S05.E15: Spencer & Katy

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

A guy believes he's been in an online relationship with a major pop star for six years.

[GaT]

OMG, the girl's name is Katy, does this guy believe he's dating Katy Perry? That's the only "major pop star" I can think of with that name.

[jenrising]

If so, he needs to hook up with Larissa from last week and they can have their own reality show, "World's Most Gullible."

[Tara Ariano]

you guys

are not

going to believe this fucking guy.

[Racj82]

7 hours ago, Tara Ariano said:

you guys

are not

going to believe this fucking guy.

You were right because this dude was unreal. Please talk about this on extra hot great next week. Possibly for loser of the week.

[jenrising]

OMG OMG OMG. I have to go hide under my bed. 50% mortified for this guy and 50% terrified of him. 

[Primetimer]

Or will Katy turn out to be The One That Got Away?

View the full article

[Misslindsey]

Quote

OMG OMG OMG. I have to go hide under my bed. 50% mortified for this guy and 50% terrified of him. 

This! I have to admit that it ranks as one of my top episodes of this show just because of Max and Nev's reactions and snark abut the whole situation. They were pretty constant with their sarcasm and reactions to the delusional guy, and for some reason it was hilarious to me. I always enjoy when not hopeless romantic Nev shows up.

[Ikki]

Wow, okay, all I did was read the article and I was incredibly uncomfortable. I doubt I could possibly get through watching this episode. I'm seriously worried about this guy's mental health. Like, there's dumb and gullible, and then there's this. If it's not mental health related, it might be something developmental? Obviously I'm not qualified to diagnosis him, but I just kind of feel... I'm just so many different levels of uncomfortable that I don't know how to express them all.

[GaT]

I have to wonder if any of this was real, or they came up with it to get a free trip to England. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that this guy really thought he was talking to Katy Perry for 6 years. How is it possible in this age of the internet for anybody to believe something like that? 

[Empress1]

16 hours ago, Tara Ariano said:

you guys

are not

going to believe this fucking guy.

Um.

The only person that I think was more mentally unwell was that young black woman who was catfishing the other young black woman, the one Max asked if she was on drugs. This dude ... has issues. A library's worth of issues. His brother's reaction was priceless. Clearly, dude has been the weird one in the family all along and you can see that he was relieved that Spencer had someone in his life, and then when it was ... this, the brother's reaction was priceless.

Also, snarky Nev is great, as is that crew member with his "Can you believe this shit?!" expression.

[swimmyfish]

It would have been great if this episode aired during Star Trek week, because Spencer really looks (and acts?) like if Data tried to pass as human. Except that Data seemed more capable of genuine warmth, which is a little alarming for Spencer.

 

Also, I truly hope that someone from actual pop star Katy Perry's security team was made aware of this episode and knows now to keep a lookout for this guy. Gullible is one thing (although, really, believing that an actual pop star - and a married one at that - would be anonymously chatting with randoms for six years goes a little beyond gullible), but his refusal to accept that the relationship had ended is entirely different. That he's hearing coded messages in Katy Perry's songs that he thinks are just for him? I have no psychological training, but that isn't normal. And it's not, like, quirky, or cute, or a sign of his depth of feeling. It's a genuine problem, and should probably be addressed.

[Pepper Mostly]

This guy was seriously creepy. And the fact that he looks startlingly like he could be one of the Trump boys only made it worse as I cringe-watched. I'm just.....really? His huge grin when he first revealed his "big secret" to Nev and Max made me think "oh, he just wants to be on TV". But as the episode went on, his delusion was actually uncomfortable to witness. His absolute assurance that he'd be meeting Katy Perry, his seeming inability to process any of the information Nev and Max gave him, his weird affect, and omg the emails he sent Harriet after the fact! I believe I whimpered a little. If I was Katy Perry I'd be nervous, too @swimmyfish

[withanaich]

Oh my good goddamn. So I'm not going to pretend I haven't been laughing at this delusional shit since I read the episode description, and this recap was hilarious as hell, but I'm fairly confident (like 100 on a scale of 1 to 10) that something is medically wrong with Spencer. I'm also fairly confident that when he says he's trying to be less gullible, he simply means that he's learned to at least pretend he's normal. I hope his family sees this episode and gets him help. I hope MTV alerts Katy Perry's people so she can protect herself. Because I don't think there's any lengths Spencer won't go to to "prove" he's dating Katy Perry.

[Princess Sparkle]

Truly one of the best things about Again with This is that now that I've heard Tara's voice, I can read her recaps and imagine her reading them.  That made this recap 10,000 times funnier.  

