Screens: MTV
Has Daisy Plucked An American Beauty Or A Weed?
This dude Marcus can't even send Daisy new selfies after she bought him a four-figure CAMERA?! Highly suspect!
Daisy, currently in Indian Trail, NC, but originally from New Jersey; apparently unemployed so she can devote all her time to being a try-hard.
Marcus, who does "film and video production on the side (what it's "on the side" of is something we never find out) in Cincinnati, described by Daisy as "a really hot guy" she came across on Instagram although this TIE AND BACKPACK photo tells a different story.
And I don't even know where to begin with this t-shirt.
Marcus has sent Daisy very few photos, and has never sent any of his face; even though Marcus is supposedly a video producer, in the year-plus they've been in contact, he and Daisy have never videochatted, and not only that, even though their relationship has taken place almost entirely over text, they've never spoken to each other on the phone; Daisy's sent him around $2000 worth of "stuff," but he's never sent her any photos of himself with said stuff EVEN THOUGH ONE OF THE ITEMS WAS A $1000 CAMERA.
Daisy's also sent Marcus CASH, but he's never sent her a thank-you note for anything he's ever received from her. "When my birthday came around, I asked him to send me a card, and he couldn't even do that." Which sounds bad, but on Nev's podcast, Nev and his co-host this week, Tyler Oakley -- the YouTube sensation and most affected twink alive, whose fame and popularity make me feel SO OLD and whom I'd only even heard of prior to this episode because he was in a Frontline -- say that at least some of that stuff was acquired by Daisy's scamming: she'd get guys to take her shopping in real life, and then (for instance) try on sneakers in Marcus's size, claiming she likes her shoes a little big, get the in-person dude to buy them for her, and then send them to Marcus. Still:
No spoilers, but just remember later on that this is the stupid face Daisy makes after telling Nev and Tyler how little consideration Marcus has for her.
Since Daisy's mailed or had things mailed to Marcus, she has his address as well as his phone number, and when she looked it up, she found "a lady's name."
From one of Marcus's texts: "I told you at the beginning, I don't know how [the distance] was gonna work. I have a lot going on with my own fucked-up life."
Before we get into it, let's talk about Daisy, because I have a lot of complicated and conflicted feelings about this bitch. In her initial conversation with Nev and Tyler, she describes her goals for her meeting with Marcus thus: "I want a relationship! I want a ring on my finger!" But when Nev and Tyler get to her house, we learn there's a lot more to her backstory: she was previously in a relationship with a girl she met online, but when her parents found out, they "were slapping the shit out of" her, yelling at her that they didn't raise her like this and that she's not gay. On the show, Daisy says that this girl was on her way to meet Daisy, and that Daisy's family (mom, brother, and sister) were driving to the train station to pick her up, but then she contacted Daisy and said she couldn't come over: "She was afraid of my family." (On Nev's podcast -- which is super-cringey and highlights how awkward Nev is as a person almost as bad as Chatfish does BUT also offers up tons of info about the episodes that doesn't make it to air -- both Nev and Tyler remember it the other way around, saying that Daisy's mom et al were dropping her off at the train station to go meet this girl. But anyway.) As Daisy continues telling it on the show, "they all leave at this point," and when they get home, Daisy's father is on the floor, dead of a simultaneous stroke and aneurysm, and Daisy's mother tells Daisy that because they could have saved his life if they were at home instead of driving Daisy to meet her girlfriend, IT'S DAISY'S FAULT THAT HE DIED. While watching, I wished the end of the story would be "And that's why I don't talk to my mother anymore" and renewed my feeling that this show needs an on-staff social worker -- since it seems like unpacking this is much more important to Daisy in the long term than meeting this Marcus could ever be -- but no, Daisy lives with her. (Also, once I heard on the podcast that Daisy lives in the reflective glow of her sister's online following in THE VAPING COMMUNITY, I started feeling differently about how much I wanted her to find happiness in life.)
Before getting down to it, Nev and Tyler are both pretty convinced that something about Marcus is shady based just on the fact that Marcus won't talk to her on the phone -- in fact, on that basis, Tyler's decided that "Marcus" is probably not even a guy. They start from the beginning: "She disclosed her number [publicly in a comment on Instagram, in the days before Instagram had private messaging], and a person contacted her," says Tyler. They know Marcus has not just a smartphone (based on his social media accounts) but the camera they know he got from Daisy since it was the only thing he ever acknowledged receiving.
