The American dream is hard to find for most 90 Day Fiancé couples.
Tensions rose and tempers flared on Sunday night’s episode, most often when lifestyles of the Americans didn’t match with their partner’s expectations. An apartment with no bathroom remained a point of contention for one pair, and recent unemployment spiraled into one couple’s constant money disagreements.
What remained at the heart of the episode was a battle between love and routine — and the question of how care can exist when household disagreements plague every conversation.
Here’s which couples thrived, and which crumbled under the pressure of living together.
Gino and Jasmine
Sunday night’s episode was all about sex for Gino and Jasmine, who have consistently had intimacy issues. Both hoped their first night in America would reignite a spark — and it sure did after Jasmine dressed up in a scandalous nurse costume. Gino even got to wear a pair of doctor’s scrubs. The sexy moment launched a conversation about their current bedroom problems, which came as a result of Jasmine’s hymen reconstruction surgery she says was intended to “restore my virginity.”
“I was hoping that this surgery was going to improve my sex life with Gino because he was going to see like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s a virgin now,’ like in a perverted way. I was like, ‘That’s super sexy,’ but that was not the outcome,” she told cameras.
Instead, the doctor made Jasmine’s business too small, so penetration wasn’t an option. “We ended up being super stressed and actually arguing,” Jasmine said.
The medical roleplaying seemed to get both Jasmine and Gino in the mood to try again, and later moments of the episode proved the success. “It feels good that Jasmine and I have seemed to have gotten our intimacy back last night,” Gino said. “It felt like, wow, you know, this is could be the start of like forever for us to be together, you know, when it comes to intimacy, I think Jasmine and I are going to be fine as long as we not argue so much.”
If viewers know one thing, it’s that there’s always trouble brewing in paradise. Gino and Jasmine’s bliss didn’t last long. First, Gino told Jasmine he quit his job to spend more time with her. “He’s jeopardizing the chance that I have to bring my kids to the United States because we need a sponsor. And now he quit his job,” Jasmine told cameras. “This is not the life that he proposed to me to have here in the United States.”
Meanwhile, she was hiding a juicy secret: Jasmine spent her $8,000 wedding dress fund on butt implants — and even got an extra $2,000 donation from her ex. Jasmine told Gino over a couple’s massage (sans the part about her ex, Dane, contributing to the procedure).
This set Gino off. “I give, give, give, and Jasmine’s just like, taking, taking. It’s terrifying to me because — is this how my life’s gonna be?” Gino questioned.
He told her: “It’s very selfish to spend that kind of money on unnecessary surgeries. What the heck’s wrong with you? I’m really pissed off.”
Nikki and Justin
Nikki finally arrived in Moldova with Justin, but it wasn’t all excitement. Nikki had an agenda: “I definitely want to know that he is going to pull the weight in our relationship, financially, sexually, emotionally,” she told cameras. “I don’t want it to be 89 days and I send his ass back again. I want it to work, and I know he wants it to work, too.”
Reminder: Nikki and Justin tried the K-1 visa once before. During an argument in America, Nikki revealed she’s transgender, which led to Justin’s flee back to Moldova.
With another shot at love, Nikki was ready to meet Justin’s family and friends again, with their total understanding of who she is. But upon arriving, Nikki was afraid Justin would keep her in the dark — or out of it. Justin told Nikki they should only go out in the daytime in Moldova for her “safety.”
“Are you afraid of taking me out in public at night because you’re scared they’re gonna judge me on the way that I look, or they’re going to be able to tell I used to be a man?” she asked. Then, Justin compared his fiancé to a “porn star” based on how she dresses.
The argument remained mild, but viewers got even more information on Justin and Nikki’s relationship from Nikki’s best friend. The friend told cameras that Nikki funds Justin’s cosmetic surgeries including “his nose, his teeth, his cheeks, his hair, his eyes, his eyebrows, whatever he needs done, it comes out of Nicole’s pocket.”
“In the past, Nikki had sugar daddies that took care of everything for her, and I’m so surprised that now she’s like the sugar mama,” the friend said. “She should know better.”
Rob and Sophie
There was still a disagreement between Rob and Sophie based on Rob’s Inglewood apartment. Sophie wanted a place with a bathroom, but Rob didn’t see the issue. “It’s definitely not a normal situation, having a bathroom outside,” she said. “If I wanna pee and it’s like, raining, I’ve gotta walk out into the rain.”
Rob snapped back: “It never rains in LA.”
It was another instance of Rob throwing Sophie’s wealthy upbringing into the conversation. “You’re used to houses in Dubai and London and Spain and all this other bougie ass stuff,” Rob said, but Sophie questioned: “What’s even bougie about having a bathroom inside your apartment?”
This difference in class conversation continued, but Sophie told cameras she hasn’t taken any money from her parents since she was 16 or 17. She’s made her own money waitressing. “Sometimes he’s a bit annoying because if we’re going through hardships, he’s like, ‘Ask your family for money,’ which does annoy me because I just want to be proud of myself and like, actually accomplished stuff,” Sophie said.
The pair also argued about Rob’s alleged past online cheating. Well, Sophie called it cheating — and Rob called it one evening of exchanging explicit photos with a woman online. “We’re not going to act like I’ve cheated on you when all I did was respond to somebody while laying in bed at home one day in the middle of us not seeing each other for seven months,” he told his fiancée. “It didn’t last more than a day, it didn’t last more than, what, like an hour?”
Sophie acknowledged she’s a “jealous” person, and won’t deny it to cameras. And that might not work for Rob. “I would like to have like kind of a more just mellow, chill relationship,” he said.
Ashley and Manuel
With Rico Suave sleeping soundly in the couple’s bed (contrary to Manuel’s demands the dog sleep outside), things within Ashley ‘s household seemed to be going well. That is, until he met her mother.
Sunday night’s episode featured family-wide skepticism on all sides, beginning with Ashley’s mom. She questioned why Manuel moved to America without saying goodbye to his family — or even telling them he’s left. “My kids would never leave without telling me goodbye. You didn’t say goodbye and you lied,” the mom said. “It wasn’t like he said, ‘I may be going to America.’ Or ‘I’m going to pick up the visa. I’ll let you know the status of it.’ It was like, you told your mom that you were going, you know, to another town to work, which was false.”
For Ashley, this was a concern, too. “Manuel has always been on the secretive side. It has always kind of bothered me,” she said. She told cameras the fear extends to Manuel’s two teenage sons, who may or may not know she’s in his life… let alone his fiancée. “Now that he is here and I’m seeing this happen, and not only is it with me, but it’s also with his family too. We haven’t even touched the whole kids situation. The man has two teenage kids at home — like, do they even know I’m ‘bout to be a stepmom?”
Manuel finally called his mom to tell her he’d moved to America. While the woman was stunned and sad, she offered unconditional support. “I didn’t say goodbye to my mom because I didn’t want to change my mind about coming here,” Manuel told cameras.
His mother asked one thing of him: that he will “not forget your family back home.”
90 Day Fiancé airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on TLC.
