- ♪♪ MTV ♪♪
- Ivy has been talking to Dante...
- He's very respectful, gentle.
Like, this is a great guy.
- That's gotta be him. Definitely married with kids.
- This is clearly taking
a physical and emotional toll on you.
- We gotta do whatever it takes to get this guy to show up.
- Somebody's sitting there. - Makes me nervous.
- Yo. - Dante?
♪♪ ♪♪
- Go to work. Gotta go to work.
Hi, John.
- What is this?
"Out of order, use other room."
- What's in there?
- Aah!
all: Surprise! - [squeals]
[applause] Oh, my gosh!
- Oh, my God. This guy...
- 200. - Wait, how'd you get Max?
- 200. - Wow.
- Aww.
- Wait, did we just finish 200?
- This is our 200th episode? - Oh, my God.
- 200, wow. - I helped you get there.
You've--you finished it off.
- What's up, everybody? - Listen, you passed the torch.
- That's right. - I appreciate it.
- The torch was passed. - I can't believe you're here!
- Wow, this is amazing. - Oh, my God, I'm so happy.
Aww! - Here.
I'm gonna--I'm gonna shoot this one shot, all right?
- Yeah. - I got a great angle.
- Wow. All right.
- Should we all three-- all three blow.
- Right. - All three blow.
- All right! [cheers and applause]
You gotta read the email with us.
- Yes, please! - You gotta read th--
[chuckles] - Oh, you have to.
- I'll read the email with you guys.
- Whoo! [applause]
- Let's do it. - Yay!
- [groans]
- I feel like I've-- I've stayed the same
and Nev has aged.
- Well, I've had three kids. - That's true.
- Let's get to the email. - Okay, let's do it.
- All right. - Oh, here we go, Ivy.
Subject, "I'm mad, I'm sad, and I'm hurt."
"Dear Nev and Kamie..."
- And Max. - And Max.
"My name is Ivy."
- ♪♪ I just wanna hear you call my name ♪♪
- "I'm an aesthetician living in Dallas, Texas.
And I'm in..." - Oh, boy.
- "A pretty upsetting situation."
See, he always used to read ahead,
and I hate it. - No, I didn't read ahead.
I just heard "Texas." - Oh, okay. Okay.
- It's already a problem. - Oh, the Texas, okay.
"A little over five years ago, I was on a dating app
"when a man named Dante messaged me.
"I responded and we clicked in a way
that was both exciting and surprising."
- ♪♪ Than I need you ♪♪
- "Dante is incredible. He's supportive,
"understanding, and when we talk on the phone,
"he's the absolute best listener.
- Probably asleep. [both chuckle]
- He just sits there and listens.
- Right. - Right, for hours.
"He knows me better than anyone else in the world.
"I truly believed I'd found the guy
"who was going to be with me forever.
"Dante only lives four hours away from me
"in Louisiana.
"So I thought it would be easy for us to meet.
"But somehow it's been five years of excuses
"and no in-person visits.
"Everyone says I should cut him off,
"but I love him. I can't imagine
my life without him."
- ♪♪ I don't want to think about it ♪♪
♪♪ I don't want to think ♪♪
- "He says he loves me. He talks about marrying me.
So why is he doing this?"
- ♪♪ I need you ♪♪
♪♪ I need you to need me more ♪♪
- "He's breaking my heart and my spirit,
"and I can't stop crying.
"I need help. Please, please call me.
Ivy."
- This guy is not doing right by her.
Well, she's an open wound right now.
both: Yeah. - You guys need to suture it.
- I know. We gotta call Ivy.
She's been crying for [bleep] five years.
- All right, I'm calling Ivy.
[line trilling]
Now you're here for the call,
you might as well just come with us to Dallas too.
- Yeah, might as well just come.
- Guys, I'm out. - [laughs]
- Hello? - Wait, oh, hello.
Ivy?
- Hey, well-- - Hey, queen.
- It's Nev, the one and only.
I'm here with Kamie... - Hey.
- And we also have the OG silver fox himself.
Max is also here right now. - Hi, Ivy.
- Yeah. - That's right.
- He's here to at least...
- I'm moral support... - Meet you.
- Right now. - Right, right.
- I'm helping you guys get off to a good start.
- We just finished reading your email.
We want to help you. So sit tight,
and, uh, we will fly to Dallas, and we'll figure this out.
