People Really Love the New Co-Host of 'Catfish' — and It's Easy to See Why
By Gina VaynshteynJan. 19 2021, Published 10:54 p.m. ET
Back in 2018, it was announced that Max Joseph, one half of the duo that hosted MTV reality show Catfish, would no longer be part of the series. Allegedly there were no hard feelings — Max just wanted to focus on his filming career and couldn't juggle hosting Catfish and his other projects. Meanwhile, Nev Schulman has been working with a bunch of guest hosts like Elle King, Nick Young, Kimiko Glenn, and Slick Woods. But recently, he finally found his perfect co-host.
Who's the new 'Catfish' host?
Kamie Crawford has been hosting Catfish full-time since August 2020 (the show is currently on its eighth season), but first appeared in 2019 as a guest host. Something between her and Nev must have clicked, because she's back on the show for good. Kamie is probably best known for winning Miss Teen USA in 2010, representing her home state of Maryland. But she's appeared on several shows, like Hell's Kitchen and Tamron Hall. Catfish will be her first permanent hosting gig.
Back in August, the 28-year-old cheekily tweeted, "Stop asking where @maxjoseph is. I told you - I tied him up and I’m holding him hostage in my broom closet. I don’t want to have to keep addressing this. It’s upsetting me and my homegirl! Anyways - tune in to @CatfishMTV tonight at 8/7c."
Fans love Kamie's energy. One Twitter user wrote, "I can't BELIEVE how composed @KamieCrawford is right now. You a real one, Kamie."
The show was also really needing a woman's perspective. While we loved Max, and Max and Nev together, watching two dudes grapple with complicated relationships got a little tiresome. Kamie adds a fresh lens to Catfish, and she's hilarious, too. Kamie has also added meaningful discussions about race and social justice, which we didn't really have before. In her personal life, Kamie is extremely vocal about the injustices people of color face.
"As people of color, we face microaggressive behavior so often that we often become immune to its long-term effects. In an effort to assimilate, to not come off as aggressive or threatening, to avoid having to defend our Blackness and cultures, to SURVIVE - we’ve let this sh*t slide. But not anymore," she wrote in a June post, shortly after George Floyd's death.
When Biden and Harris won the election, Kamia wrote on her Instagram, "Our VP is a Black & South Asian Woman. Our President is a good human being with a deep love for this country and all of its people."
Kamie herself is of Jamaican, German, English, Cuban, Indian, and African-American descent, and she's incredibly proud of her heritage. She's also proud of her body and sets an amazing example to people everywhere to love yourself — stretch marks and all.
"Zoom for tiger stripes 🐯 I remember being 13 & begging my mom to take me to the doctor so they could laser the stretch marks on my knees, hips, butt & boobs - and then one day I just stopped caring⚡️Some people like to say, “real women have stretch marks & cellulite” but I don’t speak for all women and what is a “real” woman anyway? THIS woman has stretch marks & cellulite and this woman is perfectly fine with that - and that’s real," she wrote and shared a photo of herself in a swimsuit.
One Catfish fans loves how she makes people in the show feel (which can be hard sometimes, as not everyone is super nice to her and Nev) and wrote, "I like that Kamie makes the contribs feel safe & comfortable to want to talk to her privately or for her to give them a boost of confidence."
Fun fact: Kamie also has a YouTube channel, which she hasn't updated in a year — probably because she's too busy hosting Catfish. On her channel (which has 7.1k subscribers), you can watch beauty and lifestyle videos. Basically, Kamie can do it all.
Catch Catfish (get it?) every Tuesday on MTV at 9 p.m. EST.
