SI’s Pete Thamel Released the Transcript of His Interview with Manti Te’o About His Dead Fake Girlfriend
Sports Illustrated has released the full trascript of Pete Thamel’s interview with Manti Te’o. You can read Thamel’s interview, along with some more notes at Sports Illustrated.com. I have picked out a few select portions that I found interesting. From Sports Illustrated:
SI: How did you meet her?
TE’O: We met just, ummmm, just she knew my cousin. And kind of saw me there so. Just kind of regular.
SI: How long were you dating? I know that can be a complicated question.
TE’O: Oct. 15 was the official date. Of last year. I’ve known her for four years. So we’ve been friends.
SI: So you dated for about a year.
TE’O: Yeah.
—–
SI: She has a Hawaiian sounding name. Is she from there?
TE’O: Her real name is actually Melelengei, but her friends couldn’t say that so they just called her Lennay.
SI: What did she do?
TE’O: She actually just graduated from Stanford. She worked at Clark’s Construction Company, I think. She replaced her dad after her dad passed.
SI: When did her dad pass?
TE’O: In October. She took that mantle for him.
SI: Does the family own a construction business?
TE’O: No. But they’re part of the whole administration, the higher-ups. Their family worked really hard and worked their way up. She’s very smart, very smart and very intellectual. She worked there but her main dream was to work with kids. She traveled all around. She taught at elementary schools. She flew to New Zealand to just work with kids. That’s what she loved to do, work with children.
—–
SI: What did she study?
TE’O: She graduated in 2011 or 2010. 2011.
SI: What was her major?
TE’O: Her major was in English and something. I’ll double check.
SI: I can call Stanford and check. They have to have some record or note that she passed.
SI: So long distance relationship?
TE’O: She was supposed to come [to visit me at Notre Dame]. She was just cleared to come to the Wake Forest game, my senior game. It was mainly just on the phone, every day.
—–
SI: Where did you meet her in California?
TE’O: She actually came to one of the games. She saw me at one of the games.
SI: October 15, I assume is USC?
TE’O: That was in November. But she saw me at the USC game of my sophomore year. We were still just friends, we were acquaintances.
There you go. Te’o told Thamel that he would talk to his girlfriend while she was in her coma and her breathing would increase. She was given a job at a construction company that her father had held. He didn’t know when she graduated or what she majored in despite the fact that they talked on the phone nonstop? Of course, if he was in on it, he would have an answer for every question. Right? This is still really weird.

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105 Responses to “SI’s Pete Thamel Released the Transcript of His Interview with Manti Te’o About His Dead Fake Girlfriend”
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January 17th, 2013 at 5:15 PM
I love Thamel covering his ass here by being forthcoming and having Mandel, et al cover for him by pointing to the fact Te’o was sputtering, etc. Sorry, print guys, but we don’t hold you to the same standards as a high school journalist. The reason people are calling you ridiculous is because these are mistakes professionals aren’t supposed to make, and therefore your skill as a professional is in doubt.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:16 PM
And again, as I pointed out in the last post, if Te’o was truly duped, that means that somebody on the other end perpetuated the lie for years (talked everyday? Text all the time?), and as someone else pointed out, for no known financial gain.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:17 PM
I’m cracked up by the fact that Thamel, who took so much crap for his dogged pursuit of the Mathieu story, didn’t find anything about that transcript odd enough to do further investigation on.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:17 PM
well, if that is the transcript, pretty obvious this Te’o dude is a fraudy fraud.
/SHUT IT DOWN
January 17th, 2013 at 5:17 PM
” Before I went to campus, I had conducted lengthy interviews with Brian Te’o, Manti’s dad, and Dalton Hilliard, a close friend from Punahou High in Honolulu who played at UCLA. Both said they were in frequent communication with Kekua; Brian Te’o told me he had received a condolence text from her after his mother died. They also spoke on the phone at length, as he did with Lennay’s brothers after her “death.” Hilliard said he received frequent texts and tweets from her.