- You're welcome. - Of course.
We'll see you soon, Ivy. - All right.
- Any wisdom to bestow upon us as we take this journey?
- You got--you got this. I'm not worried about you.
- [laughs] - I don't know about Nev.
- You're missing out on an adventure.
Let's go to Dallas. Let's go!
- I'm going...to Silver Lake. - You can stay here.
- Bye, guys. - See you soon.
- ♪♪ I'm black and blue for chasing after you ♪♪
♪♪ Ooh ooh whoo ♪♪
♪♪ Yes, I'm black and blue ♪♪
- Texas. - ♪♪ We're in Texas ♪♪
I'm excited to meet Ivy. - I am too,
'cause I feel like she needs our help.
- She definitely does.
- Five years, though. Jeez.
Let's go!
Ding-dong.
- Ivy! - Hey, oh, my--hey, guys.
Well, come in. - How are you?
- Oh, my God. Hey, guys.
- You are a very good hugger. - What's up?
What's going on? Come on in.
- Okay. - Come on.
- How old are you, Ivy?
- [sighs] I'm thirty-sexy.
- Period. - [laughs]
- How long have you been in Dallas?
- The majority of my life.
- So you're an aesthetician. What else?
- Culinarian. - Culinary.
- Wow. - So cooking.
My heart, I like to cater to people
and make people feel welcome.
And I'm a big giver.
And one might say that's my downfall.
- One might say that's your downfall,
but many might say that's your strength.
- Yeah. - Let's talk about Dante.
- We met late 2016.
It was a dating website.
He messaged me.
And--but then that following week,
he was like, "Okay, let's exchange numbers."
And he called me and we got to know one another.
And within the next year, we just became closer.
We talked on the phone at night.
We learned about each other in various ways.
Family, what we like, what we don't.
He's very respectful, gentle, funny.
He's very calm. He doesn't get angry.
He doesn't call me out my name.
I can have a bad day, talk to him, cry.
- Mm-hmm.
- And that just kind of made me like,
"Wow, like, this is a great guy."
It just got tough because I wanted
to engage with him and see him.
In 2018, I was in a bad car accident.
And my car, like, it actually went up.
It flipped over, like, 30 times.
- Oh, my God.
- And I didn't come to-- it was, like, three days maybe.
But when I called him and I told him--
and he even made it, like,
"Oh, I'ma come and see you and check on you."
- But he didn't, obviously. - Right.
And I really needed him.
And it hurt me so much.
- Well, what was his excuse for not showing up for that?
- He was sick.
It's--like, it's always an excuse.
It's not fair. That's not cool.
- Mm-hmm. - I've made plenty of attempts
to, like, Zoom, and nothing.
It just--it--it bothers me. - Yeah.
After five years, it would bother me too.
- Does he have social media?
Anything? Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter?
Nothing? - He has Instagram.
That he never told me about.
- You looked him up. - I did.
- Well, what does Dante look like?
Can we see some pics? - Yeah.
I'll come sit. [grunts]
So here he is. - Dante.
Okay. I see you, Ivy.
- [laughs] You don't see me, just--
- Mm-hmm. - [laughs]
- Oh, he wrote you a poem. - Yeah, go ahead, read that.
Go ahead.
- "Ivy, you are my light in the morning,
"my air under the sea, my courage in war.
"Desire of my love.
Ivy, baby, you are my everything."
Wow, just last week he said,
"Ivy, you're more than just a girlfriend to me.
"My lady is my soulmate. I love her always and forever.
"She is my rock, my angel, my queen.
"My lady is what makes my life so happy
and worth living all the time."
I am not sending the right text messages.
- I was gonna say... - [laughs]
- I gotta step up my game.
Goddamn.
Holy moly.
- I want somebody to write something about me.
- So he really has a way with words.
- Uh-huh. - Problem is, it's only words.
- [sighs] Yeah, he does have his way.
- Well, yeah, I mean, now I can see
how hard it is to go sort of between
words like that to then the disappointment
of him not being able to show up.
Like, he talks such a big game.
- Mm-hmm. - But he doesn't show up.
- It just leaves me like, "What's going on?"
And I just want to get some answers.
Because I don't deserve-- nobody deserves that.
- Yeah.
- But at the same time, for some odd reason,
I care for him.
And I guess I just been clinging to that hope.
