Casey Donovan's Catfish show has been cancelled before it even aired and it's all your fault.

Well, this is a devastating day for our nation.

Network Ten has confirmed that the promised Casey Donovan-hosted Catfish Australia series, a local reboot of the popular American offering, has been dropped from Ten’s Pilot Week 2019 lineup.

Ten had previously announced that Australian Idol winner and musician Casey Donovan would join Walkley-nominated documentarian Patrick Abboud on a televised quest to uncover the truth about online relationships.

The pair said their TV show would come to the aid of everyday Australians who had suspicions about their internet love interests, with Casey and Patrick joining forces to uncover the real identities behind online profiles.

Listen to hosts Laura Brodnik and Kee Reece explain why Catfish Australia has been abruptly canceled on Mamamia’s daily entertainment podcast The Spill. 

Ten then put out a call for Aussies to share their own stories on the show, with the online application reading, “Are you in a relationship with someone but are yet to meet in real life? Has this been going on too long and starting to affect your everyday life? Are you beginning to wonder if it is actually real or not? Or have you not been completely truthful to someone about who you are and want to come clean? No matter the story, we want to hear from you! Conversations with a producer are confidential and will not be filmed.”

But alas, no catfish victims were prepared to share their stories with the wider world and Casey.

The news was first reported by TV Blackbox and the cancellation was then confirmed by a Network Ten spokesperson who said the production failed to find the right people to take part in the show.

“We swear, we didn’t Catfish you!” Mumbrella reports the network as stating. “Unfortunately, Catfish Australia is no longer part of our 2019 Pilot Week schedule. We cast out a line, but didn’t have the right bait to catch you a catfish in time.”

The series was hotly anticipated due to the fact that host Casey Donovan has spoken extensively about her own experience of being catfished over the years.

Casey believed that she was in a relationship with a man named Campbell for over six years, even though they had only spoken over the phone, only to discover that “Campbell” was really a woman named Olga.

By publicly sharing her story, including in her autobiography Casey Donovan: Big, Beautiful & Sexy, Casey started a national conversation around the effect of catfishing and mental health in general.

It’s a shame we will not get to see her in action on our screens.

Pilot Week 2019 will begin airing on Sunday, 8 September on 10 and WIN Network. This year’s lineup of shows includes Roxy Jacenko in I Am…Roxy, Sydney’s Crazy Rich Asians, My 80 Year Old Flatmate and Part Time Private Eyes starring Nicola Parry and Heidi Arena.

A mixture of ratings and general audience feedback will determine which show’s from this year’s lineup will be given an extended life on Ten. Off the back of last year’s Pilot Week Trial By Kyle, Saturday Night Rove, Taboo and Kinnie Tonight were all green-lit for a full season.

While this year’s lineup is filled with offerings from smart and successful women, we will forever be mourning the loss of Casey Donovan and Catfish Australia from our screens.

For more stories like this, you can follow Mamamia Entertainment Editor Laura Brodnik on Facebook.  You can also visit our newsletter page and sign up to “TV and Movies”  for a backstage pass to the best movies, TV shows and celebrity interviews (see one of her newsletters here).