Things About 90 Day Fiance That Are Totally Fake

90 Day Fiancé has what's arguably some of the most bonkers storylines of any modern day reality TV show. While it's not quite the overt cruelty of early aughts cult hits like The Swan, which pitted so-called unattractive women against each other in a beauty contest that hinged on extreme plastic surgery, it certainly says something about modern marriage in America. What exactly? That's hard to say.

In some regards, the series is a poignant commentary highlighting the nation's grueling immigration process by showcasing the supposed simplest path (which, as viewers have come to know, isn't all that easy — even if you can afford it, there's still a heavy emotional toll). In other regards, it's a case study on whether two strangers can endure respective culture shocks and find common ground in a time crunch. The high stakes of a ticking clock makes it all the more addicting. The dueling cultures lead to a bevy of uncomfortable moments that are both hard to look at and hard to look away from.

Nonetheless, no matter how you swing it, 90 Day Fiancé isn't generally heralded for its accuracy. While the show is reality (as in the couples are saying the words we see on the screen, though not necessarily in that order), cast members have increasingly spoken out about the series' alleged heavy-handed edits and straight-up fake plotlines. Here's a close look at how 90 Day Fiancé might not be as real as you think.

Off-the-bat, 90 Day Fiancé does a great job at framing the K-1 visa process as a tool used for Americans to get to know foreign love interests that they've only met once or twice in real life. Typically (though not always), it's someone from a developing nation that they met online, playing into (frankly, kind of racist) stereotypes of mail-order brides and con-artists looking for a quick way to a green card. Let's just say that it's not surprising the show has been accused of xenophobia.

Admittedly, watching couples who actually have a long-standing intimate bond is far less interesting than watching someone tie the knot on the 89th day because they aren't sure if they can stand this stranger they just told the government they would financially support for 10 years, but that's not really how the K-1 visa process works. Meeting once is just a minimum requirement. Anfisa Arkhipchenko, who was widely regarded as the villain of Season 4, set the record straight.

"One of the rules of fiancé visa is that you have to get married within the 90 days after coming to the US," she wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post (via Starcasm). " ... This '90 days' are definitely not to get to know your partner because you already know the person you've had long enough relationship with and decided you want to marry them."

Deavan Clegg seemed to have extraordinarily bad luck throughout her run on 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way. After meeting South Korean native Jihoon Lee online, the star unexpectedly fell pregnant the first time he visited her in person. She then packed up her belongings and moved her children across the planet, only to find out that Jihoon had lied about his savings and high-paying job. She ultimately became one of the program's most polarizing mamas — launching numerous debates across Reddit — following a scene in which she and her mother verbally eviscerated Jihoon after her young daughter from another relationship ran into traffic.

From Deavan's perspective, not everything about the pair's volatile marriage was as it seemed. Though she's nabbed headlines for baby daddy drama and child abuse allegations, she's also alleged that her storyline was — at least partially — scripted. In an Instagram Story captured by ScreenRant, the star claimed in October 2020, "Not stating a certain show, but you guys are aware that most reality TV shows are fake and either scripted or edited to match a storyline that storyboard teams put together before filming. Do you know that?"

According to ScreenRant, Deavan also alleged that TLC lied "about the timeline" of when she came back to America amidst the novel coronavirus pandemic and, according to CheatSheet, believed the "the edits are just getting so bad on my daughter that it's disgusting and it's disheartening."

Brittany Banks didn't do herself any favors during her time on 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way — at least, that's how it looked on the surface. The series villain shocked fans when she moved from Florida to Jordan to marry her fiancé, Yazan Abo Hurira, only to reveal in a confessional that she was secretly already married. On top of that, Yazan was literally risking his life to be with her. In one explosive episode, his father threatened to murder him in an honor killing if he tied the knot, ultimately leaving him homeless and jobless, according to ET. In the end, Brittany decided not to marry Yazan in Jordan and try for a K-1 visa, instead. The pair have since split for good — and it seems anything but amicable.

All of this made Brittany's storyline one of the most explosive of the season, but from her perspective, it wasn't all that accurate. Ahead of her season's Tell-All finale, the star joined the revolving cast of 90 Day alumni who have called out the network for its alleged heavy-handed editing. In an Instagram Story captured by InTouch, Brittany claimed that the production and editing team were "garbage a** humans." 

"All in all, I am glad it's over," she wrote. "Enjoy the Tell-All. Hopefully, they don't chop it up and let y'all get the truth. Trust issues on level 1,000,000. Save me."