And that's why I'm saying, like, that's not fair.
It's not right.
[sniffles] I'm sorry.
- I think Dante should be sorry,
because Dante is missing out on the real experience
of having you in real life.
Five years is a really long time
to stay sweet and kind.
- Yeah, um-- - You just need
something to change.
You can't keep doing what you've been doing.
- I can't.
- So let us do some investigating
this afternoon, and then we can all decide
what we want to do as a group.
- Thank you.
- [sighs] - We got your back.
- Hugs. I'm a hugger.
- See you soon, girl.
- Thank you.
All right. - Ivy.
We're gonna get you back. We gonna get you back right.
- Get me back in the groove. - Come on, let's go.
Ay-yi-yi. - Poor sugar.
We have to help her. - Oh.
Well, there's something really upsetting
about someone who clearly is giving bogus excuses,
leading you on, and then on top of it,
keeping you... - Mm-hmm.
- On this tight, short leash
with these big professions of love.
- No. - He really keeps her...
- Yeah. - Right there.
- Like, if you know you're never gonna show up,
like, what are you actually doing?
- That's what I mean, right?
I mean, this is like modern day torture.
- Da-da-da-da!
- Look at this, a bench. - Wow.
- We can finally sit as close as I've always wanted to.
- Great. Let me move it over.
- No, no, no, no. - [chuckles]
- All right, so recap.
Ivy has been talking to Dante for five plus years.
They don't live that far away from each other.
But every time conversations about meeting up happen,
Dante has an excuse.
There's just always something.
- Mm-hmm.
- So all pretty telltale signs of a catfish.
The pictures of Dante might be the thing he's lying about.
- Mm-hmm.
- Or it could be something else.
- What can't possibly be fabricated
are his feelings for Ivy, because those poems?
- Right, so why don't we just dive in?
And hopefully we got a little--
Yup, Ivy sent us some info. Oh, great.
"Hey, Nev and Kamie.
"I'm grateful to you guys for having my back.
"This is the information I can share.
His name is Dante Fair and he's 30."
"His phone number is this.
And then there's also an Instagram, Dante Fair.
Apparently, "He lives in Monroe, Louisiana,
"and works in a correctional facility
"as a guard.
"I attached the pics I have.
XOXO, Ivy."
All right. [claps]
I'ma do a little Reiki. [laughs]
- I don't know what kind of energy you got.
Don't give me that.
- All right, so we got the pics.
Should we just start the classic...
just see who this guy is?
No.
[suspenseful music]
- Mm-mm. - No. All right.
- Hmm. - No.
This guy seems like his face would show up.
Weird, right? - Hmm.
- We're not getting any hits on the pictures.
So I think we gotta move on.
Let's just go to the Instagram for Dante.
Okay. 250-ish followers.
That's not that many. He's actually got
a lot of pictures on here. - Yeah.
- I mean, a lot. This goes way back.
Jeez. The first post is from 2015.
Wait--which is, like, right--
sort of around the time they met.
- Right. - I think they met in 20--
- 2016, yeah.
- I'm just looking at the comments.
Like, where is-- where are his friends?
No one's saying really anything.
- No comments?
That's weird. - I know.
- But interesting that the Instagram has
so many pictures. - So what else--is that--
- Phone search. - Oh, phone search.
Louisiana, Alexandria. Joe [bleep].
- We look up Joe [bleep] on Facebook.
Try narrowing the search to Monroe, Louisiana.
- Yeah, Monroe. Monroe.
♪♪ ♪♪
- Correctional officer. - Oh, my goodness.
- But wait---no, no, no. No. - That's gotta be him.
Ivy said Dante was a correctional officer.
- Joe, sweetie, what's going on?
- Definitely married with kids. - He's married.
- I don't want to blow this guy's life up,
but what are the odds?
- Joseph?
- I mean...
- I'm going with Joseph [bleep],
correctional officer for 500, Alex.
- Wow. [groans]
I mean, could this actually be him?
Let's think here.
The reality is whenever we don't find
a person that we can point to...
- Mm-hmm. - And say, "We think
it's this person," we have to keep the option open
that it could just be who they say they are.
Is there a chance
Dante is the guy in the pictures?
- There's a chance only 'cause we haven't found
the guy in the pictures.
But then what is the problem?
- Well, also, if it really is someone named Dante Fair
and those are pictures of him, why doesn't he show up
anywhere? - Right.