“She was a very supportive, loving passionate individual,” Hillard said. “She was all about God and prayer and being able to have faith. Me and her never met in person. But I felt like this was a testament to who she was. She would still text and tweet me before my games.”
He added, “It was a pleasure for me to know her. The fact she made my best friend such a happy man, it’s something that made me a happy man as well.”
w.
t.
f.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:19 PM
This bugs me. Sounds like a fake name.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:21 PM
JMac and the staff writing thankyou cards to the deadspin guys for giving them plenty of content and traffic.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:21 PM
I love how Thamel mentions he can call Stanford and confirm her major (or even her death)…and then obviously didn’t.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:23 PM
He couldn’t corroborate any of the “facts” so instead of doing some real reporting, he just massaged the story a little.
Journalism, 2013 ed.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:24 PM
So it does looks like he lied about some things. My theory is that he was initially duped, but then used this story to increase his profile.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:25 PM
Considering Dalton Hilliard played at Patterson High in Patterson, La., and at LSU …
Hoax! Hoax! Hoax!
/ Refuses to acknowledge there may be another Dalton Hilliard
January 17th, 2013 at 5:26 PM
To be fair to Te’o I sometimes have to think a bit to remember my exact age…assuming he has had seveal instances of brown brain by this point it makes sense that details like graduation years and majors could be a little fuzzy
January 17th, 2013 at 5:27 PM
Also known among reporters as “writing around holes in the story.”
January 17th, 2013 at 5:27 PM
That’s the real shame of it, would have been all sorts of awkward if he had figured out that she didn’t exist that way and came back to him with questions about it
January 17th, 2013 at 5:27 PM
Let’s assume for a sec Teo WAS NOT in on it.
These people were cool with lying to an entire football program? How messed up is this? what was the point? What was the end game?
January 17th, 2013 at 5:28 PM
If his story is true, Teo will likely score in the negative numbers on Wonderlic.
/ Did not steal that idea from Klosterman at all
January 17th, 2013 at 5:28 PM
Would be cool if that Dalton Hilliard were Te’o's best friend.
Journalism is probably the most insufferably sanctimonious profession in the world. I look forward to its eventual death as it is currently conceived.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:30 PM
Eh, I’d ranked it third behind politician and football coach …
January 17th, 2013 at 5:31 PM
I know you said assume he’s not in on it. But it seems to me that ALL of the “lingering questions” go away if he is in on it from the start (except for the people like that Reagan dude who say she is actually a real person).
January 17th, 2013 at 5:32 PM
That’s just it, you’d think they would have gotten bored with it after three years unless the goal was to keep this going all the way to him making NFL money and trying to get some of it
January 17th, 2013 at 5:33 PM
The problem with journalists is the discrepancy between the opinion they have of themselves and the way the act. Although now that I think about it I guess politicians and football coaches are the same way.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:33 PM
He gets drafted, signs a huge contract, and they extort money from him.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:34 PM
God damn, it’s so uncomfortable reading this.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:37 PM
These people were cool with lying to an entire football program? How messed up is this? what was the point? What was the end game?
He gets drafted, signs a huge contract, and they extort money from him.
They waiting for him to transfer to Auburn and then they were going to extort him…
January 17th, 2013 at 5:38 PM
Let’s assume for a sec Teo WAS NOT in on it.
These people were cool with lying to an entire football program? How messed up is this? what was the point? What was the end game?
It would seem to be part of some PR campaign to improve his draftability. That’s the only thing I can think of. I agreed with Groin (!) last night when he said that this seemed too elaborate to be a red herring RE his sexual orientation.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:38 PM
He gets drafted, signs a huge contract, and they extort money from him.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:38 PM
I blew it
January 17th, 2013 at 5:38 PM
Soon there will be a new Bart Scott commercial.
/Sits in Santa’s lap
//Can’t wait
///Caaan’t wait
////Lannay’s real, Ya’ll!
January 17th, 2013 at 5:39 PM
Then why did they contact him prior to the BCS game and not after he was drafted?
January 17th, 2013 at 5:39 PM
wasn’t grandma dying enough PR, he had to add the girlfriend too?
