How Catfish Reminds Us Imposters Isn't Just Fiction

Imposters and Catfish blur the line between real and not real

By Traci Doromal Jan 30, 2017 12:00 PMTags

It's a love story, baby just say... who you really are because you're gonna get caught eventually!

Starting February 7th, you'll have another mystery drama to be addicted to, thanks to Bravo's new scripted series, Imposters. The show centers on con artist Maddie (Inbar Lavi), who has a penchant for seducing lovers then promptly stealing their entire fortunes. But she hits a roadblock when three of her significant others - including a husband AND a wife - find out she's been lying to them and join forces to take her down. Be ready to drum up your fan theories, folks.

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If this sounds unrealistic and far-fetched, it's not. Prime example: Catfish. The phenomenon all started with the acclaimed film, which debuted almost seven years ago to the day at the Sundance Film Festival. To refresh your memory, the documentary followed Nev Schulman, a photographer who ended up building a romantic relationship with a woman via Facebook named Megan. As the film progresses, both Nev and the viewers are alerted to red flags that suggest Megan isn't who she says she is. In the end, it's revealed that Nev was actually falling for a middle-aged woman and mom of four Angela, not the photographer with the model-looks like she said she was. At the time, Nev and his director brother Ariel Schulman were even criticized for making a "faux-documentary" since the crazy twists and turns seemed so scripted it could have been an episode of Imposters.

MTV

Of course, the popularity of the movie spawned Catfish: The TV Show, in which Nev and filmmaker buddy Max Joseph help expose the secrets and lies of dozens of con artists who hide behind their screens just so they don't have to share their real identity. Who could forget one of the most iconic episodes of all time in season 2 titled "Artis and Jess", who were both in relationships when they first met on Facebook. Despite the fact Artis had only seen one photo of Jess (questionable), he was ready to meet her in person and pursue a real relationship. What happened next was something no one could have predicted, when Justin - not Jess - showed up and basically berated Artis for attempting to cheat on his girlfriend. Real talk: Justin could rival Orange is the New Black's Crazy Eyes any day.

And then there was a recent season five episode titled "Lucas and Many" - "Many" is not someone's name, it's "Many" because he straight up tricked MANY women into thinking he was in an online relationship with them. Former Playboy model Jayme enlists Nev and Max to help out Lucas, after she realized that her boyfriend was not only fake, but he had supposedly been Catfishing 400 women as well, making him one of the scummiest serial Catfishers ever. Congratulations, you played yourself. In addition to models, celebrities aren't even immune to being thrown into Catfish situations, with Katy Perry, rapper/actor Shad Moss, and actress Tracie Thoms have all been thrown in the melee of internet deception, proving the theory of "Stars: they're just like us!".

 

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Since Nev and Max have been exposing Catfishers for years, here's a maybe not-so-crazy idea - the duo shows up on Imposters to help the scorned lovers by doing some reverse Google imaging and diving deep into Maddie's social media profiles. At this point, more insane things have happened on the reality docu-series, so a little stunt-casting wouldn't hurt, right?  

Imposters premieres Tuesday, February 7th at 10/9c on Bravo.

(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family)