Your browser does not support the video tag. Catfish is often reverse-engineered by producers before filming for entertaining results. Producers know the end to each catfish case before hosts Nev and Kamie uncover it on-screen. Participants undergo background checks and interviews by producers before appearing on Catfish.

After the success of his Catfish documentary, MTV hired Nev Schulman to do a reality TV series of the same name. Catfish: The TV Show sees Nev and his team track down people who were pretending to be other people online, manipulating others by using a fake identity. But is the reality show as fake as its name sake?

Catfish is hugely entertaining reality tv show, but some of the episodes have been accused of being too entertaining so that they seemed staged. Behind-the-scenes interviews with the producers of Catfish have revealed that the show is often reverse engineered by producers before filming.