When they Spokeo the number, it's registered to someone named Sandra, which may be the "lady's name" Daisy mentioned earlier. However, that number is identified on Spokeo as a "Home" phone, which is weird since Daisy's been exchanging texts with someone using it, which Nev says "usually means" it's a Google Voice (or whatever) number, and that the user is being deceptive since with those accounts you can choose an area code anywhere. Searching Sandra's full name on PeopleSmart shows that someone with that name is fifty-eight and has a relationship with a Marcus (and also a Matthew and a William), so they figure she's Marcus's mom and that his phone's on a family plan in her name. They click on the Matthew on Sandra's profile and he comes up as age twenty-five. Now they have his full name, and when they look at his Instagram profile, the surname they've just found is on it, "so this is him!" Somehow, from here, Nev makes a leap: all the facts about Marcus that Daisy knows belong to the person they've just found, "it's just not who she's talking to! Some random person saw her number on a photo that she posted and has been texting her! Marcus is a real dude! She's just never talked to him!" Yeah, that's...what Tyler said in the first place? Because the number that "Marcus" has been using is linked to Sandra [Same Last Name], Nev and Tyler decide it's someone in the house -- either one of Marcus's brothers, or MAYBE SANDRA HERSELF! "The biggest reason for somebody to not talk to her on the phone is it's his mom," says Tyler confidently. Well, case closed. Here's where Nev has to remind us all that there's precedent because did you know that's exactly what happened to Nev himself? OF COURSE YOU DID. "This could be the biggest family betrayal this show has ever seen," Tyler declares. Mmmmmmm, no, it's not.
Before we even start, five terrible things happen.
This headband, these fake glasses, those gauges, and that derpy expression are 1 through 4. The fifth is that Daisy's (literally) violently homophobic mother, also named Daisy, is present, and no one -- not even Tyler "It Gets Better" Oakley -- is even going to pretend to challenge her on her bigotry. Cool. When Daisy Sr. starts going on about how Marcus is using Daisy and that there's no future for the two of them since Daisy doesn't even know his name, Daisy stalks out of the room, so Nev and Tyler take her to a coffee shop or something to show her the little they've found.
Daisy confirms that Sandra [Whatever] is, indeed, the name she had found when she looked into Marcus on her own, AND YET even though Sandra's last name is also on Marcus's Instagram profile, as Nev and Tyler point out to her, Daisy grins, "I never knew what that meant!" HOW. Whatever: they broach the fact that there are only so many reasons that she's never talked to Marcus on the phone or seen his face in a video. Tyler dismissively says it's possible that Marcus is exactly what he seems, and that he's just "phone-shy." "But then why haven't we met?" says Daisy. Well. Yeah. Nev then advances the theory that someone else saw her number out on Instagram for anyone to see, and that another person -- maybe Marcus's mom -- started texting it posing as Marcus. "I'm like, scared, honestly," says Daisy. Daisy's all about Nev calling Marcus to set up a meeting. When Nev steps outside to do that, Tyler says he hopes Marcus picks up, and Daisy says he won't: "Believe me." Okay, so that suggests that she has tried to phone him before and that he's never picked up, so then WHY HAS SHE CONTINUED EXPENDING ANY ENERGY ON HIM? She doesn't need Nev, she needs therapy. Christ.
As predicted, Marcus doesn't pick up, so Nev leaves him a voicemail laying out the situation. But when he goes back inside, he notes that "there is another option": since Daisy has the address to which she sent all that stuff for Marcus, they could always just go there and ambush him. She's into it!
But before they can all get on a plane, Nev gets a late-night text from Marcus.
Okay, Nev? I can't concentrate on any of your commentary about this missive with that badger pelt in the frame.
You are filming yourself; nothing was stopping you from PUTTING ON A SHIRT FIRST.
The next morning, Daisy is waiting for Nev and Tyler in their hotel lobby to go to the airport (with her sunglasses on, indoors); Nev tells her about the text, but she still wants to go regardless of his refusal. So they're all at the airport -- apparently just about to board the plane -- when Marcus actually phones Nev. The male voice on the phone elaborates on what he'd already texted: he's not ready "to just be Marcus from Catfish for ten-plus years and forever" (which I think is probably overestimating the reach and impact of Catfish a REAL lot). "Let me put your mind at ease a little bit," says Nev. "Daisy's a pretty rad chick." Translation: don't worry, she's not fat. He thinks they should meet. Marcus describes himself as a "private, low-key person," but Nev keeps pressing him, walking over to Daisy and giving her the phone on the actual jetway so she can guilt Marcus about not wanting to meet her. He says he is excited to meet her, but that "it's overwhelming" (to do it on TV, I guess), and finally he agrees to tell her this stuff in person. "At least we know it's a guy," says Nev as they board. "He sounds so good!" Daisy enthuses. MAN this girl will settle for some scraps.
Marcus sends them to a park (where nothing good ever happens), and after some misdirect-y business implying that Marcus is going to stand them up, Nev gets a text that says "we're on our way," which Nev brilliantly figures out means that "he's with someone" -- Sherlock over here -- and then he calls to say they're "here," and then a couple of guys are walking up a hill, and one of them is...
