Is 90 Day Fiancé real? Cast members claim it’s “very deceptive”

90 Day Fiancé, TLC’s popular reality show, which features unconventional couples who fell in love across borders, is currently airing three spin-offs on the network. These include Before the 90 Days on Sundays, and The Last Resort and The Other Way on Mondays.

The franchise has seen many couples appear on the show who have either become fan favorites or left a sour taste in fans’ mouths, for various reasons, including how their behavior towards each other was portrayed on the show.

Due to how unconventional the show is, and how different some of the relationships portrayed in the show are, fans have, on several occasions taken to social media as they wonder about the authenticity of the show.

Over the years, several cast members have opened up about filming 90 Day Fiancé online. Most have noted that while the couples are authentic, their storylines are often manipulated or heavily edited.

In 2019, Ashley Martson took to social media to slam TLC for heavily editing the show in a now-deleted post. In the post, she expressed how frustrated she was and noted that they were asked to be “very deceptive.”

“We have been asked to be very deceptive about many things during our run with the show. We have been asked (and agreed for some time) to fake our relationship by not posting anything that makes us appear that we’re together.”

Natalie Mordovtseva, Jay Smith, and more 90 Day Fiancé cast members talk about filming

90 Day Fiancé, one of TLC’s most popular franchises, follows the lives of couples who don’t live in the same country. Initially, the show followed the lives of couples in which one of the two had applied for or was granted the K-1 visa which is given to fiances of American citizens.

Over the years and over 15 spin-offs later, the show now includes people who are yet to apply for a visa or even couples that haven’t met yet.

In a leaked Cameo which was shared by 90 Day Fiancé bloggers, Kiki and Kibbitz, the Happily Ever After? and The Single Life cast member noted that some things about her relationship with Michael were not true.

During her appearance on The Single Life, it was portrayed as if Natalie and Michael had no contact since she left him. However, in the clip, she admitted that they never stopped talking.

“The truth is, he was refusing to shoot. When he could agree to be shoot, they needed a reason to bring him back but me and Michael never actually stopped talking”.

Ashley Martson has been a critic of the show on social media and has also spoken about her time on the show during interviews. Her ex-husband, Jay Smith has also been vocal about the “drama” being set up by production.

While in conversation with In Touch Weekly, Jay noted that their infamous Tinder controversy was scripted. He noted that Ashley discovering his Tinder profile a few days after they got married was scripted.

“The Tinder scandal, it was just an act so it was easy to move [past it] because you know, we just act on the TV and after … that was it.”

Michael Jessen from season 7 opened up about the much talked about prenup incident with his wife Juliana Custodio on Instagram in 2019.

The segment featured Michael’s ex-wife insisting that the new couple get a prenup to ensure that their children don’t lose out on their inheritances.

Michael noted on Instagram at the time that it was the “biggest bunch of manufactured bullsh*t” and slammed TLC for heavily editing the segment.

He noted that 90 Day Fiancé cast members were not paid actors and that it was still their real lives. However, he also noted that there were distortions of concepts that the show misrepresented.

“That’s something that becomes upsetting. I hope you can understand that.”