As I mentioned in an
earlier blog post, I got to see the
Catfish episode featuring Stephanie & David/Dawuan before MTV had it pulled from Amazon Video. I still have it in my video library, but it is no longer available for anyone who had not purchased it prior to being pulled. If you went to the list of available episodes, it's no longer displayed as
Stephanie & David. Now it's listed as
Episode 10.
About 5 months after I posted my
Catfish synopsis on the blog, Stephanie and a friend of hers posted comments on the post asking if they could have a copy of the episode. (Note: I hid their comments because I wanted to protect their privacy. Stephanie, however, said later she didn't mind if I hadn't done that.) Stephanie had never seen the episode until I was able to help her out. I want to stress this point: MTV did not allow Stephanie to see the episode she was in. But they did allow Dawuan to see it.
I got to know Stephanie through emails, Facebook, texts, & telephone calls. She agreed to let me interview her for this blog. (I feel like I need to point out that I'm not a reporter and I don't consider myself to be a journalist. No one is going to mistake this for feature in a newspaper or magazine.)
After talking to Stephanie on the phone the first time, I asked her to look over and (if she wanted to) send me the documents the production company had her sign because I wanted to make sure that she wasn't breaking any non-disclosure agreement she may have signed. I couldn't find anything regarding non-disclosure in the documents.
After Stephanie contacted me, I was looking over the traffic that my blog post had generated. I found that I had several referrals from
Reddit. I showed Stephanie this screen capture:
Stephanie was irritated at Nev's description of why her episode had never aired and so we went forward with her side of things. As with, apparently,
most of the Catfish episodes, it was the "catfish" David/Dawuan who had contacted MTV to tell the story and not the "catfishee" Stephanie as was stated in the episode.
The episode was filmed in June 2012 and was supposed to air on January 29, 2013.
Hi Ho…No Worries: Did Dawaun tell you ahead of time that he
contacted MTV?
Stephanie: No he never once told me, I had to find out from
a team member from MTV.
HHNW: How surprised were you when MTV contacted you?
S: I was really surprised that MTV had contacted me and
wanted to hear my story.
HHNW: You said that you and David had talked with each other
for about seven months. Is that seven months prior to when the episode was
filmed?
S: Yes
HHNW: How much did MTV communicate with you after the
episode was finished taping?
S: Not at all! And that’s the most disappointing part about
it!
HHNW: How officially did MTV tell you that they would not be
showing you the episode? What I mean by that was whether it was an email or on
the phone or in person?
S: MTV never contacted me (via email, phone or in person). From
the very beginning I was expecting my episode to air according to the contract
David and I signed before we started shooting.
HHNW: How did you find out that Dawuan had seen the episode?
S: Dawuan sent me a text message stating that he seen the
episode and he would do anything in his power to not let the show air.
HHNW: Did the flow of events happen in real life as they
were shown on the episode?
S: Everything was real EXCEPT the email and
text conversations seen on the episode. No email or text messages were saved
nor shown.
HHNW: Did you talk to Nev or Max before they went to your house? Or did you just talk to staff?
S: No, I didn't talk to Nev and Max. I only talked to their staff. Before they would start filming, they had a staff member come to my house every morning just so I wouldn't be camera shy.
HHNW: What was not shown on the episode about how you had
confronted Dawuan at his house?
S: I continuously told him he was disgusting and a liar, but
in a bitchier way. Last day I went to see him, Dawuan had a big hickie in the
middle of his neck. I questioned him about it and he just blew it off. Besides
that, a lot of things were cut from the episode that I wish would have been
seen.
HHNW: Where the pictures of David shown on the episode the
same pictures that you saw when you were talking to Dawuan?
S: I received only 3 pictures from Dawuan prior to filming
the episode. The rest of the pictures, I’ve never seen before.
HHNW: How long has it been since anyone from MTV contacted
you?
S: Since we stopped filming, which was June 16, 2013.
HHNW: Why do you think the episode never aired?
S: Til this day I have no idea why it hasn’t aired. So
that’s what I want to know.
HHNW: In the episode Nev told Dawuan on the phone that you
had said that you were going to stop talking to him unless you guys met up that
week. Is that a bit of fiction? Had you two already slowed down your talking by then?
S: No,
all that is true. I did tell Nev if Dawuan didn’t agree to meet up with me, I
would stop talking to him. Dawuan and I were not talking to each other as much
as we did before.
HHNW: Would you do it again?
S: I’m not sure if I would do it again but I’m sure the
second time around I would be a bit smarter and handle things differently to
not be in the situation I was in.
HHNW: Have you continued online dating?
S: Yes, actually my last relationship I met him online and
he was who he said he was.
HHNW: What are you up to these days?
S: I’m working at a nursing part time as a receptionist and
I also just Started Community College last week.
HHNW: Plans for the future? Goals?
S: Hmmmm…well it’s still being written, and for goals I’m
just trying to finish up my schooling and hopefully be done with my major in
the next 3 years.
HHNW: What do you think made you fall for him?
S: What made me fall for “David” (as the guy I thought he
was) was that he was there for me through my toughest times, also how he
carried himself to me as this perfect ideal guy that any girl would think they
would be happy to have.
HHNW: Did you ever think he was lying?
S: At first I didn’t think he was lying to me but as time
passed I started adding things up that weren’t making sense to me and I started
catching on that there was a big possibility he was lying.
HHNW: What upsets you the most?
S: I really would love for my episode to air because I feel
many people would be able to relate to my story. I believe I would inspire
people around the world because it would teach people to fight and overcome
insecurities. They took that possibility away from me and I still don't think
it's fair that my episode wasn’t given an opportunity to air. I feel that this
show is to expose “The Catfish” and for them not to air my episode shows me how
fake MTV really is!
I wanted to give a special acknowledgment to Cybies Chitters for help and support with this project. If you're looking for a videochat & social community, stop by and pull up a virtual chair.