And why doesn't his name come back
when you run his phone number? - Well, I can see
why it's been so frustrating for her.
Because even with all of our resources,
we still can't... - Yeah.
- Find any definitive information on this guy.
- Yeah. The only difference is,
we're not madly in love with him.
So thank God for that.
♪♪ ♪♪
[tense music]
♪♪ ♪♪
- Hi. - Hi, you guys, come in.
Have a seat. - All right.
- Whoo. - Oof.
- How are you feeling? - To be honest,
I didn't get that much sleep.
Just thinking about everything--
it sucks. - Well, look.
We did discover some things.
So we want to kind of just go through all of that with you.
So we have some photos.
And, um, we did an image search.
But none of them came back with any results.
So we kept going.
Obviously, this is his Instagram.
What we did notice is that there are likes
on the photos, but there's no comments.
That doesn't mean anything, but--
- It's weird. - So we ran the phone number.
Now, here's where it gets kind of interesting.
When we ran the phone number,
it came back as Joe [bleep].
And we looked up Joe [bleep] and we found
this Facebook page for a guy named Joe [bleep]
from Monroe.
And more interestingly,
he's worked at Nebraska State Penitentiary.
- As a correctional officer... - As a correctional officer.
- Which matches what Dante told you.
- Hmm.
Clear--I mean, like, I--
- But definitely married with kids.
- [groans] Okay.
The [bleep]?
Like, I've been honest with you.
- Right. - That--that--that's wrong.
- That's what we found.
So if we use what we do know,
he's avoided meeting up with you.
When you press him on FaceTiming or meeting,
he gets defensive or ghosts you.
Those are indications that he's hiding something.
Now, that might just be
that he's not the guy in the pictures.
Or it might be that he's in a relationship.
We don't know.
But there's definitely something
that he's intentionally deceived you about.
- Like, why lie to me and play with my emotions?
Why? That's--that's not fair.
- Mm-hmm. - Well, then it seems to me,
the most direct path to the truth
is just straight to Dante. - Okay.
We just gotta do it.
- All right, let's send him a text too.
"Hey, Dante. Nev from the show 'Catfish.'
"I'm actually with Ivy.
"She is not willing to keep on waiting for you
if you can't show up for her."
So, hopefully, we'll hear back from him.
- Right. - And we'll suggest
that he can either come here to meet us here if he's--
if that--if that's what he'd prefer,
or we can go meet him wherever he is.
But whatever we're gonna do,
we're gonna-- we're gonna make it happen.
- I really appreciate it.
I'm tired of crying. I've been crying, like--
[chuckles]
- Okay. - Thank you.
- Oh, hey.
- And thank you. - Of course.
- We'll talk to you later.
All right, let us know if you hear anything.
- See you. - Thank you.
- Oh, Ivy. - [sighs]
- What do you think's gonna happen?
- I have no idea.
He's had five years to come forward.
Why would he come forward now?
- I think we gotta do whatever it takes
to get this guy to show up.
[tense music]
♪♪ ♪♪
It's been, like... - Forever.
- Hours. And from what I can see...
- Nothing. - Nothing.
- I wonder if Ivy heard anything, though.
- Let's see.
[line trilling]
- Ivy?
- We haven't heard anything back.
Have you heard anything?
- Oh, so did he call or did he text?
- And did he mention getting my text message?
- Okay.
- He's coming!
- Sit down. - He's coming.
- No, he's not. - Wait, he's coming here?
- To Dallas?
- Okay, well, great.
So first of all, good job.
I'll try and connect with him
and just confirm timing and details.
But, um, hopefully it works out
and tomorrow is the big day.
- All right, bye. - Bye, Ivy.
- [sighs] Something feels a little...
- Everything is off. - Too easy.
- And you guys are way too excited.
- You know, a big deal? - After five years,
he's gonna come because we're here?
- [sighs] I mean...
I would love to have heard that conversation.
It does sound, like, too clean.
"Oh, yeah, I'll just drive to Dallas tomorrow
to meet you." - "Oh, yeah, see you tomorrow.
Love you, bye." There's no way.
And when he doesn't show,
Ivy is going to be devastated.
- Hello. - Hey.
- Good morning. - Morning.
You kind of called it. - He's not coming.
- Well, hasn't responded to the texts.
