Catfish Season 4: Courtney and Issak

Catfish has had some strange messages and emails sent to them in the past, but this week’s episode was just all around creeper status.

If you don’t remember from last week’s episode, Max is on hiatus. So this week, Nev is being joined by Miss Teen USA winner, Cassidy Wolf.
For those who don’t know, Cassidy was stalked, in her room, via her webcam. This was around the time she had won the Miss Teen USA competition. The stalker blackmailed her for three months and gave her three options to get him to stop.
1. She Skype with him and has to do whatever he says.
2. She Snapchatted with him.
3. She sends him better quality photos of the ones he had already taken (nudes, etc.)
After giving Nev the breakdown of her situation, they begin discussing their next case.
The odd thing was the title of them email and who it came from. Nev’s own production team. The email was titled Confusing Casting Submission. It was sent via MTV’s website to the Catfish team from someone named Courtney. She needed help to meet a guy she met online named Issak. However, when Courtney was contacted by the production team, she had no clue what they were talking about. Her only assumption was that Issak himself sent the email. So, Nev and Cassidy (via FaceTime) video chatted with Courtney to get some background on the situation.
Courtney, a bartender and single mother in Georgia, met Issak on OKCupid, a dating site. Things were going well with her and Issak who admitted to her that he was asexual and not seeking a physical relationship. She gave him her number and they talked. Until one day, Issak sent her a picture and it looked nothing like his profile photo from the dating site. This left a bad taste in Courtney’s mouth so she ended all contact with Issak. Even though, he kept texting her. *Creeper alert*
At this point, Nev hops on a plane from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (he was still on location from last week’s episode) to Atlanta, Georgia where he met up with Cassidy. They drive to Auburn, Georgia to meet up with Cassidy at her home. Now we get a little background on Courtney. She was born in Anchorage, Alaska where her mother was an ice skating coach. Eventually, her family moved to Georgia where she met her son’s father, who is not in their life any longer.
What got Courtney’s attention about Issak, was that he seemed like someone that she could hang out “with no pressure.” However, after she ended contact with him over finding out about the fake profile picture, he kept contacting her.
“I wanna know why,” said Courtney as she was talking to Nev and Cassidy as to why he would impersonate her and contact Catfish.
Nev felt that if Issak was willing to contact Catfish by impersonating Courtney, then he was really prepared to do anything. And for Nev and Cassidy, that was a scary thought.
But first things first, to make sure Issak isn’t someone dangerous.
They take the photo from his OKCupid profile and image search it. That photo pops up under another dating website with the exact same info from the OKCupid site. Next, they take the photo that he sent Courtney and image search that. What pops up is a site for asexuals. He posts on the site that he is asexual, but he is straight and that he likes feet.
Foot fetish alert!
Nev then decides to read the actual email Issak sent to Catfishto begin with. In the email he states, from Courtney’s perspective, “he has a nice photo on his profile, but the picture he texted me is not the same.”
In that email they producers were instructed to “just call me,” because he didn’t have Courtney’s email. But in that message he left his whole name. Using that information, they found a Facebook page called GSUProblems (Georgia State University.) On that page, there was a post about Issak, a GSU student who was on an episode of Judge Mathis, suing a girl for owing him back pay on rent in exchange for foot massages. Also included on that page, were posts from people about him. He was creepy, posted free foot massages on Craigslist and he was weird.
Long story short: Issak is creepy, aggressive and is weird.
Nev leaves a message on the Facebook page asking anyone to contact him about Issak. And some does. A girl named Karla called Nev and told him and Cassidy that she met Issak at her job. Soon after Issak left, he started messaging her on Facebook. Then one day, he showed up at her job looking for her, even after she never responded to his messages nor gave him an indication she was interested. Bonafide creeper status. Knowing all of this, Cassidy and Nev are now even more so concerned for Courtney’s safety.
With this information in hand Nev and Cassidy head to meet Courtney and her mom at the local ice skating rink. *Cue skating montage*