[unoiamacutie]

He was right; this really is the best Catfish episode ever aired. I got a cramp laughing so much at this poor delusional man.

[YoSaffBridge]

1 hour ago, Princess Sparkle said:

Truly one of the best things about Again with This is that now that I've heard Tara's voice, I can read her recaps and imagine her reading them.  That made this recap 10,000 times funnier.  

100% co-signed, and I super hope they talk about this next week on EHG.

Also, yes, that dude would make a Katy Perry skin suit given the opportunity, so I'm hoping Actual Pop Star Katy Perry can get a restraining order based on this episode.

Edited August 18, 2016 by YoSaffBridge
posted without finishing thought

[AV8n]

I'm sure the English were all like "Who in the bloody hell let the colonists bring this nutter over here?". I mean, sure, after Russell Brand, John Mayer and that elf from LOTR, Spencer doesn't seem quite as bad.

I kid. Spencer brought the crazy in a fresh new way. He doesn't have issues, he has a full damn subscription. It actually got to a point where it wasn't funny. He was either really into character as the delusional loser or that's just who he is.

There def needs to be a restraining order keeping him a safe distance from Katy Perry, Joe Perry, The Band Perry, and former Gov. Rick Perry. And since his AOL searching skills have possibly improved, we should add Kate Hudson, Rock Hudson (RIP), and the entire Hudson River just to be safe.

[Whimsy]

When Spencer said “let’s go to England.” I was thinking that this was one of those cases where they use Catfish to get a free trip to each other, but no.  He really, truly believed he was talking to Katy Perry. This guy has some serious mental issues.  I mean, if he can google to verify the information, why couldn’t Harriet google to GET the information?  Seriously SMH.  

I actually believed that he realized that it was Harriet all along when they were talking in the garden.  I should've known that he thought he was "playing along" with whatever "joke" Katy was playing on him.   I would bet that Harriet disconnected that old phone number but Spencer is still texting to it.

When he said he listened to Katy Perry’s recent album and there were “messages” to him my first thought was that’s what Charles Manson said about The Beatles’ Helter Skelter.   

Harriet is the prettiest catfisher so far.

 

4 hours ago, Empress1 said:

Also, snarky Nev is great, as is that crew member with his "Can you believe this shit?!" expression.

That was great. 

 

ETA:  I just read that recap.  Best.one.ever.  I am glad I read it because how the HELL did I miss that he had the ring on his finger?!?! 

[Trampolina]

I think the worst part is that he e-mailed 'Kati' afterwards to tell her about the meeting with Harriet because he was still doing research. WTF?

[BeatrixK]

Oh...Spencer.  Dear..dear Spencer.  I just....I just can't.  I cannot wrap my head around the level of delusion it would take for one to believe that he was the one holding Katy Perry's heart.

And was it just me....or was Spencer completely devoid of any facial expression that didn't communicate 'Potato.'

However...using Spencer's 'logic'....since I subscribe to Ray Liotta's twitter feed...he texts me a whole bunch when he's filming Shades of Blue...so, technically...I could theoretically be married to Ray Liotta?  Spencer...can I have a ruling?  Does receiving text notifications of a twitter feed you subscribe to denote receiving messages?  Because that would be awesome! 

Spencer's family...5150 hold may not be the worst idea you guys come up with for Spencer....just sayin.

[AV8n]

26 minutes ago, Trampolina said:

I think the worst part is that he e-mailed 'Kati' afterwards to tell her about the meeting with Harriet because he was still doing research. WTF?

Well, he could have reassessed the situation and decided he was more likely to find romance with an expat Canadian lesbian than with the pop star Katy Perry. Instead, Spencer's ability to stay in character was some Jared Leto-level shit. Or he's nucking futs.

if Harriet really wanted to mess with him, she could have responded to his last email by saying she hoped he thought his "punking " was funny and she's glad he didn't let that blond skank fool him.

[LoneHaranguer]

How do you look at a net handle like "kitty purree" and think it's anything other than a cat-lady who's heard of Katy Perry?

Most people in the U.S. don't have passports. Did the show gloss over Spencer getting one, or did he apply for one to chase Katy down in Canada, but it didn't come quickly enough?

[withanaich]

I think the worst part is that he e-mailed 'Kati' afterwards to tell her about the meeting with Harriet because he was still doing research. WTF?

Yes, yes ... "research."

[maxineofarc]

How do you look at a net handle like "kitty purree" and think it's anything other than a cat-lady who's heard of Katy Perry?

