The definition for this use of the word "catfish" was added to Webster's Dictionary in 2013.
Max was not a part of the original "Catfish" movie which was the catalyst for the series. Nev's brother Ariel and Ariel's best friend Henry were the videographers in the movie. Nev was just along for the ride and reluctant to have a movie centered around his particular catfish-ed situation.
Carmella Bynes holds the record for catfishing the most people out of anyone featured on Catfish: The TV Show (2012). She revealed that she had catfished 5,000-6,000 guys on her "William & Carmella (2023)" episode. MTV Catfish's official Twitter account live tweeted "New Record Alert #Catfish" during the episode's airing.
Nev's name is actually pronounced 'Neev'. Occasionally this leads to funny instances where unsuspecting catfishers call him the wrong thing, which causes him to be visibly upset.
In one episode, the catfished one was an actress from the the film "Death Proof".