I'm starting to feel like... - Mm-hmm.
- That excitement I had yesterday
that he said he was coming is gone.
- Well, now we know how Ivy feels.
- Well, let's head over there.
Maybe she's heard from him.
[tense music]
- This is not good. - All right.
- Here we go.
♪♪ ♪♪
- Hey, girlfriend. - Come in, hi.
- Hey. - Hey.
Come in. Make yourselves at home.
- Oh, you guys are in your black outfits.
- Yes. - Matching hoodies.
We haven't heard from him,
and you haven't heard from him today, right?
- Correct. This is like...
the story of my life with him.
Like, when it gets to that point
of connecting and meeting,
it's just, like, he'll ghost me.
- Mm-hmm. - Are you okay?
You seem a little, like, jittery.
- I've just-- I've been crying.
And it's just-- it's emotional for me.
- This is, like, clearly taking
a physical and emotional toll on you.
And at some point, like, you gotta know
when to get off.
- I'm becoming an emotional wreck.
- I feel like at this point,
we gotta just get him on the phone
and see what he is or isn't actually doing.
- Right.
- I mean, let's--come on, let's just see if he'll answer.
[line trilling]
- Your call has been forwarded
to an automatic voice message system.
[phone beeps]
- Hey, Dante, Nev here.
I know you had told Ivy
you were coming to see her today.
Uh, but we haven't heard from you.
So please give me a call back
so we can figure this out. Thanks.
- There are some people who hurt you by accident.
And they-- they don't mean to hurt you.
But then there are people who are hurting you on purpose.
Dante is somebody
who is continuously hurting you on purpose,
in my opinion.
[phone chimes] - Oh!
Oh, whoa, we got a response.
- What? - "Would it help
if we came to you then?"
Oh, he's typing again.
- Okay.
- And, look, I don't want to drive all the way there
for nothing, but--
- We're sitting here for nothing too.
- It's a little crazy, and it's big risk,
but it's probably our only option.
- It's just, will he show up?
- Ah, so I'm gonna say, "We're going to leave soon...
Okay.
- We gotta try. We gotta go for it.
All right? - Absolutely.
Sounds like a plan.
- Not much of a plan, but it's the best we can do.
All right, so pack a bag,
and let's keep it positive, all right?
- I will. - We're gonna figure this out.
[upbeat music]
- ♪♪ This is the oldest that we've ever been ♪♪
♪♪ This is the youngest that we're ever gonna be ♪♪
- Even if we drive four hours just to come back
to be exactly where we started,
that's the journey you need to take
just to get back to you,
and to feel whole and finished with this.
- It'll be a different version of me...
- Right. - But a better version.
- ♪♪ This is the youngest that we're ever gonna be ♪♪
♪♪ This is the youngest that we're ever gonna be ♪♪
- Look at that. West Monroe.
West Monroe, look at that. - West Monroe.
- All right.
Well, here we are. - We're here.
- All right, I'm gonna tell him we're here.
Okay, "We just arrived at our hotel in West Monroe.
"It's already a little late, so let's just plan
"on meeting up tomorrow morning.
"Please give us a heads up soon
about a time and place that works for you."
- All right. - All right.
- Well, we're trying, so--
- Well, we'll-- we'll figure something out.
[tense music]
Twelve hours later...
- [chuckles] Nothing.
- And nothing! - I'm assuming.
I knew it. - The guy hasn't responded.
- A waste of time.
- Should I text him again?
- Should we see if Ivy heard anything?
[knock at door] - Oh, there she is.
- Come on in. - Hey, girl.
- Hey. What's going on?
- Good morning.
- Good morning, morning, morning.
How's it going? [phone chimes]
- Hold on a second. - Is that--
- That's him. He says,
"Okay, it thought about it a lot.
"I'm afraid, but I'll do this.
"Y'all can meet me at Kiroli Park.
I'll be over at shelter one."
- Okay. - "See you there."
[notification chimes]
All right, well, are you ready?
- Let's do this.
- Five years.
- The closer and closer I get,
I'm...I'm nervous.
[dramatic music]
- Getting close, now.
Oh, yeah, this is it.
There's a guy in his car.
- There's somebody sitting there.
- You see someone? Ooh.
- Where do you see somebody?
- [gasps] - Over there.
Yeah. Who is that?
Is that shelter one? I don't know.
- It's the only person there.
