[1] The show presents the "hopeful" as the one who initiates contact in an attempt to discover the true identity of their online romance, or "catfish".

The term has since come to be used to refer to someone who creates a fake personal profile on social sites using someone else's pictures and false biographical information to pretend to be someone else, usually intending to trick someone into falling in love with them.

In each episode, Schulman and his co-host, first receive a request by someone who is emotionally entangled with someone they have never met in real life.

Then they usually travel to the person's residence and do online research to try to uncover the truth about whether the other participant in the virtual relationship is legitimate or a "catfish", and make them meet either way.

For legal reasons, everyone involved in the series signs a contract agreeing to appear on camera before the episode enters production.

In Season 3's Miranda and Camryn episode, the catfish changed their mind about meeting the hopeful, and appeared only by Skype.

They want to come clean, but they fear if they simply told the truth, the other person would [...] be very upset that they've been lied to and deceived, and likely discard them.

And so they're hopeful that by coming on the show [...] maybe we can facilitate some kind of amicable exchange, that they can be heard, explain themselves in a more objective and non-judgmental way.

Seeking to pursue a directing career, Joseph left the series and his last episode aired on August 22, 2018.

[11][12] For the remaining episodes of the seventh season that aired in 2019, he was replaced by alternate presenters, including singer Elle King, model Selita Ebanks,[13] basketball player Nick Young, actress Kimiko Glenn, model Slick Woods, actress Tallulah Willis, rapper Machine Gun Kelly, and presenter Kamie Crawford.

Eventually Kamie Crawford was selected to officially become part of the hosting duo in the show's 8th season alongside Schulman.

Executive producer Tom Forman stresses that the TV version won't just tell "stories of deception.

[27][28][29] In January 2024, Catfish UK host Oobah Butler announced that the show was not renewed for a fourth season.