January 17th, 2013 at 5:39 PM
I’ve really enjoyed playing internet detective over these last 24 hours
Don’t put that hat, pipe and monocle away yet: we still need to find the real killers of Ron and Nicole and Steve McNair.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:40 PM
Thamel said he did call to check her graduation year, but whatever. This all stinks. From Thamel not doing any journalism to Mandel and his cronies at SI sticking up for him. What the hell. I went to the same journalism school as Thamel, if he handed in a piece like this and everyone found out it was a fraud months later he would have been failed so fast. The fact that Thamel even says, “Wow, that’s unbelievable” at one point and didn’t think about how unbelieveable it was is even worse.
This may save face for Thamel (I still don’t think so), but now Te’o is pretty much screwed. Pretty obvious he’s in on it. Date for a year never see her. In the hospital, never visit even during the summer. Yeah, ok.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:41 PM
wasn’t grandma dying enough PR, he had to add the girlfriend too?
This is sort of like Barry Bonds’ decision to start taking PEDs. He was already a sure fire HoFer in 1999 and considered one of the greatest five tool players the game has ever had. But he got greedy.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:42 PM
Ask yourself this: who had more to gain from this, Manti Teo or some random cabal of people fucking with him? It’s obviously the former, which points strongly to his involvement, right? I can’t think of a single possible reason someone would do this to a football player. There’s no benefit.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:42 PM
Na, old people dying isn’t news. It’s what they do.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:43 PM
I have motive for Ray Lewis killing McNair (blowing their chances to win the SB in 2006 against the Colts) but need to do some more sleuthing to see why a teenage Murda would wish death on OJ’s ex-wife
January 17th, 2013 at 5:44 PM
Don’t forget those two dudes in Atlanta whose deaths did not in any way involve Ray Murda.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:44 PM
Well, now it’s time for another hoax to be revealed involving the Samoas. For years, we’ve all been led to believe that those Samoa cookies from the girl scouts were delicious. Many a folk would say, “Lemme get somoa’ them somoas.” When in fact, they actually taste like shit.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:44 PM
Under a highly unlikely extortion hypothetical, the latter could be argued.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:45 PM
/ Looks in mirror
// Looks at headlines, doesn’t see name
/// Sheds tear, all Iron Eyes Cody-like
January 17th, 2013 at 5:46 PM
I’m finding myself giving less of a shit about this story the more I read about it.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:46 PM
It was The Juice’s son. Fight on!
January 17th, 2013 at 5:47 PM
Well, we were all misled to believe that Samoas contained actual Samoans, which would have given them that natural fatty flavor.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:47 PM
Ark, me as well.
Starting to hit the burned out stage on this story, where it was at first fascinating, and then I wanted to know more, and now I can’t go to any damn sports site or channel without hearing about this. Burned out in less than 24 hours.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:48 PM
It was a good run though, perfect midweek fodder
January 17th, 2013 at 5:48 PM
Caramel Delite Girl Scout cookies are the best.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:49 PM
whatever credibility you may have had just went straight out the window.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:50 PM
Monti Te’o was NOT involved, trust me…
/Todd Charske
January 17th, 2013 at 5:50 PM
It was a good run though, perfect midweek fodder
Indeed. Tomorrow it’s back to mock drafts and guesses at the first coaches poll for next season.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:50 PM
A great run really. And still just absolutely ridiculous, regardless of what ends up being the truth. But yeah it’s getting to be that time where we wait awhile and revisit it in a few months.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:51 PM
/Danny Sheridan
January 17th, 2013 at 5:51 PM
Ask yourself this: who had more to gain from this, Manti Teo or some random cabal of people fucking with him? It’s obviously the former, which points strongly to his involvement, right?
No one is leaving room for the possibility that some people just have fucking around with people?
