it out on camera one last time, Nev whispered into his now ex-cohost’s ear, “Love you, buddy.”
Catfish airs on MTV Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
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