After the show's 90th wedding, real couples from ‘90 Day Fiancé' explain why love for the franchise endures

CNN

4 hours ago

When '90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way' cast members Shekinah Garner and Sarper Güven got married in bed, the pair seemed to thrill and enrage their audience in equal measure.
Some viewers offered up congratulations to the newlyweds in comments on social media, while others viewed the nuptials as a stunt meant to garner the pair more airtime. Welcome to the world of the '90 Day' franchise, shows people love to watch and live to hate-watch.
Garner and Güven's wedding was the 90th of the franchise, which has multiple shows and millions of fans. The original show, '90 Day Fiancé,' premiered on TLC in January 2014, featuring stories about Americans who fall in love with people from other countries. The '90 day' refers to the amount of time an individual with a K-1 fiancé(e) visa has to marry their US sponsor and start the process to become an American citizen.
The franchise has grown to have multiple spinoff series, including '90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days,' '90 Day: The Single Life,' '90 Day Fiancé: Love in Paradise' and 'The Last Resort.' (Like CNN, TLC is part of Warner Bros. Discovery.)
Loren and Alexei Brovarnik joined the show in 2015 after meeting and falling in love in Israel, where she had traveled as part of a birthright trip in 2013. Viewers have followed their lives over the past ten years as they settled in Florida and welcomed three children.
It hasn't always been easy, something Loren learned after she underwent a surgical 'mommy makeover,' which caused some tension with her husband and divided viewers.
'You're always being judged,' Loren Brovernik told CNN. 'You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't and you can't do it right no matter what.'
Public scrutiny hasn't dissuaded the couple from participating in several spinoffs, including '90 Day Fiancé: Pillow Talk' and 'Loren & Alexei: After the 90 Days.'
They will next be seen in a new season of '90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?'
'It's a brilliant concept and every story is different,' Brovernik said of the entire franchise.
Alon Orstein, senior vice president for production and development for TLC, credits the appeal of '90 Day' shows to their mix of romance and drama.
'It's boy meets girl, boy meets boy, girl meets girl,' he said. 'People love to see the romantic journeys. People love the rollercoaster relationships, and '90 Day Fiancé' gives it this twist of this international component.'
He insists that the show is not scripted, as some on social media have suggested. Orstein said they aim to cast individuals who are 'open, being honest, giving full access, being ready to wear your heart on your sleeve, being ready to dig deep and to be ready, willing and able to sort of have your most intimate experiences be out there.'
'That's not so easy. Not everyone can do that, and it's something that we have to be mindful of in the casting process. And sometimes even during productions people become more guarded,' Orstein said. 'It's hard to do these stories and to make a show like this if people aren't ready to sort of open up and give full access. That's really what makes the best cast members, people who are just ready to go there.'
Kenny Niedermeier and Armando Rubio became famous for their appearance on '90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way,' when Niedermeier moved to Mexico, married Rubio and become co-parent to Rubio's daughter, Hannah, 12.
The couple even had a spin-off in 2022, titled 'Kenny & Armando: Love Is Love.' The two men said they didn't quite know what to expect when they joined the franchise, but it's been a great experience.
'I think our favorite part is that we were able to tell our story, and I think it helped a lot of people that are in our situation that might feel kind of left out or they feel like a lot of people don't support them,' Niedermeier said.
He added that occasional negativity they received for sharing their lives was something that made them closer.
'We felt so much support along the way,' Niedermeier said. 'We weren't sure what we to expect when we signed on to do '90 Day Fiancé,' but we were pleasantly surprised and I think it really made a difference in our lives.'
The new season of '90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After?' premieres Sunday, July 6 at 8pm ET/PT on TLC.