Catfish Season 4 Episode 1 Recap: “Milwaukee Catfish Season”

On the Season 4 premiere of MTV’s Catfish, Nev heads out to the good ol’ town of Milwaukee, WI. Now I’m not sure if this is the best recognition for Wisconsin but hey, it puts the state on the radar. Since Max was busy filming a movie with Zac Efron while the shooting for Catfish began, Nev enlisted some celebrity backup for the first five episodes. On this episode, Nev has recruited the help of radio and TV personality Charlamagne. Since Charlamagne is a huge fan of the show, he knows how crazy these investigations can get and can’t wait to see what they unveil.

Nev and Charlamagne get the story started by reading an email from Miracle, a 26-year-old Milwaukee native. She’s fallen head over heels for a guy named Javonni who randomly sent her a message on Instagram. The two seemed to hit it off pretty well so they exchanged phone numbers and began texting nonstop. Javonni is a Milwaukee native himself and recently moved to Atlanta to pursue his music producing career. He told Miracle that he had just signed with rapper T.I. and was forced to travel back and forth between the two cities due to his sister’s battle with lupus. Miracle has only spoken with Javonni on the phone three times and has never video-chatted with him. His excuse for not video chatting was that he can never remember his login to the web sites. Clearly Miracle is blinded by love because that is the most obvious lie I’ve heard in a while. Even Charlamagne had a good laugh with that one.

Miracle’s name truly matches the situation of this particular catfishing process on more than one level. For one, once he and Nev start video chatting with her, Charlamagne recognizes Miracle from an appearance he had just been at a few weeks earlier in Milwaukee. He believes it was a sign for him to be assigned to this mission. Miracle then begins to explain the reasoning behind her name. Miracle’s mother was addicted to drugs while pregnant with her and thought that the bump in her belly was a tumor. She was surprised to find out she was pregnant once Miracle came into the world. I’m not exactly sure how one mistakes a baby for a tumor growing for nine months without getting it checked out, but Miracle says that her mother is still struggling with her addiction. It hasn’t stopped Miracle from getting on in her own life. Once Miracle had a child of her own, she realized she had to step up and become a positive role model for her daughter.

Clearly Miracle lives up to her name and doesn’t deserve to be catfished.

After the heartwarming moment, it’s time for Charlamagne to see Nev in action. It’s surprising to Charlamagne that all Nev really needs to uncover the truth is a laptop and some internet access. Nev goes through the usual rundown, but comes up empty-handed, so he calls Max. After explaining the story to Max, the wise Silver Fox advises Nev to try looking up Jovanni’s number on People Smart. Turns out that was the one thing needed to get a break in the story.

They find out that the number is registered to a man named Rickie Witherspoon who also lives in Milwaukee. They search for his social media accounts and end up finding a music video with Rickie talking on it. In order to close in the deal for Miracle, Nev comes up with one of the most clever uses for social media: He asks Charlamagne to post a photo of Jovanni on his social media accounts and ask for people’s help in finding him, so he could work with him on some music. Since Charlamagne has such a large following — and they don’t know that he’s working with Nev — he quickly gets the response they were looking for. Someone responded with the name and profile of the real person in the Jovanni photo. Turns out it’s not “Rickie Witherspoon.” Shocker!

Nev and Charlamagne show Miracle all the evidence they’ve found on Jovanni and she’s speechless. She doesn’t recognize the name or man in the Rickie Witherspoon photos, but she does recognize his address. She tells the guys that his address is within walking distance of her house. Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a creepy stalker story at all! Nev plays the video of Rickie for Miracle, hoping she’d recognize his voice. However, Miracle completely denies that voice is Jovanni’s. I’m on Charlamagne’s side when he says Miracle is only saying it’s not Jovanni’s voice because she doesn’t want it to be.

The real guy in the photos, Johnathon, agrees to video chat with Nev. He explains the situation to Johnathon and asks if he’s ever known anyone from Milwaukee. Johnathon says he doesn’t, but he’s sorry for what has happened to Miracle.

Since all the signs are pointing to Rickie at this time, Nev gives him a call and asks to meet up with him. Rickie seems like he wants to come forward and tell the truth, but his comment about “wanting this thing to be over” doesn’t sound too promising for hapy ending. He doesn’t confess over the phone that he’s indeed Rickie, but he texts Nev the same address that’s linked to Rickie for their meet-up. And when they show up to the address, Rickie comes out to greet everyone but quickly and rudely rushes back inside the house, instructing the gang to follow him inside because he’s super busy with something. Nev follows him inside in order to get down to the bottom of the story.

Shortly after everyone is inside, a girl comes from around the corner and introduces herself as Kara — AKA Jovanni. Definitely didn’t see that one coming!

Kara says she started the Jovanni page in order to keep tabs on one of her best friend’s boyfriend’s mistress. Got that? She was hoping the fake Jovanni page would make the girl give out all her information. When Miracle wanted to talk, Kara recruited her husband Rickie into her web of lies. I see who wears the pants in this relationship.

Kara does mention that she has lupus and because of that she’s not able to work, giving her plenty of free time on her hands to create mischief. She enjoyed Miracle’s company via the texts so she kept the relationship going.

Miracle has heard enough and starts to reach past her boiling point— as she’s entitled to. Miracle tries to defend herself but Kara doesn’t seem to care to hear what negative things she has to say about her. Some words are exchanged and by the end of the conversation, Kara calls Miracle “basic.” Ouch, you really didn’t want to go there Kara. Some other comical words are exchanged as they’re leaving such as Kara’s hair costing around seven dollars a pack. In the end, tomorrow is a new day for the two ladies and Nev realizes that they could both benefit from this.

The next morning he has the two ladies sit down and talk about their feelings like civilized women. Turns out they both feel sorry for the way they treated each other and they would like to become friends in the future. I never would’ve thought these two would actually try becoming friends after what happened. I’ll be on the lookout for the two besties whenever I’m in Milwaukee.

What were your thoughts on the premiere episode of season four of Catfish? Do you think Nev will be able to handle the show without Max? Is there a guest you’re most looking forward to seeing on the show? I can’t wait to see Tyler Oakley’s reaction to all this Catfish drama! Would you have forgiven Kara and tried to become friends after what she did? I still can’t believe her husband allowed all of this to happen! Leave your thoughts in the comments.

New episodes of Catfish premiere Wednesday nights at 10/9CT on MTV.

Photos: MTV