Nev Schulman and Max Joseph say third season of Catfish will be darkest yet

Catfish‘s Nev Schulman and Max Joseph spent the past two seasons of the popular MTV show helping desperate romantics track down their supposed soul mates. Most of the stories ended with heartbreak and opportunities for self-growth… But, whenever the episodes began to veer too far into “predictable” territory, a curveball was thrown, riveting the hosts, the participants and the viewers.

For the third season of Catfish, Nev and Max promise even more twists and turns.

“This season we have family members catfishing each other, celebrities hunting down their super-fan stalkers, Instagram romance, people posing as famous music producers and scams resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of dollars,” Nev said in a press release. “The lies, love, betrayals and surprises will not only make you think twice about online love, but will completely change the way you think about society.”

Max Joseph further explained to Buzzfeed this season will transcend the realm of romantic catfish: “In some of these instances, people have catfished an entire town. There’s also a lot more cyberbullying this season as well, and people who are using catfish profiles for a lot of different motives, not just to seduce people and fall in love with people, but also to use them and to turn people against each other.”

The trailer for the season definitely gives us a look at the curveballs to come, like when Tracie Thoms seems baffled by someone (presumably) pretending to have cancer. After the preview was released, she tweeted “As you can see, this season of Catfish is NOT just about online dating.”

Although the season delves into darker topics than ever before, Nev said he was encouraged to see so many people getting smarter with their online interactions — even though the flip side is that catfishers have also grown more strategic.

“[They] involve real people, and connect them to each other and get physical things to happen — people to go places, money to be sent. It’s not just the romantic catfish anymore,” Nev said. “It’s really about the many different ways people can, when they put their minds to it, manipulate and take advantage of other people in the real world using the internet.”

The third season of Catfish begins on MTV at 10/9c on Wednesday, May 7. Before then, MTV will air a new Catfish: Untold Stories special on April 30 at 10/9c.