BAY CITY, MI - A TV producer and host famous for catching ‘catfish’ was spotted over the weekend in Bay City.
Nev Schulman of MTV’s Catfish was seen enjoying the sites and sounds of Bay City and interacting with the locals. Schulman doesn’t catch normal catfish like the Saginaw River channel cats on his show. Instead, Schulman deals in busting unscrupulous daters who partake in ‘catfishing’. According to MTV, Catfish is a show where Schulman teams up with Max Joseph and Kamie Crawford to search for the truth behind the internet’s most suspicious relationships, where the truth is stranger than fiction, and the people on the other side of the screen are not always what they seem.
Schulman was posting on social media platforms Instagram and Facebook about his Bay City visit, cueing in residents to the Catfish host’s presence on April 10 and 11. Schulman posted a video of him taking a spin on a Bird scooter along with photos and clips of the vibrant sunrise that painted Bay City’s skies on social media.
“I’m loving it, loving Bay City, Michigan. Love Michigan. Just having a great day,” said Schulman in the video.
Schulman also posted pictures of him interacting with staff at the Old City Hall restaurant downtown. He included a sunset picture of the Third Street Star Bridge with the caption “Small Town America”, followed by hearts. He happened to run into Marjo Jaroch while shopping at the Bay Antique Center on Monday. Jaroch is not only the executive director at Bay City’s Downtown Management Board and Downtown Development Authority - she’s also a huge Schulman fan.
“I’ve been a fan of Nev since the original documentary ‘Catfish’ when Nev chased down a woman he had been speaking to in Ishpeming. Michigan has remained a hot spot for Catfish,” she said.
Schulman’s visit prompted quite the buzz in Bay City and beyond on social media. For example, Jaroch said that Schulman’s picture of the Third Street Star Bridge was liked 5.6K times and shared 870 times in the first 12 hours that it was up.
Jaroch was right - this is not the first time that Schulman and the Catfish crew have visited the Saginaw Bay area. In 2016, crews were spotted filming an episode in Saginaw. The episode aired in 2017 and featured the story of Saginaw resident Alante Shelby.
While it’s not clear where and if crews were filming in town at the time and, if so, who the possible catfishing victim is, Bay City greeted Schulman with hospitality.
“Nev was just as kind and present in person as he appears to be on the TV show,” said Jaroch. “We didn’t ask what he was doing in town, just about how great of a city Bay City is, and how beautiful his run had been that morning.”
MTV and Schulman were not able to be reached for comment.
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