- That does seem like it could be
someone waiting for us.
- That makes me nervous.
- Okay, well...
- Let's just get this over with.
- Leave everything on the table.
- Okay. - All right, let's go.
♪♪ ♪♪
- Ivy leading the pack. I like this.
- Yeah, she's just--
- [whispering] Go, Ivy!
You go, girl!
♪♪ ♪♪
- Um, Dante?
[dramatic music]
♪♪ ♪♪
- Um, Dante?
- Obviously you're not the guy in the photos.
- Yeah.
- Well, I'm glad that you t--took the time out
to see me. Like, what took so long
after all this time?
I've been Ivy. You could have just been Dante.
- Everything I told you, like, feelings, everything,
none of that was fake. None of it.
- Except the pictures. - Yes.
[somber music]
♪♪ ♪♪
[grunts]
- I just can't-- I need a minute.
[sniffles]
♪♪ ♪♪
[crying] - Really proud of you.
♪♪ ♪♪
What are you thinking?
- I just don't understand. I just--
You could have just been yourself.
♪♪ ♪♪
I didn't have to do this.
♪♪ ♪♪
- Nev. - Nice to meet you.
- Dante? - Yes.
- That's your name or--
- Yeah, that's the name I go by.
- That's what people call you?
- Yeah. - Okay.
Um, well, thanks for meeting up with us.
I think...
it was the right move.
Uh, even if it feels
a little uncomfortable right now.
- [sighs]
- And is it fair to say that--
or the only thing you really lied about
was the pictures? - Yeah.
- You're a correctional officer.
You're 30, I think? - Yeah.
- That's right, okay. - Yeah.
- And you, I think, mentioned a second ago
that most of what you've told her is true.
- Yes. - About, I guess, your--
your personal life. - And feelings and everything.
- And your feel-- okay, so you--you do have
very strong feelings for her. - Yes, I do.
- I've just been hon-- honest with him.
I just don't get it.
- Whenever I try to talk to somebody as myself,
you know, like...
it's always, "No" or "Not my type," like--
So... [sighs]
[groans]
- Is Ivy the first person
you've felt like you were in love with?
- Yeah. Mm-hmm.
- I just want to get across to him
he didn't have to lie.
I might cry again. I might cry later.
- You can cry as many times as you want.
And he gonna have to deal with it.
Sometimes people need to know how much they hurt you
so that they can truly take
accountability for their actions.
- Yeah.
- You want to go back?
- Hold on, they're-- they're coming back over.
- Oh, this is Kamie. - Kamie, by the way.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you, Dante.
- Yeah. - So...
I already know you lied, but how much of the stuff
is actually, like, true?
- I was talking to Dante for a minute before.
And I think, for the most part, pretty much all the things
he's told you about his sort of day to day life
are real.
But why don't you just tell us a little bit about I--
your feelings for Ivy.
I mean, she's finally here. You can look at her.
- Mm-hmm.
- We're here to listen, and talk and--
and we're not here to judge you.
- Look, I really do love you
and care about you a whole lot.
The way I express my feelings
and my poems that I write to you at nighttime,
those are real.
- Did you ever want to tell Ivy
that you weren't the guy in the pictures?
- There have been plenty of times
I came--came close to doing it.
And I--I just kept choking at it.
I...[sighs]
It don't really matter.
- I'm sure, Dante, you feel like you're--
you're kind of in the hot seat.
Um...
- Yeah, it's a lot with all of us here.
I mean, I would love for you guys
to be able to talk for a second, one on one.
Maybe give Dante a chance to feel more comfortable
and open up?
- Yeah, I'm open to it. - Yeah.
- We'll just be hanging out over here.
- I just feel cheated in a way.
And even sitting here, and I'm just like, oh.
It's like, okay, I get it.
I told you, like, deep, personal stuff.
- Yeah, I-- I was wrong for what I did.
I'm sorry that I did that thing to you like that.
But one thing's for sure,
my--my feelings for you was real.
Everything I wrote to you, everything was real.
- I mean, I waited, like--had offers,
and just, like, dating opportunities.
It's like, "No, you know, I'm with someone."
"Are you taken?"
[sighs]
- In--in the ten years I've been making the show...
- Mm-hmm. - I don't know
if I've ever seen someone
who looks as visibly remorseful...
- Yeah. - And ashamed.