Larissa Lima Dos Santos was met with a rude awakening during Season 6 of 90 Day Fiance when she moved from Brazil to what fans have described as the Bates Motel. More realistically, she endured Colt Johnson, his mother, Debbie, and their un-air conditioned car in the Nevada heat to the point that it became unbearable enough for her to yell the now-infamous line, "Who is against the queen will die!" This made the star a fan favorite, and she graduated to 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?, where she appeared with her new boyfriend, Eric Nicols.

After filming, Larissa's relationship with TLC became strained as she navigated arrests and run-ins with ICE. Ultimately, she was fired for her X-rated video stream — but that's given her the freedom to call out the network for reportedly faking storylines.

In a bombshell YouTube interview, Larissa claimed that her plastic surgery storyline with Eric was faked. The star apparently spent $70,000 on her glow-up, and unlike the series suggested, Eric didn't pay a dime and didn't make her sign a contract with interest. In her words, according to ScreenRant, it was "a fiction concocted for the show." Beyond that, Larissa claimed that a producer threatened to "pull everything" about this storyline from the series after she posted an image of her breast augmentation on Instagram. All in all, she's glad to be moving on.

Ashley Martson and her fiancé, Jay Smith, were a blip in the 90 Day extended universe. The pair, who met while Ashley was on vacation in Jamaica, tied the knot in Season 6 — only for their marriage to devolve into a series of cheating allegations across national television and tabloid headlines. The most infamous involved Jay using Tinder shortly after their wedding day.

Ashley eventually swiped left on their marriage, filing for divorce eight months after walking down the aisle, according to Us Weekly. Nine days later, she changed her mind and dropped a bombshell about her storyline allegedly being entirely scripted. "I'm breaking the NDA and surprise: Jay and I have never separated since the day we were married," she wrote in an Instagram Story post (via Us Weekly). "Breaking the NDA means I won't be paid a dime for future shows. We were made to act as if our relationship was no longer active."

That doesn't explain why she filed for divorce a second time three months later or a third time eight months after that. Nonetheless, Jay shared a similar sentiment, telling InTouch that the series portrayed him as "the bad person" in a "very toxic" relationship, when that wasn't accurate. While the pair had their struggles, he also claimed that the infamous Tinder moment was completely fake. "That was staged because without drama you don't have a show," he said.

Chris Thieneman and Nikki Cooper weren't regular 90 Day Fiancé cast members, but they were a crucial part of David Toborowsky's storyline with Annie Suwan. As David's close friend, Chris appeared to bankroll the struggling professor throughout Season 5, loaning him money and giving him a place to crash before ultimately forcing him to move into the infamous storage unit that David tried to pass off as an apartment.

While Chris and Nikki speak fondly of their time on the series, the pair have absolutely no financial incentive to keep their mouths shut. In a YouTube video, they claimed they weren't paid a dime for appearing on the show, and that TLC had a knack for stitching together arguments. "They'll ask you something, and will then later on down the week, ask you something else, and they'll just pick your best response to put into that scene," Nikki admitted. "... If you don't always see someone's actual mouth moving, saying that exact thing, and everything in the room at that time, don't always believe it."

Chris also claimed that the creepy moment where he asked Annie for regular massages in lieu of rent was staged. "The first scene, the original scene, I never asked for a massage," he said (via InTouch). "Not until Adrienne, the director, encouraged me to say it in front of the whole cast and crew did I let a little peer pressure set in."

Most reality TV fans are already expecting careful editing to ramp up the on-screen drama. That's what makes reality TV so good, but most of us do expect that the storylines are at least partially built on truth. That may not be the case for some scenes in 90 Day Fiancé. Former cast member Cassia Tavares joined the growing list of 90 Day alumni who've spoken out against the network by accusing producers of faking her entire pregnancy scare.

Back in Season 2, Cassia moved from South America to be with Jason Hitch, an army veteran who was a friend of her then-long-distance boyfriend. When her existing relationship began to dissolve, Jason swooped in, and the pair hit it off. During the course of their run, Cassia appeared to have a pregnancy scare and took a test on camera. According to SoapDirt, she claimed the whole thing was staged. Producers allegedly asked her to take the test after she posted online saying she didn't feel well and "a fan asked if she was pregnant." Cassia — and the rest of the crew — reportedly knew she wasn't pregnant the entire time.

The star, who's since split from her former husband, also claimed that TLC's editing made her look like a different person. Even though most of it wasn't technically "scripted," it was reportedly edited to look a certain way.