January 17th, 2013 at 5:52 PM
I predict an “Is Matt Ryan good?” spat
January 17th, 2013 at 5:52 PM
agreed, but in classic TBL fashion not only was the horse beaten well past death, but the corpse can’t even be taken to the glue factory any more.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:52 PM
Holy Crap, this cracked me up.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:53 PM
Whoever on here last nite said that Declan Sullivan is actually alive and his death was faked, he is living in Hawaii, and dating Manti Teo has me still laughing at that. Thanks.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:54 PM
agreed, but in classic TBL fashion not only was the horse beaten well past death, but the corpse can’t even be taken to the glue factory any more.
I wouldn’t say the horse was beaten to death. This is so incomprehensible in its weirdness that it practically begs to be analyzed ad nauseum. However unless Te’o kills himself between now and tomorrow I would hope that the amount of posts on this subject begin to dissipate.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:54 PM
I’m pretty sure we have not seen the end of the horse beating yet. I would guess there is more than one post on it tomorrow, but once the playoff games are played this weekend and we have a super bowl set it should be pretty much gone.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:54 PM
With at least one sentence stating that Mark Sanchez has more playoff wins.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:55 PM
Everyone knows it was Mark Fuhrman, doing the evil work of The Man.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:56 PM
/ Blushes
January 17th, 2013 at 5:57 PM
And then you will all have to answer for the needless death of that poor young man!
/ Mamalickabooboo’d
// Or whoever else brought up that nonsense today
January 17th, 2013 at 5:59 PM
/ Mamalickabooboo’d
// Or whoever else brought up that nonsense today
Seems like something he would do. I wonder if he has Asperger’s to be honest because he seems to have no social intuition whatsoever.
January 17th, 2013 at 5:59 PM
But then there’s two weeks of nothing but Te’o. Personally, I hope this lasts the entire year.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:00 PM
That’s the question. If it started this year, and now they were going to blackmail him for money or make Te’o look like a fool, I could see it. But to have it going on that long… that’s a lot of stock to put in a guy to make it to the pros.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:02 PM
No one is leaving room for the possibility that some people just have fucking around with people?
January 17th, 2013 at 6:08 PM
IIRC Thamel, Forde, and Evans were the three writers who constantly hounded Cam Newton. So apparently there are times when they do choose to treat an athlete suspiciously.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:09 PM
And again, as I pointed out in the last post, if Te’o was truly duped, that means that somebody on the other end perpetuated the lie for years (talked everyday? Text all the time?), and as someone else pointed out, for no known financial gain.
This is what I can’t get over. I just don’t think someone would have taken the time to fuck with him for all this time. Hopefully his cell phone records come out – I’d love to see if there were really 8 hour conversations. I’m usually spent after five minutes on the phone with a woman. I think this motherfucker is full of shit and I hope that dickhead AD burns for this. Which, as other posters mentioned, would be ironic – being fired for a fake death but not two real deaths tied to the program.
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities.”
Mark Twain
January 17th, 2013 at 6:11 PM
Luckily they figured that “Hawai’ian” was more “white” than “black”.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:18 PM
More like HaWhitean, WWoS. Amirite?
January 17th, 2013 at 6:26 PM
To quote Nelson Muntz from “Das Bus”
/moves over to Lance Armstrong post to post the same thing
January 17th, 2013 at 6:28 PM
For three years? You had someone pretend to be someone on the phone for hours a night? It just seems like a ridiculous amount of work for zero gain.
I didn’t say those people were well balanced. I mean – this is Catfish.
For the record, I’m not saying they were just screwing with him – he knew. But when people talk about financial gain…that’s too narrow a view. Some people do crazy things.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:31 PM
Beyond happy Thamel has egg on his face for this after dogging the Honey Badger and his family for just smoking weed
January 17th, 2013 at 6:41 PM
I sincerely believe that Te’o will wind up coming out of the closet.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:45 PM
Before the NFL draft? I’d take that action.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:47 PM
Not before the NFL draft unless he is outed. But at some point in his life. I really believe that’s where this thing is headed.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:50 PM
Out in 6 months (by any means) -400
Out in 2 years -200
Out ever -110
Which one of those you want?
January 17th, 2013 at 6:51 PM
And yes, even in my hypothetical props I take a vig on even money bets.