- Yeah.
- But, like, that's what sorry looks like.
Right. - He looks really sorry.
That's why it's easy to, like, empathize with him.
- I know. - But I'm also trying
to be on Ivy's side. - Right, I know.
- But he loves her.
- I think he does, yeah. - He does. He does.
- Well, I'ma go collect myself, maybe cry.
[grunts]
- You leaving? What's wrong?
- [sniffles] I just needed a, um--
a breather.
- You just need a moment? - Yeah.
[sniffles]
- Hey, Dante.
- Hey.
I should have told her everything from--
from the first beginning when I first met her.
But one thing's for sure,
my feelings for her was real.
I--I ain't--I can't deny that.
- And they still are. - Yes.
- I think she just needs a minute to, like...
process everything and just kind of
let it settle a little bit.
- Yeah. - There's a little café nearby.
- Yeah. - We could talk
a little bit more, for us to all talk
and feel a little bit less awkward and uncomfortable.
Does that sound like something you'd be down to do?
- I can do that. - All right, great.
Listen, man, you're a good guy.
And I think if your feelings are as strong
as they seem to be, I think you have a chance
to--to show her you're not willing to lose her.
- Like, I actually wrote a poem, like, last night.
I was working on it to bring today.
- If you have a poem that you wrote for her,
like, I think that would be beautiful to read to her.
So come to the café. Meet us.
But bring everything you got.
Do whatever you can to keep her in your life.
- Yeah. - We all know you screwed up.
But you've got a chance. But you gotta show up.
Okay? - Yeah.
- So walk into that café,
and be the guy that she knows you can be.
- Well, I know, it's easy for us
to be like, "You guys should be together,"
like this should be a love story.
But you've been in it for five years.
You know how you feel.
- Yes. - So we're here to support you
and whatever you want. - It's tough to, like, know
exactly how you feel about all this
after such a short amount of time.
But, I gotta say, this guy does like you.
And I do think it's important to hear him out
and at least see what he has to say,
because he seems like a good guy.
- I felt like I could have heard
a little bit more on his end.
- Here he is! - Hey.
- All right. So how you feeling now that
the whole sort of awkward first meeting
and the telling the truth about you is kind of over?
- It feels like almost a burden being lifted almost, in a way.
- Right. So that's a good thing, right?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Clean slate. Let's--let's start right now.
- Okay. - Right, I know
for the last five years
you told Ivy your name was Dante.
- Yeah. - Is that what people call you?
What--what's your name?
- My real name is Joe. - Joe?
- Yeah. - All right,
so we're gonna call you Joe. Is that cool?
- That's good. - All right, great.
So we didn't get much of a chance
to get to know you before.
Can you just explain a little bit
about the last few years
and kind of what's been going on with you?
- [sighs]
Well, like, back in 2019, I had a stroke.
I was in the restaurant,
just sitting there waiting on my food,
and then when I went to get up, I fell down.
When I got back up,
I drove to my friend's house.
He was there with me.
All I can say about that-- if he didn't showed up
when he did,
I probably wouldn't be here today standing.
- And I'm sorry to hear that.
- And were you in the hospital for a long time?
- Only just for a month. - Wow.
- I mean, wow, that is a long time.
- Yeah.
- So between having your stroke and then COVID,
it's been a rough stretch of time.
- Yeah. - And for a lot of that
you obviously had Ivy, which was probably nice.
- Yeah.
- Why didn't you talk about the stroke that you had
to Ivy in all the times that you guys spoke?
- That's one thing I did not want
anybody to see me as.
I just don't want Ivy worrying about me a whole lot.
That's the reason why I keep everything up inside.
- I know, but Joe,
I think what we're learning about you right now
is that you keep things inside...
- Yeah. - And they weigh on you.
And the longer you keep them in there,
the heavier they get.
And the harder they get to talk about.
And I think this is a great example
of how something that you probably should
have talked about much sooner
ended up taking up five years of your life.
- I always, like, wish you'd talk to me.
If there's a time when you just feel like,
"Oh, my gosh, I'm 'bout to explode,"
pick up the phone. Text me.
Like, be more open.
'Cause I do care. Like, I want to know
stuff that's bothering you in your life.
- She's a very empathetic person.
She couldn't even empathize
with what you were actually going through.
Even when she was going through the same thing
with her car accident.
- I am sorry.
