BY DC CUEVA
The TV version of the eye-opening documentary film Catfish premiered in the late fall of 2012, and has been witness to a litany of jaw-dropping reveals, moments and discoveries in its travels across this broad country of ours. It made the subject of the docu-movie that inspired the show, Nev Schulman, and his longtime traveling companion of six years, Max Joseph, internet and television icons in helping to discover a part of the digital world that, until the TV show's debut, had not been focused on much: someone using a false online identity to dupe users who they thought they were in an online romance with, often from hundreds and even thousands of miles away.
This Tuesday sees the debut of a brand new series born out of this internet phenomenon, but this time the focus shifts slightly to a new subject, but following along the lines of the show it was inspired by. The cameras will turn from the world of online romance to a part of the digital landscape that has not had as much attention... but as it was when Catfish debuted, it will have the spot of airing after Teen Mom 2 (with a slightly new cast in Young & Pregnant's Jade Cline replacing Jenelle Evans) to offer a platform to showcase this new part of the world that will be discovered: the act of being Ghosted.
When Ghosted: Love Gone Missing premieres this coming week, it will be on the same night as the finale of the last show of the 2019 trilogy of the Bachelor Nation franchise in Bachelor in Paradise, where Ex On The Beach and Challenge alum Chase McNary is a latecomer to the drama in Mexico. But those who want to keep company with those who have been given - and given out - roses until the cycle begins again in the new year will be in good company: JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers from Chase's Bachelorette season on CNBC's Cash Pad, and a co-host of this Ghosted show.
On the same season of The Bachelor in 2017 that produced future EOTB Season 1 single Jasmine Goode, Rachel was given a first impression rose from leading man Nick Viall and got another rose from him after a challenge involving Olympians Carl Lewis and Allyson Felix. One-on-one dates in New Orleans and Bimini would soon follow for her, as Rachel made it all the way to just before the fantasy suite stage in Finland, where she was eliminated in 3rd place, but that was not the end.
Midway through that quest for love, Rachel was named the first African American Bachelorette in the show's history, and the summer of 2017 saw her have the most diverse set of suitors the franchise has ever had. Her season included cameos from Ellen DeGeneres, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, and part-time Challenge enthusiast & NBA icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In the end, Rachel chose Miami area chiropractor Bryan Abasolo as her man, and it was last month that they got married.
In 2011, Columbia signed him and released two mixtapes in what's described as genre-blending: rapping, singing and being labeled both a hip-hop and synthpop artist, a result of him having been exposed to most every genre growing up. Travis received a 2012 Best New Artist nod at the VMAs for emerging artists, the MTVU Woodies, and soon came more EP's and collaborations with Mike Posner, Sammy Adams, and tours with We the Kings, Breathe Carolina and The Ready Set. For his single "Young and Stupid," he collab'ed with T.I. and had Tyler Posey and Pete Davidson appear in his video, and even worked with the same now-deposed producer who shamed Kesha, Dr. Luke.
In 2015, MTV.com talked to Travis, where he got to spill some secrets about him including, when he was forced to go to a Britney Spears concert for his first live music experience and when he actually got mugged by a old man and suffered a bloody nose... a familiar sight for someone who got beat down playing in a hockey game. He also loves coffee, Fruit Roll-Ups, the cult favorite movie Wet Hot American Summer, and had a run-in with Robert Herjavec from Shark Tank.
Both our hosts have found the now ubiquitous world of podcasting as a new career... with - you guessed it - Bachelor Nation being the focus of Lindsay's discussions on all things roses and romance. But earlier this summer, she got together with Travis on his podcast ADHD, one of the many who've joined him in Travis' evolution to web hosting, and which have seen David Dobrik, Logan Paul and Yungblud also sit across from him as guests.
When she joined him in June, the Bachelorette shared with the host her experiences of having been ghosted herself, as detailed below in both the audio and video versions of what would be their first time working together in what became the pick-up spot of the journey that begins next week.
And in preseason videos for this season, Travis and Lindsay got to share their stories, which are both odd and will no doubt get us laughing about their experiences.
For Travis, he was 18 when he got an intriguing message from a Canadian girl living south of the border, and who joked to him about wanting to get married in Vegas. But when they got together in Sin City, he discovered that it was not her, and he lost his mind... but it was when they decided to get matching tattoos, Travis left her at the parlor as he went to the airport.
And for Lindsay, ten years ago she dated a man long-distance, and things went very well for the both of them. On New Year's Eve 2009, a friend told her that everyone that they knew had kids, except her boyfriend... and Lindsay then called her man where he told her that he was shopping with his baby & baby mama. She cried, but took him back for a year before he deserted her.
The definition of "ghosting" reads as follows: a slang term in the digital dictionary where it's described as, "an act of ending a relationship by abruptly cutting off communication without any explanation." It's, in a way, the digital equivalent of a guy anticipating a first date with his girl, only for her to not show up last minute, and having to wait days for an answer as to what happened.
Ghosted will follow in that same premise as Catfish, and will have plenty of the same aspects: the hosts meeting the subject who sent MTV their story, and all of the investigative jaunts that take place in between when the story begins, and when it all climaxes in the end. The series will see Rachel and Travis and the person distraught by their experience track down and confront former lovers, family and friends to try and find out why they disappeared from their lives and their timelines.
A lot of people have had to go through this sobering feeling of someone you know suddenly not replying either digitally or in person... and often, closure doesn't happen. That's the premise of this show as real stories from real people of them being "ghosted" will play out... and understandably, those in social land and in the web community have showed their distaste for what they see as MTV getting to promote stalking. But for the real answers, they'll have to see for themselves.
Below, a first look at the season of Ghosted: Love Gone Missing, which debuts this Tuesday with back to back episodes at 9PM, which follows the season premiere of Teen Mom 2 on its new night.
And for a limited time before it debuts in a few days, a full-episode sneak peek of Ghosted, where Rachel and Travis head to the Chicago suburb of Aurora, IL to meet a man named Resee, and they will help him try to find out why his best friend ghosted him and moved out west.
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