...actually Marcus. Daisy is delighted; everyone else is shocked (including Marcus's cousin Julius, the other half of the "we" mentioned in Marcus's text, who wasn't sure that Daisy wasn't lying about who she was or what she looks like). Nev straight-out says that, having done the show for several years, everything pointed to Marcus not being the person he claimed to be, and Marcus says the only reason he didn't talk to Daisy on the phone is that his "comfort's, like, texting." Daisy's like, that's fine, but you couldn't even answer the phone when I called you? Marcus doesn't really have an answer for that. When she further asks why he couldn't have sent a thank-you note or a birthday card -- either of which is a gesture that would have cost him less than $2 -- he doesn't have an answer for that either, lamely repeating a version of what Nev had read in his text earlier about how he told her from the start that he couldn't promise her...anything, really. He reminds her that he'd told her "a couple of times" that he felt uncomfortable accepting gifts from her when he couldn't reciprocate. "I'm sorry I didn't know that [sending a card of some kind] really meant something to you," he shrugs.
"I still think there's a chance that we're not getting the whole story here," smirks Nev -- and apparently somewhere around here, according to the podcast, is where Nev joked that maybe the reason Marcus never wanted to meet Daisy in person is that he was self-conscious about what Nev described as Marcus's "raptor arms."
I guess they're kind of short? I mean, he's not Cee-Lo or anything. And apparently whenever Nev mentioned them, Daisy turned to ICE. Hee hee. None of that makes it into the show, of course, and they move on to asking whether Marcus was so reticent about meeting Daisy or sending her photos or videos because he has a girlfriend. "No, I don't have a girlfriend," says Marcus. "Can't you see this stupid hat and the dried saliva in the corners of my mouth?" he does not add.
Marcus says he just doesn't like taking selfies. Nev manages not to ask whether that's because he can't get enough distance between his face and camera with his raptor arms -- or, at least, not that we see.
Oh -- and after Marcus and Julius leave, Tyler says he also thinks Marcus is hot. REALLY?!
After some generic flirting about how attractive they find each other's eyes, Daisy asks whether Marcus understands how much she means to him: "I don't text anybody like I text you." Oh, BARF. As soon as Daisy starts making it real by talking about her feelings, you can see Marcus starting to detach.
"It didn't bother me that we didn't talk on the phone, because I loved what we had," says Daisy. "I don't want to say you mean everything to me, but...you mean a good portion."
Now it's Marcus's turn for a grand declaration!
...sorry, this post would have gone up earlier but I was so overcome by the pure emotion Marcus was expressing that I passed out. Just kidding: YIKES. "Do I MEAN SOMETHING to you?" Daisy prods. "Of course!" says Marcus. Good? "Everybody wants a friendship." Ooh, uh oh.
Daisy keeps trying, asking whether he can't say that what they had was special. "I appreciate it," says Marcus. Hmmmm. "Do you ever see something after this, like a relationship?" Daisy basically begs. "Yeah, we're connected as friends," says Marcus. "Hypothetically!" Daisy actually begs. "For me, you can't-- I gotta experience that. You can't just make estimations." "DO YOU FEEL IT?" demands Daisy, all but tearing her shirt open to reveal the leopard-print bra that's already visible through it anyway. Daisy. HEAR WHAT HE IS SAYING, AND WHAT HE IS NOT. "I mean, I like your style? I like who you are? We take it from there!" "Okay!" says Daisy. "I'm down!" Oh, HONEY. I know you want to move out of your mom's place. But you are not moving in with this pile of sub-Ed Hardy puke, ever.
Lots of hugs -- and, according to Nev on his podcast, Daisy and Marcus also "smashed" (fucked) on the night they met, which, given the above conversation, is fucking heartbreaking.
Two months later: within two weeks of their in-person meeting, says Daisy, Marcus was doing his thing and she was doing hers. Okay, he was definitely already doing "his thing," whatever that is, DURING their meeting, but whatever. Tyler suggests that maybe there was so much build-up to that meeting that the relationship, such as it was, couldn't withstand the pressure, and Daisy nods, adding that now Marcus is "like a best friend."
Marcus, per the black screen of exposition, "has been focused on working behind the camera at his video production company" (uh huh), but now when Daisy phones him, he actually picks up. He tells Nev and Tyler that he and Daisy "still text each other every now and then." When Nev asks whether he thinks of pursuing a romantic relationship with Daisy: "You can't dedicate yourself to one type of pizza: you gotta try all of them." Nev:
If your internet boyfriend doesn't pick up the phone when you call, he's not really your internet boyfriend. Girls with low self-esteem will not just put up with some bullshit -- they'll send you really expensive presents. Secondhand vaping community fame or no, Daisy deserves to move out of her mother's house and go back to dating ladies. If you watch this show, you REALLY have to listen to the podcast.