Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist - Where and how to watch the Manti Te'o catfish documentary

Manti Te'o's story is one that has puzzled NFL fans since it came out back in 2013. Te'o had NFL scouts buzzing about his All-American abilities as the University of Notre Dame linebacker finished second in Heisman Voting in 2012. Following which, he spoke onstage about the tragic loss of his girlfriend, a woman by the name of Lennay Kekua.

As it turns out, Te'o's heart-wrenching tale had a somewhat simple origin: he was catfished. Big time.

Te'o's fell victim to deception and catfishing by a trans woman who now goes by Naya Tuiasosopo. His story was eventually turned into a Netflix installment of the 'Untold' series.

Manti Te'o 'Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist' hits streaming platform

Manti Te'o's episode, titled "Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist," hit Netflix on Tuesday. The show features two episodes detailing interviews with Te'o and Naya Tuiasosopo, who pretended to be Lennay Kekua on Facebook.

The tale begins with the star linebacker of Samoan-Hawaiian heritage, setting the stage alight at Notre Dame. Te'o said that his grandmother and girlfriend had died on the same day in 2012. A story that brought an outpouring of sympathy for the college football star.

As this series of unfortunate events gained national attention, it came to light that Lennay Kekua was not, in fact, a real person. Kekua turned out to be the creation of Naya Tuiasosopo, who was seemingly just looking for someone to talk to on social media.

Tuiasosopo reportedly manufactured Kekua's page with pictures of a former high school classmate, even going so far as to impersonate Kekua's voice on the phone.

In an interview with Dr. Phil, Tuiasosopo said:

"I pretty much had this escape of Lennay and this was where my heart had pretty much invested, not just time, but all of my energy went into this."

While a number of people suspected Te'o was in on it for some reason, Tuiasosopo said that he had no involvement. Tuiasosopo maintained that "he did not know anything," before adding that her feelings for him were genuine.

Te'o, once destined for stardom, was touted as a first-round back in the 2013 NFL Draft. He ended up sliding down to the second round and went on to spend seven years in the league. He had stints with the San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears as recently as January 2021.