Catfish‘s Nev Schulman calls his lower-back tattoo a “champ stamp,” but it isn’t a term of endearment. In fact, the regrettable ink embarrasses him on a daily basis.
Shortly after Catfish: The Movie came out in 2010, Nev said the one thing he wished brother Ariel Schulman and friend Henry Joost had left out was a quick shot of Nev’s tattoo.
“The one thing I probably asked to have removed more than once was the shot of my tramp stamp, because I’m so embarrassed,” he told AV Club.
But, Ariel and Henry didn’t comply — and we all got a glimpse of Nev’s champ stamp.
In the time since, Nev reluctantly brought up the tattoo a few more times. Most recently, he told Us Weekly he got the champ stamp when he was just 17.
“I regret it every day,” he said, adding he made other regrettable fashion choices like frosted tips and two piercing in his left ear… Those just happened to be less permanent.
Nev also gave Andy Cohen and Kelly Killoren-Bensimon (and the viewing American public) a personal view of the tattoo during a June episode of Watch What Happens Live.
Even though the tattoo still embarrasses him, Nev said he eventually realized the shot of it served a purpose in the original Catfish movie.
“I’m embarrassed about it and I hate it,” he told DIY. “That’s exactly why it should be in the movie, because it’s a little bit about who I am, and it’s embarrassing.”