Most people in the U.S. don't have passports. Did the show gloss over Spencer getting one, or did he apply for one to chase Katy down in Canada, but it didn't come quickly enough?

The pop star Katy Perry actually does have a cat named Kitty Purry, so that isn't necessarily a tell.

[cmfran]

I cracked up when they showed the screen shot of the "contact info" email Spencer sent Nev and Max, and the second line down read "Her full name is Katy Perry." Thanks for providing that useful information!

[Ikki]

4 hours ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Most people in the U.S. don't have passports. Did the show gloss over Spencer getting one, or did he apply for one to chase Katy down in Canada, but it didn't come quickly enough?

It's true most Americans don't have a passport, but at 46%, there's still a lot of them who do. It seems reasonable to me that he could have already had one for reasons unrelated to the belief that he was in an internet relationship with Actual Pop Star Katy Perry.

Or, maybe when the show contacted/responded to him, they were like, "By the way, get a passport if you don't already have one, no reason, don't think about it too much." And he didn't.

[Soobs]

6 hours ago, GenL said:

When Spencer said “let’s go to England.” I was thinking that this was one of those cases where they use Catfish to get a free trip to each other, but no.  He really, truly believed he was talking to Katy Perry. This guy has some serious mental issues.  I mean, if he can google to verify the information, why couldn’t Harriet google to GET the information?  Seriously SMH.  

I actually believed that he realized that it was Harriet all along when they were talking in the garden.  I should've known that he thought he was "playing along" with whatever "joke" Katy was playing on him.   I would bet that Harriet disconnected that old phone number but Spencer is still texting to it.

When he said he listened to Katy Perry’s recent album and there were “messages” to him my first thought was that’s what Charles Manson said about The Beatles’ Helter Skelter.   

 

 

When he said that the album had messages to him, that sounded like a pretty specific diagnosis of something. He did seem to have an inflated sense of self to think that this would/ could happen to him. I wonder if he was a Katy Perry fan before he "met her" online. I laughed when he thought he might be on Punked. The show having the Mtv connection did not help squash his delusions. Definitely can see why celebrities have so much security.

[Trace]

He's truly famous now.  He made USA Today:

Catfish Thought He Dated Katy Perry for Six Years

[withanaich]

I just hope that when the real Katy Perry finds out about this, she doesn't do something silly like giving him attention because she "feels bad." No amount of good PR is worth throwing crumbs to a potential stalker.

[marny]

Aside from all of the other crazy in this episode, I think what cracked me up the most was that this guy thought that if the real Katy Perry was on a messaging app, she would actually use the name "Katy Perry" as her screen name.

[Misslindsey]

35 minutes ago, withanaich said:

I just hope that when the real Katy Perry finds out about this, she doesn't do something silly like giving him attention because she "feels bad." No amount of good PR is worth throwing crumbs to a potential stalker.

Hee! Can you imagine what Spencer would think if Katy threw some goodwill his way? He would still think they were dating and it was her all along.

[TheVoicesToldMeTo]

I call bullshit on this entire episode.

1) "Her full name is Katy Perry." No, it is actually "Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson" and I'd imagine any newbie fan would know even this. Or someone who can do a quick google search (me).

2) Spencer might be the first catfish victim in history that Nev and Max didn't grill about his childhood or current life situation outside of the online relationship. Possibly they did, and the footage ended up in the trash, but you can't introduce this level of crazy without some context.

3) I don't believe Sam is Spencer's brother. Possibly an acquaintance. Sam's reaction to this news was nowhere on the spectrum of how a loved one would react to this level of delusion. Not to mention the prospect that the family jewels were about to be freely given away to some random internet imposter.

4) MTV is not going to foot the bill to fly these morons overseas unless they know they are going to have the best-episode-ever. And no way a guy like Spencer happens to have a valid passport lying about.

5) The way Spencer went back and forth between being totes sure it was Katy, to OMG I've been duped, and back again without any emotion or time to ponder, didn't make sense.

5) Catfish can't continue on just airing the typical sad-sack from small-town-comma-flyover-state getting duped by a lesbian posing as a hot dude. They've got to amp up their game, and I suspect they found a couple of losers willing to embarrass themselves on TV for a quick buck.

6) Who was filming the camera crew in order to get that one camera guy's reaction shot? That footage didn't come off of Max's ding dong camera. (Source: I have the same camera)

[TheVoicesToldMeTo]

I have to wonder if any of this was real, or they came up with it to get a free trip to England. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that this guy really thought he was talking to Katy Perry for 6 years. How is it possible in this age of the internet for anybody to believe something like that? 