That was my fault on that end.
- Joe, did you get a chance to work on the poem?
- A new poem?
- Well, he told me at the park
that last night, in preparing himself
to meet you, he had written a poem.
- Poem! Poem! Poem!
- There he goes. There he is.
- [claps]
- Can y'all-- can y'all give me a minute?
- You want some space? - Yeah.
- All right. - Oh.
- Don't keep me waiting five years for this poem.
- He's, what--yeah, it's--
this is not for us. - You right.
- This is not for us. - You right.
- Okay.
"Ivy, I am sorry for all the wrong
"that I caused.
"I am sorry for the things that I did.
"I hope that you will forgive me.
"I wouldn't want to lose you over anything.
"If I did, I would be like an empty shell,
"without a purpose.
"You are a prize in my possession.
"My only possession.
"The way you loved changed me each day.
"The way you gently lift me,
"the way you comfort me in your words.
I just cannot afford to lose you right now."
- Well, that was beautiful. Give me a hug.
- Good job, Joe.
- Man, that was big. That was big.
You know, I know that wasn't easy for you.
And there's a big difference between writing those things
and texting them, and writing them
and saying them to the person.
Right? I mean--
- Right. [sighs]
- And telling somebody how you feel about them
is a big deal. - It's hard.
Especially after all that you two have been through.
- Ivy, how do you feel?
- So I want to move forward, clean slate.
No lies. Be open and honest.
You can still say good morning,
but let's get back to that-- that solid friendship.
- Should Joe still be considering you
to be his girlfriend?
- Can we move forward in that department?
Mm. Who knows?
It's just-- you have to understand
it was--is a lot to process.
- No problem at all.
- I mean, you can't hope for much more than that.
I mean, it might mean no more love poems.
- [chuckles]
- Ivy never said she didn't want the love poems.
[laughter]
She never said that.
- All right, so, look, I think this went
as well as it could have.
Joe, happy that you agreed to meet up with us.
And I think we all can see that you are a good guy.
- I had my speculations.
But I see you are. You're a good--
you're a genuine person. - Yeah.
- And people deserve to know the real you.
And, Ivy, you're [bleep] great.
You already know that. - Am I?
- You are that girl.
- Thank you, it means a lot.
- Well, then why don't we all get out of here
and we can start this new chapter of your lives
right now.
- You ready? - Yeah.
- ♪♪ Ohhh, everything's gonna be all right ♪♪
- Hey! both: Hey!
- Ivy! - What's going on, guys?
- Thinking about you. - Yeah, you tell us.
We want to find out what's going on with you.
- I'm doing great.
I tried to have a cordial relationship
with Joe, but he still lied and did all that.
So two weeks ago, I literally cut him off.
I have not spoken to him. - Aw.
- But I feel like a weight has been lifted.
I feel free.
I'm actually really, really proud of myself.
- I'm sorry that that happened.
But you seem stronger.
- I'm--I'm in a happy place.
- We're happy to see you. - Yeah.
All right, Ivy, always lovely speaking to you.
- Bye, Ivy. - All right, thanks.
Bye. - [chuckles]
[notification chimes]
- Hey! There he is. - Hey, Joe.
- We just spoke to Ivy. What's up, Joe?
- [sighs] - Oh, boy.
- Long, long days.
But that's kind of, like, my fault on what I did.
But at the same time,
at least I made peace with myself.
Like, I'm learning to let it go.
- How are you feeling, though,
now that that relationship is over?
- It's kind of, like, relieved.
Like, all that part about the Dante stuff
is over with, so...
it's like my wings has been, like, lifted.
- Well, I'm excited for you, now that you've got
sort of the weight of Dante off of your shoulders,
to see how things go for you.
'Cause you're a good guy.
You deserve to find someone and be happy.
So put yourself out there. Don't be shy.
And I'll looking for your-- your poems
on the bookshelves or something.
- [chuckles] - All right, buddy.
- Take care of yourself. - Hey, you guys too.
- Have a great summer. - All right.
- Keonte gets a message
from this hot guy, Tyler.
- We have so much in common.
I feel like I know this man's heart.
- The email is Ty, like Tyler?
- Oh, boy. - Coincidence?
- [gasps] - What?
He's here. - "I'm here."
- Oh, there's a car.
[dramatic music]
Oh.
[upbeat music]
♪♪ ♪♪