Manti T'eo Netflix Doc - The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist

[stuvian]

I am continuing this discussion from the Netflix thread as I believe this topic deserves its own thread.

 

I cam away very angry feeling that Te'o had had his life ruined by the catfish. He was never the same afterward

[Simon]

9 minutes ago, stuvian said:

I am continuing this discussion from the Netflix thread as I believe this topic deserves its own thread.

 

I cam away very angry feeling that Te'o had had his life ruined by the catfish. He was never the same afterward

 

He always seemed like a nice kid but if his real life was "ruined" by social media nonsense, he's got bigger personal issues that go beyond getting scammed.

[EmotionallyUnstable]

It was a well done program. 
 

I remember watching that National Championship game and praying we didn’t draft Te’o. Thanks god we lucked out, moved back to 16 and picked up EJ Manuel instead! 
 

in all seriousness, I only knew one side of the story. Interesting to hear/see some good journalism on his and the perpetrators perspectives. 

[BillsPride12]

Keep hearing excellent reviews on this Doc.  Haven't gotten a chance to watch it yet but I imagine the details of what actually happened have to be pretty wild.  Will definitely be checking back in this thread after I watch it.

[LeGOATski]

that ***** was funny as hell

[muppy]

I at first was shocked that a guy like T'eo felt he had to look beyond what I am sure would be a bevy of smart accomplished women who attended the same University of Notre Dame to go online for a relationship? I'm not judging him but I feel badly for him. Very illuminating into this whole "Catfish" ing  social disease. To be able to fake and play off something that you aren't to  dupe a person into a relationship? It's very shallow and selfish imo

 

Hubby and I will watch it together. He graduated from Notre Dame so was VERY aware of this entire debacle.

 

m

[Gugny]

A friend of mine was telling me about this documentary just the other night.  Said it was great.  Apparently, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo (now a transgender woman going by Naya) went through great lengths to pull the catfishing off.  Pretty twisted.

 

https://nypost.com/2022/08/17/how-i-catfished-manti-teo-and-changed-our-lives-forever/

 

 

[PetermansRedemption]

15 minutes ago, Gugny said:

A friend of mine was telling me about this documentary just the other night.  Said it was great.  Apparently, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo (now a transgender woman going by Naya) went through great lengths to pull the catfishing off.  Pretty twisted.

 

https://nypost.com/2022/08/17/how-i-catfished-manti-teo-and-changed-our-lives-forever/

 

 

Wasn’t there a Tuiasosopo in the NFL about 10 years ago? I specifically remember playing madden and always putting him in as my QB because he had great speed. 
 

EDIT: just looked it up. Marques Tuiasosopo is who I was thinking of. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by PetermansRedemption

[aristocrat]

6 minutes ago, PetermansRedemption said:

Wasn’t there a Tuiasosopo in the NFL about 10 years ago? I specifically remember playing madden and always putting him in as my QB because he had great speed. 
 

EDIT: just looked it up. Marques Tuiasosopo is who I was thinking of. 

 

Yes, the scammer had like 5 relatives in the league over the last few decades. He played high school ball and was pretty good but hated it. 

 

Like I said in the other thread I could imagine a 6 month to maybe a year long relationship but 3 years of never meeting?  The catfisher had a great scam going but 3 years just seems like at some point he'd wise up but that never happened.  It messed with his head it ruined his NFL career. Lost all his confidence in who he was. 

[Brand J]

I just couldn’t see how Manti held an online relationship with this person for 3 years and not once could “Lennay” FaceTime with him. 3 months of dodging person to person talks, sure, but 3 years??

[Augie]

Some time well before 3 years I would have “expectations” that exceeded anything he experienced. 

[Bill from NYC]

18 hours ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

 

I remember watching that National Championship game and praying we didn’t draft Te’o. Thanks god we lucked out, moved back to 16 and picked up EJ Manuel instead! 
 

You are SO right. I saw that game and leading into it, all I kept hearing was how great he was. The kid was steamrolled and trampled repeatedly. At one point it appeared as if he would be seriously injured. 

18 hours ago, Simon said:

 

He always seemed like a nice kid but if his real life was "ruined" by social media nonsense, he's got bigger personal issues that go beyond getting scammed.

Are any other personal issues discussed in the film?

 

I'm going to check it out tonight! 

[Bill from NYC]

OK, so I watched it and am very curious as to what you folks believe. 

 

I would say that I am roughly 60/40 in terms of believing the 2 versions (his and the (catfisher's). 

 

Manti becomes somewhat believable due to his religious and seemingly sheltered background. He really does seem like a nice and honest person.  That said, the girl in the picture was a utter 10 imo.  She looked like a supermodel in every picture. At his age, how many of you would have waited 3 years to hook up with someone THAT beautiful who is telling you night after night that she loves you? I mean really.  It does provide some serious doubt, at least to me.

