Everyone needs someone they can look up to. While many have family members and mentors to fill this role, others look to celebrities for guidance — and Kamie Crawford is one of those people. As the co-host of MTV’s Catfish: The TV Show, Crawford has taken on the role of reality TV’s protective big sister — she’s not afraid to express her compassion and intuitive convictions. “Sometimes you have to go to that person who can be that voice of reason for you and who can calm you down or give you a different perspective that you’ll respect,” Crawford tells Her Campus in an exclusive interview. “It’s definitely just who I am now, and who I’ve always been. It comes very easily to me.”
Catfish: The TV Show follows Crawford and Nev Schulman as they travel around the country to uncover the truth about a person’s online lover. The show first premiered in 2012, and is still airing new episodes today — believe it or not, people are still getting catfished online. “Every time I get a streaming service, I see some [documentary] about somebody being conned or scammed by somebody that they were dating,” Crawford says. “Every [Catfish] episode is a different story. We talk about things that are actually happening in real time. It’s just a reminder that we’re not alone — we’re all kind of experiencing the same things at the same time.”
Since becoming the co-host of Catfish: The TV Show, Crawford errs on the side of caution when it comes to online relationships.
“[Catfish] definitely keeps us on our toes and, and reminds us what is happening, what the new technologies are, what to look out for,” she says. “It’s a constant reminder that we should live our lives, but always be cautious and proceed with caution.”
But Crawford isn’t just on high alert when it comes to other people’s relationships. She also pays close attention to new people coming into her own life. “I’ve always been skeptical, and I need people to prove to me why I should trust them,” she says. “I need to put you through some tests before I can see if I can really trust you — and the same goes for dating.”
Even though she often sees the ugly side of online dating on Catfish, she didn’t let it deter her personal dating life. Crawford met her boyfriend on a dating app — but don’t worry, she did a deep dive before letting him in. “I’m cross-checking, I’m looking at Instagram, if you’ve got a Twitter that’s open, I’m looking there. I’m doing my due diligence,” she says. “I’ve always been a little bit cautious, and these shows definitely don’t help. Anyone has the ability to try to deceive or get one over on you, so you have to put them through a little bit of a process before they can just have full access to you and your heart.”
Online dating in 2023 can be a struggle for a lot of people, but especially Gen Zers, who said in a 2023 Business Insider survey that they believe it can be “too transactional.” While finding love is a goal for some, Crawford encourages people — college students especially — to enjoy life before thinking about settling down. “You don’t need to find your person in college. You need to find yourself. This is your time to explore and enjoy and have fun and experiment … I’m not with the person that I was with when I was 20. I’m not even with the person that I was with when I was 24,” she says. “Just enjoy. Go to Italy, meet a barista, have a love affair … come back to me when you’re pushing 30 and we’ll talk about whether or not your love life is doomed.”
Being the co-host of Catfish: The TV Show, as well as the host of MTV’s Are You The One and Ex On The Beach has made Crawford somewhat of an expert in relationships. Although she continues to offer relationship advice on these shows, she also does so on her podcast, Relationsh*t with Kamie Crawford. “It’s my outlet. I’m able to just be free and be myself and speak freely, and there’s nobody editing it or editing things out that I would have liked to include. It’s just having the freedom and the space and the community to be able to talk about things that matter to me and that I know matter to other people,” Crawford says. “It’s like my journal for everyone to listen to.”
On the podcast, Crawford speaks openly about all things relationships, but she also talks about the importance of mental health and self confidence. Crawford is a firm believer in self-love, and maintains a healthy relationship with herself by doing two things: “Therapy once a week, every week, I try to never miss it,” she says. “Fitness has become another one for me. Scientifically, it’s proven to boost serotonin, and it definitely helps. Even when things get crazy, I know that I can rely on those two things.”
In August 2023, Relationsh*t with Kamie Crawford was named one of the 17 Best Podcasts for Women by Women by Today, and rightfully so. The podcast is a judge-free space, and thanks to Crawford, opening up about love and romance — and the failures within — is much less taboo.