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.

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."

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.

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."

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."

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?