Why the catfish saga’s only just beginning for The 2 Johnnies
THE GAA catfish saga that unfolded on the 2 Johnnies podcast was a mystery sensation that captured the public’s imagination – and now the duo have revealed they’ve been approached to explore the story further.
Earlier this year, Johnny B and Johnny Smacks received widespread acclaim for tackling the subject of ‘catfishing’ and called on social media platforms to stamp out fake online profiles.
In a series of programmes, they told the story of ‘Cora’, a fake online profile that conned numerous high-profile men on dating apps, including Johnny B himself, county GAA players and gardaí.
Johnny Smacks – one half of the 2fm duo – opened up about the podcast’s success and why they’re determined to keep campaigning for change. ‘As with anything, when something captures a nation’s interest like that, there’s a future for it. I was getting calls from people I hadn’t spoken to in years asking for the details. You get offers, but it would have to be something we really wanted to do’ he said.
‘When we published the catfish episode, our main concern was exposing the trend in Ireland. It wasn’t to expose any individuals.
‘We wanted to put pressure on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to verify accounts.
This can all be avoided if everyone is validated.
‘It would save a lot of people a lot of trouble and heartache. We’ve chatted to over 100 people involved in this saga; the reason Johnny B shared this story was to show it could happen to anyone and not to be ashamed about it. We want to stop people being catfished or becoming a catfish themselves,.’
When it comes to his own love life, Johnny Smacks is happily engaged to his longterm partner, but the saga has changed how he views life for single people in the 21st century.
‘From dating to buying tickets, you just have to be so careful online. At the time, to tell my partner the story just reminded me it’s a crazy world,’ he said. He added: ‘The charm to us is we’re normal lads and we investigated it as normal lads would.
‘We’re not the CIA. It was enjoyable but absolutely draining. Ireland’s Louis Theroux? You never know.’