# Manti Te'o's Fake, Dead Girlfriend **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 16, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424 "2013-01-16T22:06:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/41 "2013-01-17T01:47:24Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Who would do something so convoluted as to create a fake online persona and then kill it unexpectedly in order to garner sympathy? > > Man, what a putz. Hey guys. I’m **Enderw24** ’s brother. My heart is broken as I type this. **Enderw24** just died. He had cancer we all thought he was going to beat it, but right after making that post he slipped and fell, choked on a shrimp cocktail and was hit by a bus. Our lives will never be the same. - **Enderw24bro** ---
**Author:** ![I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Made_French_Toast_For_You)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/42 "2013-01-17T01:53:10Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Seriously, you have to read this, it is insane. Yes, **Gangster Octopus** , there is a Monti T’eo’s girlfriend. She exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Monti T’eo’s girlfriend! It would be as dreary as if there were no **Gangster Octopuses**. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/43 "2013-01-17T01:55:20Z")
I got better! Well, until the industrial lift accident. Can’t escape that one. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/44 "2013-01-17T02:16:47Z")
I’m a pretty big college football fan, and I knew about Te’o’s grandma dying, but I admit this girlfriend story went under my radar (I freely admit that I’m not a ND fan, and I pretty much avoided the hype around the Irish). I remember an interview with Jim Rome and he was pretty impressed with the guy. This is just weird. I suspect there is something really weird with the Tuiasopopo kid and him. I mean, a cyber-romance is too hard to believe, especially with their meeting after the Stanford game, the visits to Hawaii, and their phone conversations. I mean, Te’o’s version of the truth has many RL meetings with the couple. The beard theory makes sense… but overall, I’m scratching my head about this whole thing. Oddly enough, I read an article on Longform last night about Munchausen by Internet, where people pretend to be terminally ill people and create blogs and join internet communities consisting of other people who actually are living with the disease. Which reminded me of our friend **umkay**. Weird stuff, but I’m not buying Te’o’s explanation, either. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/45 "2013-01-17T02:20:15Z")
Some jewels from around the web. 🙂 [Meanwhile, in Tuscaloosa.](http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b627/3rdPartTiger/CB89890E-23DA-4A97-9A49-5511DF37F6B7-2888-000002A2C7A489E0_zpsf0b85455.jpg) “Manti Te’o doesn’t exist either.” - Nick Saban Manti Te’o spent the game haunted by a spooky white thing dragging the chains - turns out it was A.J. McCarron. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/46 "2013-01-17T02:23:31Z")
It’s me again. Sometimes it seems so cruel that **Enderw24** survived the industrial accident only to be run over by a pack of rabid llamas once he got out of the hospital. But some days it’s like he’s still here with us and still posting on this very board. - **Enderw24dad** ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/47 "2013-01-17T02:23:49Z")
Just heard an interview on local sports radio with a guy that covers Notre Dame. Apparently, Te’o maintains that when he said they met, he meant they only met online. He feels he was the victim of a hoax and was embarassed that his “girlfriend” wasn’t real. The reporter says he believes Te’o. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/48 "2013-01-17T02:28:52Z")
He could be telling the truth, but there are some reports and comments that definitely make it sound like they were supposed to have met in person. I don’t understand how people came to believe that if they only communicated online. What about the story about her meeting up with him in Hawaii? ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/49 "2013-01-17T02:34:56Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > “Manti Te’o doesn’t exist either.” - Nick Saban Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon certainly ran through him like he wasn’t really there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/50 "2013-01-17T02:40:58Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > He could be telling the truth, but there are some reports and comments that definitely make it sound like they were supposed to have met in person. I don’t understand how people came to believe that if they only communicated online. What about the story about her meeting up with him in Hawaii? What I understood from the interview with the reporter is that Te’o pretty much went along with it after he realized it was a hoax because he was embarassed about people finding out that he had never met his “girlfriend” and she wasn’t real. Sounds like his parents went along with it, too (if his story is legit.) ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/51 "2013-01-17T02:47:53Z")
I met my husband online. After reading this story, I’m kinda anxious for him to get home from work so I can be sure I haven’t been hoaxed. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/52 "2013-01-17T02:53:09Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > He could be telling the truth, but there are some reports and comments that definitely make it sound like they were supposed to have met in person. I don’t understand how people came to believe that if they only communicated online. What about the story about her meeting up with him in Hawaii? Presumably he told people (or at least strongly implied) that they had met in person because a wholly online relationship sounds so weird. It’s far easier for me to believe that a sheltered religious kid would fall for what seems to be (exciting but chaste) female attention online than that the two guys would create a highly public spectacle for the purpose of concealing a gay relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/53 "2013-01-17T03:35:18Z")
I found her story of being a quadriplegic sky diver to be inspirational. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/54 "2013-01-17T04:06:11Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It’s far easier for me to believe that a sheltered religious kid would fall for what seems to be (exciting but chaste) female attention online than that the two guys would create a highly public spectacle for the purpose of concealing a gay relationship. I’d assumed it was a cover story to hide a gay relationship from his family and/or fellow church members and it got “out in the wild,” but yeah, it’s highly possible that he was just hiding that he’d never actually **met** his “girlfriend” IRL. The question is, who was talking with him on the phone? He’s still claiming he spoke with her often, and that it was revealed to him as a hoax when “she” (or someone sounding like his “girlfriend”) called him later and revealed at least some of the hoax. Does the other guy have a very feminine-sounding voice or the ability to put one on? ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/55 "2013-01-17T04:30:32Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I’d assumed it was a cover story to hide a gay relationship from his family and/or fellow church members and it got “out in the wild,” but yeah, it’s highly possible that he was just hiding that he’d never actually **met** his “girlfriend” IRL. > > The question is, who was talking with him on the phone? He’s still claiming he spoke with her often, and that it was revealed to him as a hoax when “she” (or someone sounding like his “girlfriend”) called him later and revealed at least some of the hoax. Does the other guy have a very feminine-sounding voice or the ability to put one on? Supposedly some woman (Renee?) was in on it too. It’s all quite confusing and more details would certainly be helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/56 "2013-01-17T11:10:04Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It’s far easier for me to believe that a sheltered religious kid would fall for what seems to be (exciting but chaste) female attention online than that the two guys would create a highly public spectacle for the purpose of concealing a gay relationship. See - I would have said just the opposite, especially when the shy religious kid was being inundated with real girls all dying to have real sex with a soon-to-be NFL superstar. Just how exciting could this online thing be compared to what was camped right outside his locker room? Add in the fact the “online thing” was, in fact, his male best friend, and well, really. I could believe that it was something he and his friend cooked up for publicity, maybe. That seems as plausible as the gay angle. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/57 "2013-01-17T11:44:55Z")
What fake girlfriend? She was real. > **[Lennay Kekua - Manti Te'o's Fake, Dead Girlfriend - Was Real](https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/lennay-kekua-manti-te-o-s-fake-dead-girlfriend-was-real-01dkj2e524zf)** > > Reagan Mauia, a fullback on the Arizona Cardinals, has added another layer to the impossible-to-believe Manti Te’o fake girlfriend/hoax story. He talked to ESPN ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/58 "2013-01-17T12:10:42Z")
Mind you, surely the main point of this story is, that it’s really difficult for a guy to get a fuck at Notre Dame. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/59 "2013-01-17T12:50:53Z")
I bet none of you are real either. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424/60 "2013-01-17T13:29:54Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I found her story of being a quadriplegic sky diver to be inspirational. Don’t be ridiculous. No one would believe such a story, especially on a MB like this what with all the smart people and everything! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend/647424.md?page=4)