‘Catfish: The TV Show’ has been cancelled after nine seasons

Catfish: The TV Show has been cancelled by MTV after nine seasons.

The reality show, which was hosted by Nev Schulman and investigated deceptive online relationships, will continue to air episodes from its current back catalogue on the network, but producers have been told to look elsewhere if they want to move forward, according to Variety.

The series is based on Schulman’s 2010 documentary of the same name, which coined the term catfish to describe someone who uses a false identity or stolen photos to deceive others on the internet.

Developed by Schulman alongside Ariel Schulman and Max Joseph, the reality show made its debut in 2012 on MTV and ended with season nine in July last year.

Schulman and Joseph co-hosted the show for its first seven seasons before Joseph was replaced by a rotating host of presenters, including Elle King, Nick Young and Machine Gun Kelly.

Kamie Crawford then joined Schulman as a permanent co-host in 2018, for 96 episodes before she exited the reality show last October. The series also spawned a series of spin-offs in the UK, Colombia, Chile, Brazil and Mexico.

Catfish: The Podcast was also launched in 2020, which ran for two seasons.

When season nine ended, the status of the show was up in the air, with MTV neither renewing or cancelling the series at the time following the network’s merger with Paramount.

The show helped recently spawn the true crime Netflix documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, which tells the story of Lauryn Licari, a teenage girl who was harassed and cyberbullied by someone texting her and her boyfriend using an unknown number.

As for Schulman, the host recently announced that he had earned his real estate broker’s licence and posted on social media that he is looking forward to helping individuals buy and sell property in New York in the coming months.