Nev pulls Courtney’s mom to the side and gives her the rundown of the situation, which she was unaware of.
Cassidy and Nev debrief Courtney on all that they found and showed her the messages and posts that they found from/about him. Not only is Courtney scared, Cassidy becomes even more so scared for her. At this point it is up for Courtney to decide whether or not she wants to meet up with Issak and confront him. But she is concerned whether or not Issak would listen to what she had to say and would he finally leave her alone.
Back at Nev’s hotel room in Atlanta, Cassidy and Nev discuss what could possibly happen. Cassidy, if she was in Courtney’s position, said she wouldn’t want to meet up with Issak.
In the end Nev calls Courtney and she decides to meet up with Issak. She is admittedly scared, but knows that she wants to meet him to make sure he understands that she is not interested face to face
Nev calls Issak to set up the meeting. He knows why Nev is calling and stated that he didn’t know what else to do in order to get Courtney to meet up with him.
“I just want one chance, one date, one conversation.”
It’s clear that he doesn’t get the implications of this meet and greet. It’s not what he is expecting but he thinks otherwise. Nev summed up Issak’s actions in two words: borderline obsessive.
They decide to meet at Mulberry Park. On the drive there, Courtney admits that she is concerned. Issak scares people. They arrive at the park and Issak texts Nev that his there waiting by the pond. As they walk closer to Issak, Courtney becomes nervous and appears slightly panicked. Cassidy gives her words of encouragement and they finally arrive to meet Issak face to face.
The meeting is extremely awkward.
So, why did Issak post a photo on his profiles that wasn’t him? According to Issak, a massage therapy student, he was uncomfortable with putting his photos on the internet. He thought that the guy in the pictures he chose looked enough like him to get by. He also stated, that what he liked most about Courtney, aside from the fact that she was beautiful, was that he could open up to her. But when she stopped talking to him, his only option to get to finally meet her was to impersonate her to the producers of Catfish. He simply wanted a nonsexual relationship with a lovely woman.
Courtney doesn’t say anything, a fact that Issak quickly picks up on. Nev and Cassidy take her aside and let her continue to take in all that Issak had said.
After a few moments, the three return back to where Issak is standing and Courtney explains to Issak that what he did was wrong. Which he agreed with. She tells him that initially, she was willing to meet and hangout with him, until he deceived her with his profile picture, and that any chance of them becoming friends was destroyed when he impersonated her. He apologized and she forgives him, but not before making it clear that she never wants to hear from him again.
End of conversation.
As Courtney, Nev and Cassidy walk away, Courtney reveals that she feels bad for Issak. It’s clear that he has been shunned and perceived as weird, but that is no excuse for what he did.
In the car, Cassidy becomes emotional. For her, this experience made her remember what happened to her and that Issak was portraying some of the traits that her stalker had.
After Cassidy calms down, Nev asks Courtney was there anything more she needed to know, a question she replied with a simple “no.”
But Nev, he wasn’t done. And he wanted to know more. So, after speaking with one of the producers they call Issak and agree to meet up at a coffee shop.
The goal: to make sure he never does this to anyone else again.
When they meet, Cassidy gives Issak the breakdown of her situation; he says “I hope I don’t make you look at me that way.” But he does.
Issak gives Nev and Cassidy the background on his life and how he knew he was asexual. He liked girls, but he never saw them sexually. For him, sex was a means to make a baby, not for pleasure. He didn’t find that out until he was 20 years old! It was clear he grew up extremely sheltered. Nev asks him about everything they found out about him from the Facebook page and the phone call with Karla. He has an answer for everything. A way to make him look less creepy.
After the conversation with Issak, Nev believes that, this case had come to a happy conclusion.
Three months later, Nev FaceTimes with Cassidy and gets an update with Courtney. She hasn’t heard from Issak and the whole experience put her off from online dating.
As far as, Issak is concerned?
Well, Nev and Cassidy Facetimed him as well. He has removed all the fake photos from his online dating profiles and he finished school to receive his degree in massage therapy.

Credit: Stephen Lovekin: gettyimages.com