Not sure if I actually saw this right or if I saw it through the bottom of a Chardonnay filled glass, but I thought I saw the total messages he sent to her was around 2000? If they'd been talking for 6 years, I would expect that number to be a lot higher. Like, that's basically one message per day.

[LoneHaranguer]

20 hours ago, maxineofarc said:

The pop star Katy Perry actually does have a cat named Kitty Purry, so that isn't necessarily a tell.

In that case, wouldn't an account she creates with that name be "owned" by her cat, either centered around it or used by an assistant for publicity purposes? She'd also get the spelling right; it looks like I misspelled what Harriet had, but it still wasn't "Kitty Purry".

1 hour ago, TheVoicesToldMeTo said:

Not sure if I actually saw this right or if I saw it through the bottom of a Chardonnay filled glass, but I thought I saw the total messages he sent to her was around 2000? If they'd been talking for 6 years, I would expect that number to be a lot higher. Like, that's basically one message per day.

That was just the one app he was showing the guys. He mentioned that he sent a lot more through other means.

Whatever happened to Nev & Max getting in touch with the real person to record a message saying that it wasn't them? Seems like MTV could have arranged some sort of connection. Did Katy refuse to be associated with this show? Were the producers afraid Spencer would spoil their free trip to England by refusing to go if he saw one? (they may have underestimated his insanity)

[TheVoicesToldMeTo]

31 minutes ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Whatever happened to Nev & Max getting in touch with the real person to record a message saying that it wasn't them? Seems like MTV could have arranged some sort of connection. Did Katy refuse to be associated with this show? Were the producers afraid Spencer would spoil their free trip to England by refusing to go if he saw one? (they may have underestimated his insanity)

The real Katy Perry can't be associated with this nonsense.  It would attract or further delude more stalkers (I'm sure she has many).  Even though this show airs on MTV, doesn't mean the producers have the pull to get a mega-star to appear.  The biggest "star" I've seen on this show is Kanueche Tran, and only after she had lost her contract with BET. 

[Whimsy]

1 hour ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Whatever happened to Nev & Max getting in touch with the real person to record a message saying that it wasn't them? Seems like MTV could have arranged some sort of connection.

Spencer would just "hear the hidden messages" in her recorded response to him PROVING that it was really her that he was in a relationship with!

[maxineofarc]

My best theory is that Harriet got tired of playing at being Katy Perry (SIX YEARS!) but felt sorry for Spencer, so she called in the show to help give her a buffer and some help in cutting him loose.

[Empress1]

3 hours ago, TheVoicesToldMeTo said:

The real Katy Perry can't be associated with this nonsense.  It would attract or further delude more stalkers (I'm sure she has many).

I absolutely think that Katy Perry recording a video message would only encourage Spencer. I mean, he thought that Katy had pranked him by having Harriet appear. He'd have said some shit like "Katy isn't comfortable talking about this on TV - she doesn't want Orlando Bloom to know," or something. I'd also guess Katy has increased her security by now.

Tara mentioned this in the recap - it's odd to me that they mentioned Orlando Bloom but completely omitted the fact that this "relationship" took place during the time when Katy was married to Russell Brand. Google tells me that Katy and Russell were married from 10/23/10 - 7/14/12. And Spencer said he was Googling Katy, so I'm sure her lavish Indian wedding came up at some point during his Google searches - was Harriet telling him that "Katy" was married to Russell but her heart was really with Spencer? Did Spencer's hope ramp up when Katy and Russell got divorced?

[Sister Havana]

This guy...wow. I couldn't get over that he made her an engagement ring. And that even after meeting and talking to Harriet, he still thought he'd really been talking to Katy Perry. He's definitely the most gullible and/or deluded person I've seen on this show. 

[Skyler Durden]

I can't say anything that hasn't already been said. 

 - There is no WAY that this chucklefuck had a passport just lying around. 

 - It was gross that Max and Nev spent so much time ogling the hot girl as if that made it okay

 - Did anyone detect an undercurrent of masculine rage bubbling beneath the surface? Every once in a while his dumb eyes would flash with something that did not seem safe. 

 - That Convent/hotel is gorge

 - Katy Perry. Gurl. Restraining order YESTERDAY.

[poeticlicensed]

It was gross that Max and Nev spent so much time ogling the hot girl as if that made it okay

That's their reaction to anyone who is either a catfishee or catfish. If they are vaguely attractive, those two always become perplexed, like if someone is attractive, why are they involved in this kind of thing. Like only ugly/fat/____insert word of choice do the catfish thing. Such bullshit. 

 

There is no WAY that this chucklefuck had a passport just lying around.

