Max Joseph was an integral part of Catfish: The TV Show from the beginning, but he couldn't resist the call of other opportunities beckoning his name.
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00:00Max Joseph was an integral part of Catfish the TV show from the beginning,
00:04but he couldn't resist the call of other opportunities beckoning his name.
00:08When MTV's Catfish debuted in 2012, the internet dating landscape was a somewhat simpler,
00:13though no less dangerous, place. While dating apps were still in their relative infancy,
00:18social media had already long served as a platform where the line between bending the
00:22truth and all-out fraud wasn't just thin, but nearly invisible. After documenting his own
00:28experience with a catfish in the 2010 Catfish movie, co-host Nev Schulman was inspired to
00:33create the TV show. While a major part of the series' appeal comes from each episode's revelations
00:38about the catfishes and their targets, it also owes a huge debt to the other co-host, Max Joseph.
00:43For nearly seven seasons, Joseph acted as Schulman's sardonic investigative partner,
00:48approaching each case with skepticism that balanced out Schulman's optimism.
00:52Then, in 2018, Joseph exited the series for good. From a PR standpoint, his timing couldn't
00:57have been worse, as that same year, MTV suspended production of Catfish and conducted an investigation
01:03into allegations of sexual misconduct against Schulman. While the network found the accusations
01:07baseless, it was all too easy to suspect a connection between the two events.
01:11But the truth is that Joseph's departure had little to do with the show itself.
01:15He announced his departure from Catfish in a lengthy Instagram post, as he revealed,
01:19For a while now I have been straddling two careers as TV host and filmmaker and,
01:24while this level of busyness is a dream come true, my life can no longer sustain it.
01:29This is it. We gotta say goodbye. I could sit here all day.
01:31I don't want it.
01:32Not saying goodbye, but I think we gotta do it."
01:34Long before Catfish, Joseph was directing, filming, editing, and even starring in various
01:39short films and documentaries. In 2008, he made his directorial debut with the short
01:44state-of-the-economy Oil Addiction. He then went on to create a series of socially-conscious
01:49documentary shorts that covered a range of topics, from the environment to education
01:53to immigration. In 2015, he took a hiatus from Catfish to complete his feature directorial debut,
01:59We Are Your Friends. Though it starred Zac Efron, it failed to impress either critics or audiences.
02:05Despite that disappointment, Joseph continued to work on various side
02:08projects during and after his final season of Catfish. In 2017, he created a series of
02:13documentary shorts, including the ironically titled Dicks, Do You Need to Be One to Be a
02:18Successful Leader?, and Bookstores, How to Read More in the Golden Age of Content.
02:22Both are part of his Charismatic Thinker series, which he actually shot and edited
02:26before his Catfish exit. Joseph was commissioned to create the shorts by Vero, a would-be Instagram
02:31rival that promises users several things that aren't exactly possible to guarantee on social
02:36media, like transparency, trust, and, quote, meaningful connections. But then, in 2021,
02:42Joseph re-embraced his social media wariness with a new documentary called 15 Minutes of Shame.
02:47Directed by Joseph and executive produced by Monica Lewinsky, the film explores public
02:52shaming in the 21st century and investigates the many ways in which the internet has made
02:56it even easier. Unlike the many relationships gone awry on Catfish, the connection between
03:01Max Joseph and the show was eventually renewed as he returned to the series for its ninth season
03:05to co-host an episode. He stepped in for Cami Crawford, who co-helmed the show from 2018 onward
03:11and announced her own impending departure in October 2024. Joseph's return was heavily hyped
03:16by MTV, which aired promos calling Season 9 the season you've been...baiting for.
03:21Outside of Catfish, Joseph has continued to keep himself busy as a documentarian.
03:2615 Minutes of Shame debuted on Max in 2021, and he also directed a miniseries called Happiness.
03:31There's no word about whether or not he'll be back for Catfish's tenth season,
03:35or if he could even step up to replace Crawford on a more permanent basis. But either way,
03:39it seems safe to say that there are no hard feelings between Joseph and his former employer.
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