90 Day Fiance has gone through a number of changes since the series premiered.
On the flagship show and across numerous spinoffs, the “90 Day” title — a reference to the K-1 visa — has at times been more of a suggestion.
With the realities of delays caused by visa backlogs after two years in a pandemic, some adjustments have been made.
Are you ready for the series to take on a brand new title?
On April 1, 2022, Sharp Entertainment and TLC released a statement about the ever-growing franchise’s future.
“90 Day Fiance and our many treasured spinoffs have found a growing, responsive audience both on TLC and on Discovery Plus,” the statement began.
“While we are reluctant to mess with perfection,” the statement continued, “current realities dictate that we make some adjustments.”
“When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, many of us hoped that it would last a matter of weeks,” the statement acknowledged.
“As we all know, that has not been the case,” the press release understated.
“Multiple 90 Day Fiance couples and their international journeys of love have been delayed, altered, or interrupted by the virus and by restrictions,” the statement noted.
“These delays have turned personal lives upside down, ended relationships before they began, and wreaked havoc upon filming schedules,” the statement observed.
“Because of these delays, we have had to extend filming time to keep up with the beaurocratic backlog of visa applications,” TLC and Sharp explained.
“While we expect it to be an adjustment for some viewers,” the statement concluded, “we hope that they will love the accurately-named 120 Day Fiance just as much.”
Considering the impact of the pandemic on relationships, 120 days could give couples a lot more breathing room.
One of the first COVID casualties was Angela Deem and Michael Ilesanmi.
The pair married in very early 2020 … right before two disasters struck to keep them apart.
Even before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, the first hurdle came from one of Angela’s favorite people.
Donald Trump was still in office at the time, and added Nigeria to a travel ban.
The now-disgraced former president made this move just days after Angela and Michael tied the knot, meaning that any K-1 visa filing would have to wait for a new administration.
As if that were not enough, the pandemic struck.
This caused massive delays in any kind of immigration.
It also provided certain bad faith actors (Stephen Miller) with opportunities to push for even further restrictions upon legal immigration.
By all accounts, Angela and Michael are still not together.
They have been married for more than two years, but have not been able to see each other in person.
Unless they are very good at hiding the truth, it looks like they may have broken up not too long ago … and any breakup could be their last.
In that case, COVID-19 may have done the couple a favor — at least, done Michael a favor.
Angela was already proud to bombard him with vicious verbal and emotional abuse.
It is difficult to imagine that she would have started behaving better once he was living with her in Georgia, cut off from his friends and family.
Other couples were more sympathetic.
On Season 5 of 90 Day Fiance: Before The 90 Days, Idaho native Ella Johnson has been struggling with the pandemic’s toll.
She wants to be with Johnny. Johnny says that he wants to be with her. And yet …
Again and again, Johnny has delayed coming to see Ella in person, either in Idaho or in Dubai.
Why? Because of the virus and because of restrictions.
He could get sick. He could lose a lot of money being hospitalized in the nightmarish U.S. healthcare system. He could be quarantined for weeks.
As we have all seen, Ella fears that Johnny will never make the trip, that he’ll keep dragging this out.
Worst of all, she worries that he is using this very valid situation as an excuse.
Meanwhile, Johnny worries that Ella will meet someone else and fall in love, and he’ll be the one who is alone.
Then, of course, we have the two Alinas.
First came Steven Johnston, the eccentric Mormon with great hair and poor impulse control.
He and his worryingly young, appropriately immature girlfriend had to meet up in Turkey due to visa restrictions.
Another Alina, known on Instagram as Alina Kasha, also came from Russia to Turkey to meet a long-haired American dude.
Caleb Greenwood wasn’t a compulsive cheater. He was a little goofy and a lot spiritual. He also had great hair.
Their story was cut short when Alina’s history of using racist slurs on social media came to light.
A slight rebranding won’t change inherent incompatibility, but sometimes real life requires a necessary adjustment.
There’s no telling if this change will be implemented before Season 9 of 90 Day Fiance premieres.
Oh, and there’s one more thing:
HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!
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