A divorcee hired MTV catfish experts to investigate her online lover and says it gave her the “tools she needs” to find her “happy ending” - despite being duped. Angela Morone, 42, was excited when a stranger called Gary Natsu, who claimed he was 35, reached out to her on Instagram in June 2022 - after she ended her 20-year marriage.
But the mum-of-three became concerned when 'Gary' didn’t show up for their first date and withheld information about himself. Angela got in touch with MTV Catfish and the team agreed to investigate ‘Gary’.
They discovered ‘Gary’ was in fact a 33-year-old man named Justin and the pair met and came face-to-face on the show. Justin had used the fake name Gary Natsu - a character from Pokemon - and lied about being "outgoing" but looked the same as his pictures, it was revealed.
But Angela says the pair have remained in contact as friends and she doesn't regret doing the show. Angela, an actress, said: “I didn’t get a catfish on appearance. I got catfished on personality. He was shaking with fear when he met me.
“I thought he was attractive and cute. We hugged. I felt bad for him. It was brave of him to show up. I’m happy I did the show. It’s made me comfortable about speaking to people online.”
Angela was exclusively talking to 'Gary' when he reached out after seeing her on Instagram. The pair would text and call all the time and arranged to meet up in July 2022.
But when 'Gary' was a no-show Angela became suspicious. She said: "He would say 'good morning' every day. He thought I was attractive. I thought he was very interested in me.
"We were going to pursue something intimate. When he didn't turn up, I messaged, and he said: 'I was there. Where were you?'
"I emailed MTV Catfish right away. I wanted to make this was real and I was safe."
MTV catfish came back to Angela after a couple of weeks and started to investigate ‘Gary’. In October 2022 they filmed Angela’s story – breaking down her concerns, giving her advice on online dating and finally letting her come face to face with ‘Gary’.
She said they filmed four days of footage which was edited together for the 40-minute show. Experts Nev Schulman and Shan Boodram revealed to Angela that Gary’s real name was Justin after finding him on Facebook and that he had been through a divorce.
She said: “I found out he was only 33 – and had been through a divorce – something he hadn’t told me. He looks at me and thinks I’m a beautiful actress.
“But I have low self-esteem too. He held back his hobbies. He was a keyboard warrior. He seemed outgoing but really he was shy.”
Angela is still in contact with Justin and said she has offered to meet up with him to help him through the experience. The mum says her time on the show was “positive” and she “learnt a lot about myself”.
She said: “I want to help other people. There are plenty of divorced people who are starting second life. They are not familiar with the different apps and ways people can contact you – it’s overwhelming. There are lots of dishonest people out there. It’s very scary.
“But they showed me to be more direct. They gave me different ways to look people up – just like Googling someone’s name. If I’d put Gary’s name in, I would have seen it was a character.
“I was afraid to do that at the time. I didn’t want to find out it was fake.”
Angela says nothing about the show was “fake” or scripted and said she was happy with how she was portrayed. The mum is still single but hopes to “settle down” in the future. Angela said: “The show is very real. Half of the stuff we talk about they edit out to make the TV programme – but it’s all factual.
“The show I have all the tools I need. I want to fall in love and want a happy ending.”
Speaking on MTV Catfish when he met Angela, Justin said: "Going though ending a previous relationship has put me in a certain spot where I’m just figuring my next step in life. I try not to expect to much out of people to avoid being hurt so I'm in a middle ground of I find someone to talk to, we talk and it just be something where I’m just not looking for anything or accepting anything.
"I’ve always been like this – even with my close friends I don’t always go though with decisions. Not that lied about anything.
"That is genuinely me but right now I just don’t know what I think. I don’t have any concrete idea of where I am going.
"I value our chatting and our friendship."
Justin declined to comment.