/gotta feed my kids
January 17th, 2013 at 6:54 PM
I think you’ve got your odds backwards…
January 17th, 2013 at 6:55 PM
I think so with Tebow too…but that might be 20+ years.
January 17th, 2013 at 6:59 PM
DAMNIT. I’m just glad a lot of the stupider things I say get passed over because it’s after everyone leaves. Did I mention I just went for a run and am slightly dizzy still?
January 17th, 2013 at 6:59 PM
Disagree. He’s getting ‘treatment’ before he lets himself be gay.
January 17th, 2013 at 7:03 PM
WWoS, Te’o has to be on suicide watch now, no?
January 17th, 2013 at 7:05 PM
A gay Mormon playing football at a catholic school…sounds about right.
January 17th, 2013 at 7:10 PM
I don’t think he’s about to eat the business end of a shotgun any time soon, but I’m sure he’s pretty upset.
January 17th, 2013 at 7:12 PM
Sounds like Te’o loves him some Te’o too much to do that
January 17th, 2013 at 7:12 PM
He’s actually got a fake boyfriend named Manti Te’o now.
January 17th, 2013 at 7:15 PM
Manti Te’bow
January 17th, 2013 at 7:21 PM
Manti Te’blow
/Forgot that L
January 17th, 2013 at 7:25 PM
He needs to give back that Maxwell Award. None of those would have been won without this sad sack story.
January 17th, 2013 at 7:31 PM
He needs to give back that Maxwell Award.
Te’o said if you want that award back, you’re going to have to find it. Since he hid it in his fake closet, you might as well just call it a loss.
January 17th, 2013 at 7:54 PM
He’s saying he called her at the hospital — what, did they have a bunch of nurses on standby at a nearby hospital ready to patch anyone asking for “Lennay Kekua” through to an outside line, where a person determined to hoax Te’o stood ready to breathe quickly with a bunch of other fake actors (brother, nurse, etc.) in the background? And also, now there’s a fake brother that he was in contact with, in addition to the fake sister?
There isn’t enough benefit of the doubt in the world to justify thinking this guy wasn’t in on it.
January 17th, 2013 at 8:14 PM
Again, cracking up at this thread. Probably been mentioned but how the fuck doesnt he have a picture with this chick in this day and age? No pics of her with him in Hawaii, or naked in a coma?
January 17th, 2013 at 8:20 PM
naked in a coma
Quiet and compliant. Awwwww yeeeaaauh!
January 17th, 2013 at 8:32 PM
It went very poorly for Buck in Kill Bill Vol. I. Sweet ride though.
January 17th, 2013 at 8:32 PM
Texas A&M blows, apologies for posting about them earlier this am. Not betting against Fla again this year.
January 17th, 2013 at 8:58 PM
I’ve got a 3 team parlay with the Heat +2.5, Bucks -1.5, and Clips -4.5. 6:1 payout.
January 17th, 2013 at 9:02 PM
Heat…illini (gag)….ducks…zags…ucla ats tonight
January 17th, 2013 at 9:20 PM
so glad nobody is watching Lance.
I’m watching Nashville from last night. Great show.
January 17th, 2013 at 9:37 PM
Lotta lawyers gonna get rich with Lance trying to keep people’s hands of his fraudy money. Rosenberg’s piece on him was simple enough.
January 17th, 2013 at 9:50 PM
Ge’o
that will eventually come out.
January 17th, 2013 at 10:06 PM
Te’o story. The gift that keeps on giving.
January 17th, 2013 at 11:06 PM
Stewart Mandel couldn’t come out as more of a company man than he has today on Twitter. Truly pathetic stuff out of SI. Their investigation of the Honey Badger made me cringe and now them with egg on their face gives me pure joy.
January 17th, 2013 at 11:13 PM
I really like the guy but he has been an embarrassing sympathetic shill.
Lakers are going to have to change out the rims at halftime, LeBron destroying them.
January 18th, 2013 at 12:29 AM
Lakers are going to have to change out the rims at halftime, LeBron destroying them.
Halftime Score:
Heat 44
Lakers 45