MTV Pulls ‘Catfish’ After Fans Suspect Rift Between Show Hosts

MTV has officially pulled the plug on its long-running reality TV show, “Catfish.”

News broke on Monday, September 22, that the network had decided to end the show after 12 years and nine seasons on the air.

“Catfish” was extremely popular among fans upon its initial release; however, after several changes over the years, it appears their commitment to the show began to wane.

Adding to the show’s decline, many viewers believed the on-camera relationship between hosts Kamie Crawford and Nev Schulman had become visibly strained.

According to a report from Variety, MTV has officially decided to end “Catfish,” which originally featured host Nev Schulman and co-host Max Joseph traveling around the United States to expose deceptive relationships.

The series premiered on November 12, 2012, and is based on the 2010 film of the same name, which showcased Schulman attempting to uncover the truth about a romantic relationship he had built with a woman on Facebook.

“Catfish,” the TV show, ran for nine seasons and aired over 240 episodes. The success of the series even spawned the spin-offs, “Ghosted: Love Gone Missing” and “Help! I’m in a Secret Relationship!”

In 2018, the show’s original co-host, Joseph, was replaced with a rotating list of presenters, including stars such as Machine Gun Kelly and NBA player Nick Young.

Crawford, however, became the show’s permanent co-host and starred in 96 episodes before announcing her departure in October 2024.

And now that Crawford is gone, fans are speculating that the show’s cancellation is a direct result of her allegedly strained relationship with Schulman.

On Reddit, a slew of users began writing about the show’s cancellation, with many celebrating the news and claiming the show had started to lose its spark.

Others shared their belief that the show had started to fall apart once Crawford exited, with one specifically sharing, “The writing was on the wall after Kamie left.”

Shortly after, another user wrote about the alleged fallout between Crawford and Schulman, explaining that it stemmed from Crawford sharing “pro-Palestine content” while Schulman posted “pro-Israel content.”

“Allegedly her TikTok likes and podcast shade kind of confirmed it, I saw she liked shady comments before (like her energy changing in specific eps at that time), but I haven’t heard her podcast. Again, all rumours,” the poster continued.

Another user shared a similar statement, explaining that they felt this decision was coming after Schulman opened up about obtaining his NYC real estate license. “I wonder what happened between him and Kamie, since it doesn’t seem like they ended on great terms, and she added a lot to the show when she joined,” they added.

While there has been no official confirmation about a fallout between the co-hosts, Crawford previously shared that she knew it was simply time for her to leave the series after six years.

“I think six years in any job is a really long time,” she said. “A lot of people don’t stay in certain roles for that long. And so, I think it was just time for me to spread my wings, and I’m really excited to be doing that.”

“People moved around all the time, and it was my time. I had done what I needed to do. I felt very confident about that,” she added. “And I’m so happy with everything that we’ve done with the show, and I just felt like for me, I did my part. I left my mark and I was ready to do my own thing.”

Regarding her relationship with Schulman, Crawford admitted the two haven’t spoken since she left the show, but she noted that she is still “in contact” with others from the series, “the catfishes included.”

In a joint video on Instagram, Schulman and the original co-host, Joseph, addressed the end of the series, thanking fans for their support over the last 12 years.