The 90 Day Fiancé Divorce Rate Is Lower Than You'd Think
There are many couples on TLC's "90 Day Fiancé" reality television franchise whose relationships haven't lasted the test of time (or that of the television cameras). From Danielle and Mohamed Jbali's fights to Chantel Everett and Pedro Jimeno's finances, it might seem as though most of the "90 Day" couples are destined for divorce if they haven't called things off before making it down the aisle. Add in various pressures from friends and family members, and the occasional culture clash or two, and it doesn't really appear as though the situation would create marital bliss.
Based on what the show's producers have to say about it, according to a panel hosted by Deadline, "90 Day Fiancé" might be more successful at making marriages last than expected. One report from In Touch Weekly listed multiple divorced or separated couples as of the time of its publication, but that list does not feature only married couples.
90 Day Fiancé has a better divorce rate than the average in the United States
As explained by Matt Sharp, CEO of "90 Day Fiancé" production company Sharp Entertainment, during the Deadline panel at the time of Season 9, "Sadly the divorce rate in the United States hovers around 50% — 50% of couples do not make it. We're well above that. Our couples are well above 75%." In other words, only about 25% of married "90 Day" couples have divorced.
According to the website DivorceWriter, when the statistics on divorce in the United States are broken down, the divorce rate might not be as high as Sharp claims. Based on the analysis provided by DivorceWriter, the divorce rate in the U.S. is about 31%, which would put the marriages on "90 Day Fiancé" closer to the national average but still slightly better. Per the U.S. Census Bureau's 2016 report on Number, Timing, and Duration of Marriages and Divorces, for adults in their 20s and older who had ever been married, 34% of women had been divorced, and 33% of men had been divorced.
In the summer of 2018, Sharp claimed that the divorce rate among "90 Day" couples was at 10%, as reported by E! News.
The relationship success rate overall may be a different story
During the Deadline panel, Sharp Productions casting director Brooklyn Bagwell commented, "You know, honestly I think the couples on 90 Day are more likely to stay together. They've already gone through so much. Why break up now? They've done so much to get to be together."
This hasn't been the case for all the couples in the "90 Day Fiancé" franchise, and many couples didn't make it to marriage before they called off their respective relationships. Taking the list from In Touch Weekly as an example, couples such as Mike Berk and Ximena Morales, Alina Kozhevnikova and Caleb Greenwood, and Brittany Banks and Yazan Abo Horira did not wed each other prior to breaking up.
It's not apparent what the relationship success rate has been for the franchise overall when taking into account unmarried couples. Adding to the confusion is that some couples have appeared on spin-offs while still together, and others have pursued new relationships while still being followed by TLC's cameras. Of course, there's probably someone out there who's willing to do that math, provided that they can keep up with so many couples.