A transgender drag queen who took part in MTV dating show Catfish has opened up about her “traumatizing” experience filming the hit series – revealing how she was “humiliated” by producers who helped put her in to take center stage of a revenge plan to be 20 years in the making.
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Sham Ibrahim revealed gruesome behind-the-scenes details of what it was really like filming for the show – days after her dramatic episode aired and revealed how she got into a screaming fight with the host landed. Nev Schulman and got into a physical fight with someone on set.
Sham’s catfishing nightmare began after she became involved with the MTV show – in which presenters Nev, 38, and Kamie Crawford, 30, help people involved in online relationships with partners they’ve never met. The hosts play amateur detectives who help determine whether the romances are real or fake.
For Sham, that romance was with a man named Phillip, whom she met on Snapchat. As for Sham, Phillip was handsome and articulate, and she was excited to see where the relationship would go in the future.
A transgender Catfish contestant has opened up about her hellish experience filming the hit MTV dating show
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Sham Ibrahim revealed gruesome, behind-the-scenes details about the filming of the show, which is hosted by Nev Schulman and Kamie Crawford.
Sham ended up in a gruesome on-air confrontation with a former acquaintance who set up a catfishing Snapchat account to get revenge on her for sleeping with his former lover.
After hearing about Phillip from Sham, a friend contacted Catfish producers – hoping to prove that Philip was who he said he was. Unfortunately he wasn’t.
It even turned out that Phillip was a former acquaintance of Sham’s named Mike who fabricated the entire online romance as part of an evil revenge plan to get back at Sham for dating his ex-lover 20 years ago.
Mike’s gruesome prank was revealed in Sham’s episode of the show, which aired last week, with the Catfish cameras capturing the horrifying moment when Mike happily revealed himself as “Phillip”.
The moment – seen in the episode – featured a horrified Sham in shock as Mike bragged about his cheating and told her: “You’ve always wanted a prince.” So, here I am.
“It’s me, your old friend Mike. I’m Philip I did everything, of course I did.’
He continued, “I told you I’d get you back girl. I told you. You stole my friend in Mexico. I told you, I said, ‘Don’t bring my friend.'” And you did took it anyway You’re bad and you’re a bitch.
“I told you I’d get you back. You can’t just throw away a friend who’s been with you for 20 years.”
Although the show captured the gruesome confrontation between Sham and Mike, she says the cameras stopped rolling before things got really bad and admits she ended up throwing Mike in the pool in front of the house they met in, a moment what not I can’t get to the last episode.
While Sham’s on-screen confrontation with her ex-boyfriend was humiliating, she says things were worse behind the scenes and admitted she had a physical altercation with him.
Sham also confessed he got into a shouting match with host Nev (38) (centre) because she was convinced he knew she was being set up
Sham says she also got into a roaring match with host Nev, who she assumed was deliberately “humiliating” her on camera by helping Mike carry out his revenge plan.
“I got into a huge shouting match and fought with Nev,” Sham told DailyMail.com. “Basically, I thought he knew that Mike was a person I knew who was trying to humiliate me.”
However, Sham later found Nev was just as clueless as she was when it came to Mike’s real identity – adding: “Nev had no idea.” I have done more than a dozen reality shows. The difference between this is that it’s not actually a script at all. It’s 100 percent reality.”
While the series’ gritty take on reality shows certainly makes for an exciting viewing experience, Sham says it made her experience filming the show miserable.
“The show really wasn’t directed and I wasn’t allowed to do reruns,” she explained.
“There was also no hair and no makeup. This is also part of their effort to make it as real as possible.
“I’m still very traumatized.”
“In a time when transgender rights are being taken away, Nev took the time to really understand me,” says Sham (seen in a selfie with Nev and Kamie).
Sham also had very little opportunity to prepare for the camera to turn on, revealing that just a day after she Snapchatted “Phillips,” the cameras showed up at her house without notice.
“25 cameras showed up at my house unannounced,” she recalls. “It was the day after I submitted a copy of a Snapchat I received from someone I thought was Phillip.”
In any case, Sham is not crying over split milk and tells DailyMail.com he has managed to find a silver lining in the whole situation – the fact that Catfish and its producers have accepted her and the trans community as such.
“You can clearly see that I am a transgender from outer space. It’s made dating extremely difficult in my life because a lot of people don’t understand it,” Sham told DailyMail.com.
“At a time when transgender rights are being abolished, they went out of their way to make me feel accepted. Nev took the time to really understand me. It meant so much to me.
“If everyone puts in half the effort that the Catfish team does, it will change the understanding and acceptance of transgender people.”
Source: Daily Mail
Ashley Root is an author and celebrity journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a keen eye for all things celebrity, Ashley is always up-to-date on the latest gossip and trends in the world of entertainment.
