Sanford social media lost its collective mind over the weekend amid reports that Nev Schulman, host of MTV’s “Catfish: The TV Show” had been spotted in town, presumably filming an episode of the show which investigates cases of people who pose as someone else online.

La Dolce Vita Pizzeria posted a photo of the host outside its restaurant after a weekend meal, and Schulman himself posted a photo outside downtown’s historic Railroad House on Instagram:

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I love trains!

A post shared by Nev Schulman (@nevschulman) on

If you’re like us and only vaguely aware of what any of this means, Wikipedia has a quick primer about the series:

On the Internet, a “catfish” is a person who creates fake personal profiles on social media sites using someone else’s pictures and false biographical information to pretend to be someone other than themselves. These “catfish” usually intend to trick an unsuspecting person or more into falling in love with them. The term “catfish” is derived from the title of the previously-mentioned 2010 documentary, in which filmmaker Schulman discovers that the woman with whom he’d been carrying on an online relationship had not been honest in describing herself.

MTV and the Catfish film’s producers, Schulman and Joseph, help people who are emotionally entangled with someone they have never met in real life. Each episode is an investigation into whether or not the other participant in the virtual relationship is legitimate or if they are, in fact, a “catfish”. Some couples have been communicating for a few months—others, for years.

Meanwhile, speculation began pretty quickly as to whom Schulman may have been in town to investigate:

And because Wikipedia notes that “it is usually the catfish who make the first contact with MTV” and that “producers then proceed to gather information about the deception from the catfish and contact the hopeful afterwards,” it’s entirely possible that whoever Schulman was seeking in Sanford already knows about his presence.

We of course have no word on a timeline for any Sanford-based episode of the show appearing on MTV, but if and when we do, we’ll make sure you’re up to date. In the meantime, feel free to speculate recklessly about folks’ personal lives in this space.

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