Avery Warner and Ash Naeck's televised relationship was nothing short of a train wreck. The Australian relationship coach appeared to regularly lie to his American girlfriend, and was consistently bad at it. In other words, he always got caught — from when he insisted his ex-wife supported him moving their son to across the planet, to lying about breaking the pair's diet, to lying about text messages during the Tell-All. Let's not forget Ash's awkward, overtly sexist relationship seminar, which may be one of the most painful scenes in reality TV history. It led to a fight so explosive that producers intervened, and it came to define his run on the show (not in a good way).

Avery's consistent warmth towards Ash during his onslaught of bizarre behavior and outright lies was puzzling. Fans accused him of being a narcissist and womanizer. Others called him a pickup artist. No matter how you swung it, there was no way he looked good — at least until Avery claimed that the show was largely inaccurate. 

In an Instagram comment captured by CheatSheet, Avery wrote, "Can't always believe what you see on TV. You guys get 5% of the real story, and that's constructed how the network wants the people to view the person. I encourage everyone not to get so caught up with any kind of TV show as the truth, it's not worth it lol, it's all very constructed."

Kalani Faagata and her Samoan husband, Asuelu Pulaa, became fan favorites from the moment she picked him up at the airport in Season 6 of 90 Day Fiancé and he did a traditional dance in the crowded arrivals area. Though fans expected a major culture clash, Asuelu actually helped her get in touch with her Samoan roots. This made it all the more painful when, in her words, her father was unfairly portrayed.

In the controversial moment, Kalani worried that her father would never accept her relationship. "My dad did have a very hard life, and I know he didn't want us to struggle the way that he did, so he wanted us with white guys," she said in a confessional (via RealityTVWorld). "He wants me to be with someone who can provide for us." In a later episode, he's shown advising his daughter to stay away from Samoan men.

As fans pointed out (via IBTimes), the comments came off as "racist" and a little bizarre considering he's also Samoan and so are his children. Kalani later slammed the show for allegedly inaccurately quoting her. "First, the part where I 'say' my dad didn't want us to struggle so he wanted us with white guys, that is not what was said," she wrote in an Instagram post (via RealityTVWorld). "Rule of thumb when watching reality TV: if you don't see it being said, chances are it was spliced together."

From the start of 90 Day Fiancé's seventh season, grandmother and adult film actor Stephanie Woodcock was positioned as a dark force vying against Anny Francisco and Robert Springs' relationship. Not only did she confront the Dominican beauty about using birth control (a heinous plotline that was repeated with Brandon and Julia in Season 8), but she also accused the star of using Robert for his money (of which there appeared to be very little considering he forced Anny to shop at a thrift store). The season's most shocking scene, however, involved Stephanie directly accused Anny of using Robert for a green card. She offered to pay her $15,000 to go back to the Dominican Republic, to which Anny called her "f**king crazy." And she would be, if that actually happened.

After the scene aired, Stephanie got some major flack and took to Instagram to set the record straight. Apparently, the whole thing was staged. "It's f**king TV people. TV!!! It's fake. It's scripted," she claimed in an Instagram Story (via InTouch). "I had to borrow a checkbook because the producers asked me to do this. I have screenshots to prove this."

Next up: the shocking discovery that Robert's son actually gets his own bed instead of sharing one with Anny? Maybe? Anyone?

Stephanie Davison's Season 8 storyline on 90 Day Fiancé was notably unhinged. She appeared unkempt and under the influence. The self-proclaimed cougar handed out $100 bills for snack money like she was Lucille from Arrested Development. In a fit of what appeared to be drunken honesty, she even admitted to cheating on her Belizean beau, Ryan Carr, with his cousin, Harris Flowers. By the end of the series, she was planning to start the K-1 visa process all over again, as if it were as easy as walking over to USCIS and saying, "Never mind, I meant his cousin!"

In other words: Stephanie's storyline was excellent, a true portrayal of how sometimes the hero is also the villain. Unfortunately, the arguable best moment — the fact that she kept her affair in the family — was allegedly totally staged. Since the series finale, Stephanie has made some wild claims about 90 Day and was even suing the network, but one of the most shocking revelations involves her breakup with Ryan. In an Instagram video, the Michigan native claimed that they split before she went to Belize, but production urged her to film anyway. That's where Harris came in. "I thought well, if Harris will fill in, I'll try and stick it out," she said. "... He stayed with me, and they totally turned that around."

Unfortunately, that means Stephanie will probably not be involved in an equally as unhinged storyline in Happily Ever After.