Netflix’s season opener for the second season of the Untold sports scandal documentary, titled The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist, unravels the tale of Manti Te’o. A promising Notre Dame footballer, Te’o’s potential NFL career took a jolting twist when it was revealed that he was at the center of a catfishing scandal.
Te’o had been engaged in an online romance with a woman he’d never met but believed to be a Stanford student named Lennay Kekua. In a fateful call in 2012, he was informed of Kekua’s demise from leukemia. Earlier that day, he’d also lost his grandmother. Overwhelmed with sorrow, he shared his double tragedy with journalists covering that night’s football event, thrusting him into a nationwide spotlight.
However, there was a catch. Kekua was neither deceased nor who she claimed to be.
In reality, “Lennay Kekua” was an alias used by Naya Tuiasosopo, a fellow Hawaiian who grew up in proximity to Te’o in Laie, Oahu. Naya, who later identified as a transgender woman, confessed to deceiving Te’o throughout their extended virtual affair, even posing as other relatives to fake Lennay’s death.
As the 2013 NFL draft neared, Deadspin, a sports blog, received an anonymous tip-off insinuating Te’o’s and Tuiasosopo’s joint involvement in the hoax. Te’o, in the documentary, clarified that he had been unaware of the catfishing and genuinely mourned Kekua when he spoke to the media.
Following the documentary, one major unresolved query remains: Who leaked the tip to Deadspin that exposed the scandal?
Addressing this, the creators of Untold, Chapman and Maclain Way, couldn’t pinpoint the informant but shared their speculations.
“We often debated internally. Although we explored various leads, we couldn’t conclusively identify the tipper, leaving this aspect enigmatic,” remarked Chapman Way. He further emphasized the intrigue surrounding this particular facet.
Chapman clarified they were fairly certain it wasn’t Naya, suggesting the informer might hail from the close-knit community of Laie.
Highlighting the town’s intricate links, Maclain Way said, “There were apparent connections to Naya’s family, the Tuiasosopos, in Laie. The lines blur when trying to discern who was privy to which details. However, a prevailing rumor suggested Naya’s alter ego as Lennay. Based on the tip’s content, which mentioned Hawaiian roots and referred to the tipster as a ‘Laie boy’, we lean towards the likelihood of the informant being from this community.”
The Way brothers valued the perspectives of both Te’o and Naya for the documentary, particularly valuing Naya’s openness about her transition. Naya disclosed that her teenage years, spent suppressing her gender identity, influenced her creation of Lennay.
Reflecting on this, Maclain Way expressed, “The episode gains significant depth from their testimonies. They were virtually teenagers when this transpired. Now, with a decade’s wisdom, their narratives have matured. Naya’s account, especially her transition journey, enriches the story’s context.”
Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist is currently available on Netflix.