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2 Johnnies star reveals Netflix wanted to make show about GAA catfish drama

The RTÉ star revealed the Netflix team behind The Tinder Swindler wanted to make his catfishing experience into a documentary.

Johnny B and girlfriend Shauna Lindsay.

Maeve McTaggartSunday World

One half of The 2 Johnnies duo – Johnny O’Brien – has opened up about his “amazing” influencer girlfriend following his dramatic public catfishing saga.

The RTÉ star confessed everything has “worked out” with his partner Shauna Lindsay, despite his high-profile experience of being mislead by a now notorious catfisher.

Last year, Johnny B told of his chaotic experience with “the GAA Catfish” – a woman who fooled him, multiple GAA stars and a number of other men into thinking they were romantically involved with fake Instagram profiles.

Known as “Cora,” though her real name has never been revealed, she maintained an intricate network of social media accounts to lure many people into a ‘relationship.’

Her catfishing can be dated back to almost a decade ago, the podcasting duo found after Johnny B himself had been misled by the woman.

The two episodes telling the story are some of the pair’s most listened to – and most shared – ever.

He recently re-told the story on The Fellas podcast, before revealing he was approached by the Netflix team behind The Tinder Swindler to make his experience into a documentary.

Johnny B had met a girl on Instagram last Christmas who had 15k followers and was followed by “a lot of people I knew,” he remembered.

"Followed by football players, followed by women who worked in sport, followed by professional female athletes.”

The 2 Johnnies. Picture by Emma Synnott

When he was on the way to meet her in person, he was halfway to Limerick when she said her aunt had died.

The next time they were to meet, she said she had tested positive for Covid and needed to isolate.

When her 7 days of isolation were up, she said she was partying in Dublin with pals. Johnny B couldn’t track her down.

In a last ditch attempt to meet ‘Cora’, he visited her at home. He was told she had “popped to the shop,” yet she never arrived.

‘Cora’ was a catfish, he realised.

"She had about ten fake profiles that were really active and looked really good. They would all message me that Cora had to go home because her sister is sick and her phone died.”

He added: “It turns out she catfished about 200 guys.”

Johnny told The Fellas podcast that the catfish was the first person he had been interested in after a break up.

"I was going out with a girl and then we broke up. Then a couple of months later, it was the first person I had been texting,” he said.

“I have a girlfriend now who is amazing. I hate to say it but she’s better looking than ‘Cora’. It all worked out.”

The couple recently returned from a holiday to Australia and despite stay tight-lipped on the romance previously, today Shauna revealed how they met during a Q&A on her Instagram stories.

Responding to a question asking how they met, Shauna replied that they “met as every modern love story would begin, the DMs.”

Johnny B had previously kept his relationship with the model under wraps.


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