’90 Day Fiance Before the 90 Days’: Finale Recap
Sunday’s 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days finale episode on TLC was more intense than many viewers had imagined.
From Darcey Silva’s attempts to reconnect with Tom Brooks after her rocky visit to the UK and Albania to the aftermath of Benjamin Taylor and Akinyi Obala’s shockingly short engagement, here’s what went down on the eventful Oct. 27 finale of 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days.
Tom Brooks and Darcey Silva
44-year-old Darcey Silva struggled to maintain her long-distance relationship with British boyfriend, Tom Brooks, after she headed back to her home state of Connecticut.
“Long-distance relationships are challenging,” she confessed, before saying she wouldn’t “give up on” her rollercoaster relationship with Brooks.
Silva met up at the airport with her twin sister Stacey, with whom she hadn’t exactly parted on the best of terms after their awkward extended double date in Albania. Silva admitted she had simply been insecure because her sister was engaged (to her Albanian boyfriend Florian Sukaj) and she wasn’t.
“This is the test,” she said. But TLC cameras caught up with Silva a few weeks later, and it looked like the test had failed.
“When I left England, I felt so loved,” she shared. “But now, Tom is difficult to get a hold of. I’m a little confused, a little upset…I need to know how he truly feels about me.”
“This long distance thing, it just doesn’t fit somehow,” Brooks told her on a tense phone call. He also seemed upset by how much she’d been reaching out to him, saying, “You can’t ring people at 5 a.m.”
“I feel like I can’t give this love any time you want,” Brooks continued. Then he dropped a bomb: “From my perspective, at this juncture in my life, the way I see it, I’d prefer to be single and be your friend.” The couple seemed to end things there.
Benjamin Taylor and Akinyi Obala
We last saw Akinyi Obala, of Kenya, upset because Benjamin Taylor didn’t tell his family (from Arizona) that he was married. Although he’d finally texted his family at his new bride’s request, Taylor admitted that “it was rough last night.” And although he said he didn’t “regret” marrying her, Taylor’s sentiments weren’t exactly convincing.
While Obala wept openly when her her husband returned to the U.S. to get her visa in order, Taylor’s reaction appeared a little more subdued. Still, he shared: “I don’t really want to say goodbye, but I don’t think any amount of time would ever be enough for when you’re in love.”
Rebecca Parrott and Zied Hakimi
90 Day Fiancé viewers left Rebecca Parrott (originally from Georgia) and Zied Hakimi of Tunisia on what was meant to be a romantic getaway in the desert. They were dealing with the aftermath of Rebecca’s bombshell that she’s technically still married to her Moroccan ex-husband.
Hakimi shared that he had decided to continue with the relationship despite Parrott’s dishonesty. “I thought about ending it all at once,” he admitted, “but Rebecca explained the precise situation and, as a Muslim man, I consider her divorced.”
Hakimi then proposed on a rug on the desert sands, saying, “I love you so much,” and Rebecca gladly accepted. Hakimi shared, too, that he’d gotten the ring with money from his sister. “I’ve never been so certain about our relationship before,” Parrott gushed.
When they parted, Hakimi admitted that Parrott had pushed his limits, but that he still loved her. Parrott, for her part, left concerned that her fiancee would find someone his own age. She also worried that his family would try to break up their union during the lengthy visa process to come.
“The worst possible thing that could happen is that we can’t make it through this process,” she explained, “and everything we’ve gone through is for nothing.”
Angela Deem and Michael Ilesanmi
When we met Deem, a two-time 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days cast member, on the finale episode, she was about to head home to Georgia after visiting her fiance Michael Ilesanmi in Nigeria.
Before she left, she wondered if the pair would make it, given their concerns about being able to have children in the future because of their age difference.
She also warned Ilesanmi not to break her trust by flirting with women on social media, as the couple has struggled with trust in the past.
Omar Albakour and Avery Mills
Avery Mills of Columbus, Ohio, only converted to Islam a year or so before her appearance on 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days. But the 19-year-old already married Syrian fiancé Omar Albakour after a whirlwind online romance and a brief visit to his home country.
In the finale, Mills and Albakour struggled to reconnect in the wake of the news that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the latter to come to the U.S. because of the Syrian travel ban.
“Do you think you could be away from me for a few years and still want to be married to me?” Mills asked her husband on a video call. “I don’t know,” he confessed, adding that it would be “really hard” to be away from his wife for so long. Devastated, shared, “It’s making me doubt how strong our love really was.”
“I give up about America,” Albakour finally said after some reflection. The young couple decided that Mills would be leaving the U.S. to rejoin her husband, but she was heartbroken over the prospect of leaving her close family behind.
Caesar Mack and Maria
Despite reports and rumors that Caesar Mack’s appearance on 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days was pre-planned and staged and that she wasn’t real at all, the infamous Maria finally showed up for the last episode of the show.
“Hi, my name is Maria. I’m 28 years old, and I’m from the Ukraine,” she began. She joined international date site Anastasia Date because, in her words: “A lot of guys around the world want to date Ukrainian girls. They are beautiful and crazy.”
She also admitted that she wasn’t physically attracted to Mack at first and that she’d seen other men while talking to him. “When I don’t have ring on my hand I am free,” she stated.
“How much money did Caesar send you over time?” her friends asked while meeting up with Mack’s online girlfriend. “I don’t know. I never counted,” she shared.
When TLC producers asked Maria if she actually planned on ever meeting up with Mack, she responded elusively: “I will not tell you. It’s a secret.”
