'90 Day Fiancé: Self Quarantined' Spoilers: TLC Stars Reveal How They're Handling Social Distancing On New Series
There are some surprises in the cast.
Getty If you ever watched TLC's show 90 Day Fiancé and wondered how the couples would weather a crisis, you're in luck. The network has tapped past cast members of the reality series to film themselves at home during this unprecedented social distancing period. The network will air five episodes of the coronavirus-inspired series entitled 90-Day Fiancé Self-Quarantined.
The cast list for the show includes some perennial 90 Day stars liked Darcey Silva, who has been on multiple iterations of the franchise and might be showing off her latest boyfriend. They'll also bring in some cast members who were on the earliest seasons like Nicaraguan pop star Yamir, who isn't with this American wife Chelsea anymore.
What kind of drama can we expect from this new edition?
90 Day Fiancé: Self-Quarantined spoilers ahead:
The filming will be contact-free.
We're all used to contact-free delivery and pick up now but for film and TV production, contactless filming is a tough thing to do. It can't work for most scripted productions but TLC found a way to manage it for this new series. Instead of having a crew come into their homes, the cast members will film themselves in their daily activities. For confessionals, they'll be doing remote interviews with TLC producers.
“Our crew is not near them physically at all,” says Howard Lee, president and general manager of TLC. “They will be helping them remotely.”
The show is all filmed by the cast.
Robert and Anny have a surprise.
Robert and his Dominican bride will be featured on the show and they have some news that they've already dropped on social media: they're having a baby. We expect that the pregnancy, which already seems pretty far along will figure into how the couple is dealing with the disease. Since Robert is an Uber driver, he's potentially at risk for catching COVID-19 and that could be a real issue for pregnant Anny.
David and Anny are quarantined and pregnant.
Tiffany and Ronald are actually together.
Maryland native Tiffany met South African Ronald on a trip to his country and the two of them fell in love. She and her son Daniel moved overseas to be with him on 90 Day Fiancé The Other Way, since Ronald's past prevented him from getting a visa to move to the US. The two married and conceived a baby but Tiffany took Daniel and headed home to give birth, thinking the medical care here would be better. She later announced in January that she and her husband were splitting, due to issues surrounding his gambling addiction. However, as of late March, they were back together and fighting for their marriage, though they are doing it in different countries according to her Instagram stories. Fans may get to see that fight in real-time on the new show.
Tiffany and Ronald are socially distancing on different continents.
The Family Chantel will all be part of this.
TLC has been giving Chantel and Pedro and all of their relatives' screen time since they first joined the show in season four. The couple themselves are pretty normal but the colorful members of their extended families have spawned a whole spin-off series featuring Chantel's parents and siblings. TLC lists them in pairs — parents Karen and Thomas, brother and sister River and Winter, and married couple Chantel and Pedro. But a quick look at Karen's social media shows that she and at least Winter are spending time together. The rest of the family is sticking to their usual custom of not revealing anything before TLC lets them so it's hard to say what the Family Chantel has up their sleeves for this series. We do know that River has new music out so we may be hearing some tunes from him.
Everyone from The Family Chantel will be on camera for this.
Cortney will be back on for the first time since her Before The 90 Days season.
Cortney is a world-traveler who headed to Spain to meet a model named Antonio in the hopes that he was the love of her life. They had plenty of chemistry but commitment never happened for these two. Cortney, unlike some of her co-stars, never tried to come back to the show. She even disappeared from social media for a while to preserve her privacy. She's agreed to film this series but she has reservations about it. In a social media post, she said "I would be lying if I didn’t say I am a little anxious filming again. Usually I cringe when I see unflattering images of myself. I’m sure most of you can relate. But yesterday when I saw all the articles about the new quarantine series I felt happiness seeing this pic. It made me reflect on my journey and how far I’ve come."
Cortney then and now.
And Jesse Meester is back.
Dutch model and former boyfriend of Darcey Silva will be joining the series. The relentlessly self-promoting Meester is constantly updating his Instagram page with images of himself and all his thoughts on health and wellness so it's on-brand for him to want more camera time from TLC. He has even appeared on tell-all episodes for seasons he didn't participate in and managed to form a bond with Darcey's other on-camera ex Tom Brooks. For this series, we may find him promoting a book he just published about intermittent fasting. He announced its availability a week ago and maybe a reality show can make up for not being able to do a book tour.
Meester will join the cast as well.
The new series will debut on April 20 on TLC.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. She is the creator of the blog FeminXer and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.