If Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is indeed the man behind the entire Manti Te’o hoax and it was truly his voice that we heard on all of those voicemails that were left for Te’o, we are now left wondering why. Is Tuiasosopo just a person who gets a rush from such an elaborate hoax. Does it make him feel in control? Or, is it possible that he was or is in love with Te’o?
According to TMZ, sources close to Tuiasosopo say that he had “intense feelings” for Te’o that developed over time. The sources say that Ronaiah has struggled with adapting to the expectations of his culture for a long time and that he has never had a serious physical relationship with anyone. It is believed that he created an online female persona as a way to vent his feelings.
As we now know, Tuiasosopo had Lennay Kekua return from the dead on Dec. 6, which basically blew the entire hoax open. According to TMZ’s sources, Tuiasosopo chose to do that because it was hard to walk away from Te’o and he wanted to reconnect — not because he wanted to come clean about the prank he had played.
At this point, nothing would surprise us. For someone to put forth as much effort as Tuiasosopo did throughout the entire hoax, there has to be something going on aside from giggling and entertainment. Ronaiah having feelings for Te’o would make a lot of sense.
You can read all our stories on the Manti Te’o hoax here.