 

Again, I hope that others do chime in with opinions.

[Not at the table Karlos]

On 8/21/2022 at 8:03 AM, Bill from NYC said:

OK, so I watched it and am very curious as to what you folks believe. 

 

I would say that I am roughly 60/40 in terms of believing the 2 versions (his and the (catfisher's). 

 

Manti becomes somewhat believable due to his religious and seemingly sheltered background. He really does seem like a nice and honest person.  That said, the girl in the picture was a utter 10 imo.  She looked like a supermodel in every picture. At his age, how many of you would have waited 3 years to hook up with someone THAT beautiful who is telling you night after night that she loves you? I mean really.  It does provide some serious doubt, at least to me.

 

Again, I hope that others do chime in with opinions.

This isn't going to go over very well but idc.

His relationship is similar to religion. Nobody has ever saw, heard or touched God but there's millions of people that say they're in a committed relationship with it. Once you start believing in things that may or may not be there believing in more becomes easier. 

[HereComesTheReignAgain]

This was a very interesting documentary.  The two main things that I took away from it were that Manti is insanely naive and gullible and Ronaiah/Naya is a truly horrible person.  I don't understand how someone could go 3 years without so much as a video chat.  I get the impression that the idea and perception of a having a girlfriend was more important than actually having a girlfriend to Manti.  He had to have serious suspicions for most of the relationship and just chose not to dig too deep. 

Edited August 22, 2022 by HereComesTheReignAgain

[Bill from NYC]

45 minutes ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

This isn't going to go over very well but idc.

His relationship is similar to religion. Nobody has ever saw, heard or touched God but there's millions of people that say they're in a committed relationship with it. Once you start believing in things that may or may not be there believing in more becomes easier. 

I don't know. I won't argue with you wrt religion. We are both certainly entitled to our views. I do cling to the fact the girl in the pictures he saw was off the charts gorgeous, and he was a young male.

When I was young we had summer houses in the Hamptons for a few summers. One of the girls brought over a friend she knew from Pennsylvania. A smoking hot blonde. She gave me her number and address and I drove my 22 year old ass from Queens, NY to Pennsylvania twice LOL, and to be completely honest; the girl in those pics was even hotter. 

I cannot fathom how a young, strong, hetrosexual 21 or 22 year old kid (who probably had pockets full of booster money) could pass that up. 

Do you see my point?

[The Jokeman]

I wanted to watch this on Sunday but everytime I tried Netflix crapped out, I'll try later in the week and offer up my feedback if/when. 

Edited August 22, 2022 by The Jokeman

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

3 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

I wanted to watch this on Sunday but everytime I tried Netflix crapped out, I'll trade later in the week and offer up my feedback if/when. 

I think Netflix is 'catfishing' you. 🤔

[Jauronimo]

On 8/21/2022 at 7:03 AM, Bill from NYC said:

OK, so I watched it and am very curious as to what you folks believe. 

 

I would say that I am roughly 60/40 in terms of believing the 2 versions (his and the (catfisher's). 

 

Manti becomes somewhat believable due to his religious and seemingly sheltered background. He really does seem like a nice and honest person.  That said, the girl in the picture was a utter 10 imo.  She looked like a supermodel in every picture. At his age, how many of you would have waited 3 years to hook up with someone THAT beautiful who is telling you night after night that she loves you? I mean really.  It does provide some serious doubt, at least to me.

 

Again, I hope that others do chime in with opinions.

I think most of the 3 years was just infrequent online interaction or mundane phone calls and then things heated up his junior year.  He was only in a fake committed relationship for one year or less.

 

I still think Te'o played up the dead girlfriend angle for attention.  I think he liked the story and went with it even though he had admitted that there were reservations about whether Lennay was even real.  I don't think he was in on the hoax. I think his interviews where he wont shut up about how he lost the love of his life were pure theater and he was exposed as being phony.  

[Buffalo716]

1 hour ago, Bill from NYC said:

I don't know. I won't argue with you wrt religion. We are both certainly entitled to our views. I do cling to the fact the girl in the pictures he saw was off the charts gorgeous, and he was a young male.

When I was young we had summer houses in the Hamptons for a few summers. One of the girls brought over a friend she knew from Pennsylvania. A smoking hot blonde. She gave me her number and address and I drove my 22 year old ass from Queens, NY to Pennsylvania twice LOL, and to be completely honest; the girl in those pics was even hotter. 

I cannot fathom how a young, strong, hetrosexual 21 or 22 year old kid (who probably had pockets full of booster money) could pass that up. 

Do you see my point?

Because not everyone thinks with there ****
 

including some star athletes 

 

Especially if he really was religious it’s not that strange… Just because it’s strange to you doesn’t make it weird

 

It’s just not common for the 21st-century