Series Review: "Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist" (2022).

From Netflix and the directors of Truth Be Told: Rick Ankiel and In Football We Trust comes Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist. This documentary film directed by Tony Vainuku and Ryan Duffy. It is the sixth installment in the nine-part Untold: documentary film series. Born into a Hawaiian paradise, All-American football standout Manti Te'o leads a simple life summed up in just three words: faith, family, football. College football's golden boy could do no wrong, but when tragedy strikes, the increased scrutiny of his online relationship causes a media maelstrom that threatens his future and legacy. Featuring in-depth interviews with Manti Te’o and the person behind the online identity, Ronaiah ‘Naya’ Tuiasosopo.

On January 26, 1991, American football linebacker and now free agent, Manti Malietau Louis Te'o, was born. Te'o played for Punahou School, a private co-ed institution in Honolulu, where he had also attended middle school. In 2006, Te'o began his varsity career with stellar play that won him selection to the second-team all-state roster as a sophomore. In high school, Te'o had a 3.5 grade-point average and did volunteer work with the Shriners Hospital, Head Start preschool program, Hawai'i Food Bank and Special Olympics. In November 2008, Te'o also became an Eagle Scout. Te'o enrolled in the University of Notre Dame, where he played for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team from 2009 to 2012, where he was a consensus All-American and received eight national awards. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft, and played in the NFL until 2021. In early September 2012, Te'o told many media outlets that both his grandmother and his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, had died on September 11, 2012. Te'o said that his girlfriend had been injured in a car accident, and was discovered during her treatment to have leukemia. Many sports media outlets reported on these tragedies during Te'o's strong 2012 season and emergence as a Heisman Trophy candidate. In January 2013, after receiving an anonymous email tip, two reporters of the sports blog Deadspin conducted an investigation into Kekua's identity. In mid January, they published an article alleging Kekua did not exist and pointed to a person named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo (now Naya Tuiasosopo) as involved in the hoax of a relationship with Te'o. Tuiasosopo has been described as a family friend or acquaintance of Te'o. Pictures of Kekua that had been published in the media were actually of Diane O'Meara, a former high school classmate of Tuiasosopo.

We all know Manti Te'o's story, but the Untold entry on Te'o's life and career is still a valuable and insightful biopic. It was pure madness and there was plenty of blame to go around - but The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist does a journalistically sound job of putting events in perspective. The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist may not be a game-changing film but it shows that Netflix has potential to rival ESPN in the sports documentary department.

Simon says Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist receives:

Also, see my review for Untold: Breaking Point.