90 Day Fiance: The Truth About Ashley And Jay's Tinder Scandal

Have you ever watched reality TV and wondered how real the reality was? The history of reality TV is full of footnotes exposing some of the more, shall we say, produced storylines from various shows. The reality of everything from The Voice to The Real Housewives has been called into question, especially as the genre continues to gain popularity. Enter 90 Day Fiancé, maybe the best (and perhaps least real?) reality show to exist.

For the uninitiated, 90 Day Fiancé (and its many spinoffs) is a reality show about Americans trying to secure visas for their long-distance partners to join them in the United States. When they finally come together on-camera, it's often one of the first times they've seen each other face-to-face. Then their families don't get along. They fight over nothing, and scandal and drama naturally follow. 

But how real is it? As it Turns out, seemingly not as real as you might hope. One of the show's most drama-inducing couples, Jay Smith and Ashley Martson, recently spilled the supposed tea on what goes on behind the scenes. According to Jay, the show's biggest scandals are often entirely made up for story purposes. Read on to find out what Jay has to say about his tinder scandal, reality TV, and who he claims is calling the shots.

Fans of 90 Day Fiancé know that Jay Smith and his American fiance turned wife (now turned ex-wife), Ashley Martson, had a rough go of it from the start. Ashley never fully trusted Jay, they fought all the time, and thanks to the 90-day visa limitations, their marriage was rushed, to say the least.

The mic drop moment of Jay and Ashley's storyline came days after they said "I do," as Ashley picked up Jay's phone and discovered he was on Tinder. Some honeymoon, huh? Ashley was devastated, Jay was humiliated, fans were furious...except none of it was real (supposedly). When talking with In Touch Weekly in February 2020, Jay alleged that the Tinder storyline was completely fabricated. "The Tinder incident that happened, that was staged because without drama you don't have a show," Jay told the outlet. "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."

"Tinder-gate" might have been an act, but other issues in Jay and Ashley's relationship were very much real. The couple filed for divorce for a second time (like we said: complicated) in February 2020, per Entertainment Tonight. It's just as well for Jay, who claims he never wanted to be on the show anyway. "I had no part of it," he claimed to In Touch. "I feel like the show portrayed my relationship as a very toxic relationship, like I'm the bad person." Long story short: Don't believe everything you see on TV.