Te'o hoaxer to appear on 'Dr. Phil'

Te'o hoaxer to appear on 'Dr. Phil'

Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC

Katie Couric interviewed Note Dame football star Manti Te'o during an exclusive interview that was broadcast on "Katie" on Jan., 24, 2013. The person who orchestrated the hoax, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, has given his own interview to Dr. Phil.

The mastermind of the Manti Te’o dead girlfriend hoax didn’t use a female cousin in Samoa as the voice of Lennay Kekua, the cousin’s dad claimed Friday.

The latest denial came after a report that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo enlisted his beautiful 20-something cousin Tino Tuiasosopo to pose as Kekua during phone conversations with the Notre Dame linebacker.

"That's so far from the truth it's just ridiculous," dad Bob Tuiasosopo told the Daily News when reached in Samoa. "She was born here and has lived here all her life. It's ridiculous.”

Tuiasosopo’s lawyer previously claimed to The News that Ronaiah disguised his voice and played the role of Kekua during hours of soul-bearing phone conversations with Te’o.

RELATED: HEAR PHONE MESSAGES FROM MANTI TE'O'S 'GIRLFRIEND'

“(Te’o) thought it was a female he was talking with. It was Ronaiah as Lennay,” lawyer Milton Grimes told The News on Wednesday. “Hollywood does it all the time. People can do that.”

Another well-placed source told The News that the 661 phone number Te’o used for Lennay was registered to Tuiasosopo’s father,Titus Tuiasosopo.

Te’o told ESPN he believed two men and a woman were behind the “prank.”

“I think it’s clear (Tuiasosopo) had feelings for Te’o, but I also think a couple other people were involved, at least some of the time,” the source with knowledge of the phone number said.

Ronaiah has been in hiding since the scandal exploded last week but broke his silence in an exclusive interview with Dr. Phil.

RELATED: NFL TEAMS LOOKING FOR THE FULL MANTI STORY

”I can confirm that the interview took place,” show rep Stacey Luchs said Friday, declining to give details.

Ronaiah met with Dr. Phil for several hours Thursday for an “emotional and deep” session expected to air sometime next week, TMZ.com reported.

The two spoke after watching Te’o’s own TV interview with Katie Couric together.

Tuiasosopo, 22, has confessed he invented his female alter ego and used the bogus persona to perpetrate a long-distance romance with Te’o.

Te’o told Couric he played no role in the ruse. He said Kekua sounded undeniably female during scores of phone conversations and that he was genuinely devastated when he thought she died of cancer in September â€" an event that spawned his overnight celebrity as college football’s heartbroken hero.

RELATED: FACE OF MANTI TE'O'S HOAX GALPAL SPEAKS

Asked point blank if he was gay, Te’o laughed.

“No. Far from it,” he told Couric. “Faaaaaar from it.”

Grimes said his client never meant to hurt or humiliate Te’o.

He described Tuiasosopo as “confused.”

“It was a person with a troubled existence trying to reach out and communicate and have a relationship that they felt wholesome about because there were things they didn’t feel wholesome about in their life,” Grimes said Wednesday.

Titus Tuiasosopo declined to comment Friday when reached by The News.

ndillon@nydailynews.com