| I can only speak for the people portrayed on Catfish: The TV Show They all have various somewhat complicated reasons for "catfishing." These are people who 1)agree to meet/give up their true selves 2)agree to appear on TV Some people do it for revenge. Some do it for escape. Some do it because they have self esteem and body issues and don't mean any harm to the person they catfish. One guy admitted doing it to "brush up on his game" or something of that nature. One person was catfished by her best friend who set up the fake profile to help get her out of a serious depression after (if I remember) a death of someone close. The friend even went so far as to have her male cousin be the voice. Some people do it because they know the person in real life, have secret feelings for them but won't admit it to them, so they create a fake profile to catfish the person and act out their fantasies that way. It is an interesting look into human nature if nothing else. Some mean harm, but many do not. It is a common theme in the body image catfishers to say "Everything I told you is true, my feelings are real, I just look different." Of course - some will also do it for money! |