'Catfish' Tries To Solve A Major Ghosting Mystery

With Tinder, FaceTime, and 900 forms of social media, face-to-face, in person contact is less important in dating than ever, so it's no surprise that plenty of people still turn to Catfish to solve their relationship woes. But this week's new episode isn't just highlighting how easy it is to meet people online — it's also pointing out just how easy it is to ghost someone. This time around, Catfish helps Michael unite with Chanelle, but there's just one problem: He hasn't heard from her in a long time. Can they track her down?!

But even though Nev and Max are usually able to get to the bottom of any mystery, at first, their search is totally fruitless. The typical tricks don't work — googling, reverse image search, nothing comes up. But then, finally, a result: The phone number Michael uses to call her belongs to someone named Kym, and after they find her on Facebook, they discover she works at a hospital and has a daughter close to Michael's age named Stacey... who seems to be married or in a serious relationship with children. Their research is pretty convoluted, but they do know that "Chanelle" is from Pennsylvania and is somehow connected to Temple University.

Despite the fact that Chanelle is pretty obviously not the person Michael thinks he is, he still wants to try to meet her if it's possible. Nev's call to the number goes unanswered, so he sends Stacey a message on Instagram... and then, something crazy happens. Chanelle's number texts Nev back saying that the phone isn't Chanelle's, and whoever it is doesn't want to be part of "this mess." Interesting! Later, Nev DMs Larrya — a girl who also works at Temple and follows Chanelle on Instagram. The only info she's able to give out is that she's fine, she's in Philly like she said she was, but she isn't willing to give out her real phone number. And the plot thickens!

So they meet with Larrya at a park, and the reason she disappeared of the face of the earth? "She's had a lot going on." But that's not really it, right? Larrya admits that Chanelle is actually waiting in the car. Finally, it's time for the moment of truth.... and it's a doozy. Chanelle is actually Christina, Larrya's ex. Yikes! And in a totally unsurprising turn of events, Michael is actually really mad and refuses to talk to Larrya again.

In the end, it looks like they've both decided to move on. In the update, we find out Michael is focusing on his son for now, while Christina is channeling her energy into blogging instead. Happily ever after? Not quite, but they're getting there.

Image: MTV