Spoilers ahead for the Aug. 1 episode of Catfish. Things can get awkward when you learn your best friend has feelings for you. The situation would be further complicated when that best friend has been posing as a different person for a year and a half, cultivating a romantic relationship with you, and racking up a hefty list of lies. That's exactly what happened with Chelsea and Dominique on Catfish this week — oh, and as if things weren't sketchy enough, they lived together while this was all going on, too.
Chelsea doesn't suspect her best friend Dominique, or "Domo" at all in the beginning — she thinks she's been talking to Charles from Orlando for more than a year, and suspects he's hiding a secret family or some other kind of scandal, so she enlists the help of Nev and Max. When Domo is revealed as the culprit behind Chelsea's deception and stress, she claims it's because she has real feelings for her, and wanted to take their relationship to the next level, but wasn't sure how to go about it.
Chelsea is hurt and feels betrayed by Domo, but there's no animosity. They talk it out, they hug. Chelsea says she's going to stay elsewhere for the time being while she recovers from the shock, but otherwise, the future of their friendship (and maybe even potential romantic developments) seems safe. And now, according to their social media, their friendship still hasn't gone anywhere.
Last month, Chelsea posted a series of photos of the two hanging out together, and it's clear they still consider each other best friends. Given the rough patch, their relationship could have gone in a totally different direction, so it's heartwarming to see that an obviously meaningful friendship didn't fall victim to the drama.
Dominique had been Chelsea's best friend for years, even taking her in after she was unfortunately forced to move out of her previous home. They shared a room and were together all the time. At first, she seems like simply a supporting player in Chelsea's catfish story. It's almost too easy, though, for Nev and Max figure to out that the photos Chelsea's been sent of "Charles" are really stolen pictures of another man who has no idea who she is, and that Domo is somehow involved.
At the end of the episode, when Nev and Max check in with them two months after filming, they're living in the same house again, and have even gone on some dates together. Gasp. It looks for a moment like they might be on the path to something more serious, but they both quickly add that the spark wasn't quite there as girlfriends — it was more awkward than anything.
Nothing romantic is suggested by the photos they've posted since then, either so perhaps they decided once and for all that they're better off with the way things used to be, and that's OK. Sometimes it's easy to get swept up in the romantic notion of a person or relationship, and then when you actually act on the idea, it's not what you thought it'd be. It happens, but it can be hard to move on from. Luckily, Domo and Chelsea apparently haven't let anything stop their friendship.