 

I agree, unless he thought Katy might be calling him to join her at some point, so he got a passport just in case. But I'm guessing this "investigation" went on over many weeks, and it take about 5 weeks to get a passport unless you pay expidited fees, which I'm sure MTV ponied up for, just to capture this trainwreck on film. 

I thought Spencer was scary/creepy and a silent rager. Katy better double down on security. 

[Jade Foxx]

10 hours ago, Skyler Durden said:

I can't say anything that hasn't already been said. 

 - There is no WAY that this chucklefuck had a passport just lying around. 

 - It was gross that Max and Nev spent so much time ogling the hot girl as if that made it okay

 - Did anyone detect an undercurrent of masculine rage bubbling beneath the surface? Every once in a while his dumb eyes would flash with something that did not seem safe. 

 - That Convent/hotel is gorge

 - Katy Perry. Gurl. Restraining order YESTERDAY.

At the end, I said out loud (to no one) in five years or less this dude is going to commit a heinous, violent crime. So I hope he's on somebody's watchlist. 

((Shudder))

[gunderda]

On 8/19/2016 at 10:22 AM, TheVoicesToldMeTo said:

6) Who was filming the camera crew in order to get that one camera guy's reaction shot? That footage didn't come off of Max's ding dong camera. (Source: I have the same camera)

Have you not seen the entourage that shows up on people's lawns??? They have a bunch of cameras following them around. Which makes Max having one pretty ridiculous.

[mamadrama]

They have camera guys filming the camera guys filming Max filming the catfisher/catfishee. For some reason that is just funny to me. 

[lavenderpenguin]

This was such a disturbing episode. On one hand, I was genuinely concerned about Spencer's mental health and had trouble finding his delusions funny, because he seemed so dead serious that he was dating Katy Perry, despite incredibly obvious red flags that he wasn't. Why in the world would Katy Perry call herself Katy Perry online? Or post unreleased versions of her songs on YouTube? None of it would make sense to anyone with half a brain, so I can only imagine that there were some deeper mental issues at play (or that Spencer just really, really wanted to be on TV, and was willing to look insane to do it). I hope he gets the help he needs.

If I were Katy Perry, I'd also be concerned for my safety. He seemed far too convinced that there was a real relationship there, and that would be troubling to me, if I were her. He seems like a potential stalker with a loose grip on reality.

Edited August 26, 2016 by lavenderpenguin

[lavenderpenguin]

On August 22, 2016 at 3:25 PM, poeticlicensed said:

 

That's their reaction to anyone who is either a catfishee or catfish. If they are vaguely attractive, those two always become perplexed, like if someone is attractive, why are they involved in this kind of thing. Like only ugly/fat/____insert word of choice do the catfish thing. Such bullshit. 

I think that's a fair reaction, because it seems rather bizarre to use someone else's picture to catfish people online if you're attractive enough to lure them from your own pictures and/or attractive enough to have no issues dating/meeting folks offline. Although, this ignores the reality that sometimes people are just bored and want to talk with someone -- without any real interest in forging a relationship, romantic or otherwise, with them -- and might want to use a fake name/picture to do so, so that there are no real-life ties to that online connection.

[MaggieG]

Oh my goodness. This was probably the most entertaining episode of this show I have ever watched. Spencer was either batshit insane, completely delusional or just really wanted to be on tv. I also thought it was weird nobody brought up her marriage to Russell Brand. I really wonder if Spencer ever mentioned it to her, like "so I read online that you got married" and what would Harriet's response have been. Spencer had to have known she was married if he was Googling her regularly.

Loved Max's shock at the sound of the phone "is that how phones ring here?" I pretty much loved Max's reactions to everything Spence said.

Also Nev's "we should get some cherry chapstick"

[DollEyes]

On 8/26/2016 at 11:19 AM, MaggieG said:

Oh my goodness. This was probably the most entertaining episode of this show I have ever watched. Spencer was either batshit insane, completely delusional or just really wanted to be on tv. 

  Or all of the above. That Spencer actually believed that he was seriously involved with Katy Perry for six years isn't just crazy; it's downright terrifying. That kind of madness shouldn't be encouraged.  If I were Katy Perry, I'd not only fear for my privacy nor my safety; I'd fear for my life.

Edited August 28, 2016 by DollEyes

[ratgirlagogo]

On 8/26/2016 at 1:39 AM, mamadrama said:

Max filming the catfisher/catfishee

With that wee little camera of his.  Yes that's always been one of the silliest things on the show.  But you gotta love Max and his impatience with bullshit.