North Texas Daily

Julia Falcon

MTV’s “Catfish” host Nev Schulman spoke to an intimate crowd of UNT students and staff Monday night about being yourself and the unexpected turns of life — two lessons reiterated from the TV show about online dating.

Yaniv ‘Nev’ Schulman introduced himself at the First Flight event and showed a video of how he came to the 2010 documentary “Catfish.” The documentary showed his own experience of being catfished and Schulman translated the premise into the now ever popular MTV show by the same name.  

He said at 19 he wouldn’t have wanted to be the host of an MTV show.

“But this is what I’m doing. I’m loving it, and I’m having a great time,” Schulman said. “I did a lot of weird stuff, but I never pursued it — I kind of hop, skipped and jumped around.”

Schulman was a photographer and filmmaker in New York City prior to being subject of the documentary, according to his website biography.

First, Schulman emphasized how to be brutally honest with oneself and how to find the right group of friends to be surrounded by.

“I got really bummed, I lost my best friend, things bottomed out,” Schulman said. “That started the progression towards the Nev you know, which is the Nev I like.”

He mentioned that he still talks to some of his clients from the past, described how he met his now-pregnant fiancée (by sliding into her Instagram DM’s) and emphasized practicing safe sext.

Schulman rhetorically asked the crowd, “What is a catfish?” He explained the reasoning behind naming his show “Catfish,” noting that Texas is one of the most frequented places by he and his partner, Max Joseph.

“For me, success is nothing I really had planned. It came in a strange way,” Schulman said. “Don’t worry too much about making too many friends. I used to be the class clown and threw big parties, but it’s hard to hang out with people when you are focused on that.”

Drawing and painting senior, Curtis Kimberlin, said he is a huge fan of Schulman and is glad he attended the lecture.

“I felt like I was inspired by his lecture,” Kimberlin said. “I liked his talk about self-confidence, how he was in a bad state and how he learned from it. It’s awesome that he is using his own platform to do this.”

Psychology sophomore, Amber Malooly, said that the speech was something she wasn’t expecting.

“From watching him on TV, you have a different idea of what his personality will be,” Malooly said. “I feel like if you have common sense, you shouldn’t need to relearn all of the things he was talking about.”

Schulman told the crowd to enjoy life now.

“Don’t rush, don’t worry, you have time,” he said. “Take your time. Enjoy it. Make good friends. Have fun. Try new things and keep trying new things. If you aren’t nervous or excited, ask yourself if you really want to do it. Keep talking and thinking.

pre gaming hard for my #UNT talk ??? pic.twitter.com/Kz2j3nRv7F

— Nev Schulman (@NevSchulman) August 22, 2016

Featured Image: Nev Schulman, MTV’s Catfish host, welcomes the University of North Texas freshmen Monday in the Coliseum. Schulman discussed the importance of social media safety and “do’s and do not’s” when posting to social media. Tomas Gonzalez | Visuals Editor