Every Season Of MTV’s Catfish, Ranked

While there are several reality shows about dating, MTV’s Catfish stands out from the crowd, and many episodes have been entertaining and engrossing. Nev Schulman and Max Joseph hosted together until Max left in season 7, and their friendship shined through even the most stressful situations. They genuinely wanted people to fall in love and viewers also hoped for real love stories, although that didn’t often happen.

The casting process for Catfish is interesting and it’s fun to compare the show’s 8 seasons. While some are better than others, thanks to their compelling storylines and big surprises, loyal viewers don’t want to miss a single episode.

8 Season 8

The most recent season of Catfish is ranked last, as some of the fun of watching the show has died down in recent years. This is definitely the result of watching so many people pretend to be someone else online for several years. The reveals just aren’t that shocking anymore, so it seems inevitable that Catfish would lose a bit of its luster.

Season 8 also features episodes that were shot on Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and while of course, that makes sense for health and safety reasons, it’s not as entertaining as watching everyone meet up IRL. This season felt very different from the early seasons of the show when Nev would fly somewhere to meet the catfish and the hopeful.

7 Season 7

Beloved co-host Max Joseph left in season 7, and while it was fun to see co-hosts such as Tallulah Willis and Kamie Crawford, it’s fair to say that viewers really missed his presence. Max was always so logical and calm, and watching him with Nev was super entertaining.

Season 7 was also disappointing thanks to one memorable episode: Taylor pretended that she was being catfished so she could go on the show. While this has happened a few times over the years, fans don’t want to see this, as it’s much better when hopefuls are genuinely trying to meet the person they have been talking to.

6 Season 4

When fans talk about the wildest moments on Catfish, sometimes someone pretends to be a hopeful and they actually just want to get on TV. That’s what happened in season 4 when Whitney told Max and Nev that she wanted to find who she had been talking to, but she and her online love, Bre, wanted to get on Catfish so they would be able to meet up.

This was the most memorable part of the season, and since it didn’t feature a genuine hopeful/catfish situation, it wasn’t the best.

5 Season 3

While the third season of Catfish stands out because of the episode “Antwane & Tony,” which was full of surprises, this is when the show started to shift to something that wasn’t quite so shocking. More often than not, people seemed to be pretending to be someone else, and it was hard to keep hoping for real love connections.

It was compelling TV, though, as Carmen asked Max and Nev to help Antwane, her cousin, find his catfish. It turned out that Carmen was catfishing him and pretending to be someone named Toby. This was a memorable moment as viewers realized that sometimes, family members or friends would do the same thing in the coming seasons.

4 Season 6

Season 6 of Catfish is definitely one of the better ones thanks to the episode “Open Investigation.”

This was wild and exciting to watch, as Max and Nev wanted to help solve a catfishing story that been in the news. They wanted to find catfish Shelly Chartier, who made model Paris Dunn and NBA player Chris “Birdman” Andersen think that they were talking to one another. It turned out that it was Shelly. Once Shelly was out of jail, Max and Nev met her in Manitoba,nd talked to her about the situation. This was fascinating and a departure from the typical structure of the show since it involved such a big case.

3 Season 5

Another memorable episode is from season 5 when Spencer thought that he was talking to Katy Perry. That helps rank the season fairly high. Even near the end of the episode, when Max and Nev proved that he wasn’t really chatting with the singer, Spencer still seemed to think that he was.

The season also had a great episode called “Kayla & Courtney” that felt like a storyline on a terrifying TV show. Courtney contacted Kayla and said that she could channel Kayla’s dad’s ghost. This was wild to Kayla, whose family history is very tragic and disturbing. Max and Nev told Entertainment Weekly that this episode really changed their minds about the supernatural and it was fun to watch Catfish deal with ghosts, although it was a really sad situation, too.

2 Season 1

Season 1 of Catfish is the second best, and the pilot episode of Catfish deserves a mention, as it helped set up the show and explain to viewers some of the reasons that people have for catfishing. Sunny thought that she was talking to someone named Jamison and it was actually Chelsea. Sunny was very surprised and Chelsea explained that she had been bullied and was trying to get back at people.

Catfish does get deep sometimes and Nev will often have a serious discussion with both parties involved, talking about why it’s wrong to lie to people and how they can live a happier and more authentic life in the future.

1 Season 2

While the first season of Catfish was memorable since it was viewers’ introduction to the concept, the second season featured Lauren and Derek’s episode, and fans remember that Derek was real. They really liked each other and even got engaged later on. Sadly, they did break up. Season 2 also saw a super dramatic moment as Justin pretended to a woman named Jess and Max and Nev got really upset.

While each season of Catfish has at least one shocking episode that gets people talking, the second season is when it really found its groove. And since it featured a love story that ended up working out (at least for a little while), it feels like the best season.

About The Author

Aya Tsintziras
(1742 Articles Published)

Aya Tsintziras is a freelance writer who writes about pop culture and TV. She has a Political Science degree from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Journalism from Ryerson University. She loves coffee, reading, working out, and watching TV. She lives in Toronto with her husband.

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