Do Catfish like popcorn? Because the confrontation between the show’s latest love hopeful and the object of her affection was so fiery, it had us reaching for some Orville Redenbacher.
On this week’s episode, Nev and guest host Kamie Crawford met a Portland, Oregon native named Red, who’d been in love with a celebrity hairstylist named Jalissa for six years. Red said she originally met Jalissa through mutual online friends (who just so happened to be Tamar Braxton and Braxton family friend Shekinah), and that while she and Jalissa shared loving affirmations and lengthy phone calls, they’d never met in person.
In fact, during Red’s first call with Nev and Kamie, Red said she was already in Los Angeles to meet Jalissa but reported that she was — for the umpteenth time — getting stood up. And when Red and the Catfish team met Tamar’s real stylist — who confirmed Red’s contact information for the singer was fake — Red conceded that she was likely getting duped.
Things swiftly went from bad to worse. To round out the deceit, the real, verified Shekinah confirmed that she didn’t know anyone named Jalissa or Red.
So who was Jalissa? Turns out, she was a 24-year-old divorced woman named Ashley, who — when she finally came face to face with Red — said she’d been duping unsuspecting Internet daters since she was 12. Ashley, with seemingly no contrition, said she’d created around 3,000 fake profiles over the years and that she couldn’t have cared less about Red.
What unfolded next was one of the fieriest Catfish confrontations ever.
After snapping at Kamie and later calling her “the help,” Ashley went on the offensive, saying Red had invited the mayhem by sliding into the fake-Shekinah’s DMs years earlier.
“You did the bunny rabbit and you hopped — you hopped your ass in there,” Ashley said, before snapping at Kamie once more and calling her a bitch.
“If you call me a bitch one more time, we’re gonna have a problem,” the usually calm Kamie spat, as if ready to step in the ring.
Nev struggled to control Ashley’s aggression too, noting, “You seem upset…you came in a little hot.”
But Ashley couldn’t help herself and rounded out her performance by calling Kamie “a bird” and mocking Red for being gay.
“Well, I’m gay-gay,” Red answered, visibly irritated. “I’m gay as f*ck.”
Finally, though, Ashley apologized to Kamie and Red and changed her tune so drastically, she wound up thanking Red for her friendship.
“You helped me in ways you don’t even know,” Ashley said, breaking down in tears. “I have a lot of sh** going on.”
Aside from family issues and the fact that she was struggling to come out of the closet as bisexual, Ashley said, “I’ve always been alone. I don’t have any friends. I ain’t got nobody…I’m addicted [to fake profiles].”
But sadly, the epiphany seemed short-lived. During a catch-up call two months later, Ashley said she was still fooling people with fake profiles but tried to temper her bad behavior by adding that she had deleted some. The conversation seemed like at least a little bit of progress, but then the call ended and the gloves came off for a final jab.
“She’s a psychotic mess,” Kamie observed, successfully having the last word.
Despite Ashley’s limited growth, let’s never forget that she delivered perhaps the most aggressive Catfish entrance ever. How does it compare to the fiery confrontations that came before it? Share your thoughts, then be sure to tune in to the next episode!
