In one of the most bizarre stories of the week, the Manti Te’o hoax story has unfolded further, with reports from ESPN suggesting that the man behind it all has admitted his wrongdoing.

Just to recap the story – we’re still trying to make sense of it ourselves – American Footballer Manti Te’o had the support of a nation after a heartbreaking story of courage and emotion that saw the Notre Dame star apparently lose his grandmother and girlfriend within six hours of each one September. He then went out and racked up 12 tackles in a 20-3 defeat of Michigan State, something that brought him wide attention for his bravery.

However, it turned out all be lies, with no record of his girlfriend ever existing. Now Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man who has been blamed for the hoax, has apparently admitted to a close friend that it was indeed him, who duped the Samoan footballer by telling him the fake news. ESPN reports that Tuiasosopo told the friend in a tearful phonecall. "He (Ronaiah) told me that Manti was not involved at all, he was a victim” the friend – who was interviewed anonymously – said. “The girlfriend was a lie, the accident was a lie, the leukemia was a lie," said the woman. "He was crying, he was literally crying, he's like 'I know, I know what I have to do.' It's not only Manti, but he was telling me that it's a lot of other people they had done this to."

This quite bewildering update really does leave a lot more questions, but mainly; why the hell would someone do that in the first place?