It’s baby time on 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way!
Monday night’s episode featured lots of baby talk — from arguments about parenthood to a pie-faced gender reveal. Though kids were the common thread of the episode, some TLC stars had very different views on children. While Shekinah and Sarper debated whether there was space for kids in their relationship, Kenny and Armando were in the process of choosing the right surrogate to welcome into their family.
Here’s what each couple decided on as the episode concluded.
Shekinah and Sarper
Shekinah has been clear about one thing — she doesn’t want another child. She has a 15-year-old at home and decided years ago that she was done with raising kids. Sarper has known this since they began their relationship, but things seemed to have changed for him.
“This is always in my mind to talk about child issue with Shekinah,” he told cameras. “But I was waiting for the right moment. I wasn’t hoping that she soon will ask that that kind of questions to her. Of course I want a child for myself.”
In a heated heart to heart, Shekinah reminded Sarper that she had expressed her desire not to have kids early on. “Oh my God, you’re so against everything. All your genetics, all your money, everything you have, you transfer it to him or her and it goes on like this,” he told his girlfriend.
He later explained in an interview that Shekinah not wanting children with him was like an insult to their love. “If you love someone, especially in a relationship, you want a kid from him or her. I mean, it’s so simple. We have to plan something for the future.”
Shekinah remained firm on her view. “Sarper needs to figure out what’s more important to him. Does he want to have a child or does he want to be with me?” she asked. “I was very upfront with Sarper when I first met him about not wanting to have more children. So it’s frustrating that now that I’ve moved here to Turkey to be with him, he’s kind of switching things up on me.”
Earlier in the episode, Sarper revealed he has a secret child who would be around 25 — and that he’d never met. He had a one-night stand at 18 and learned via email that the woman was pregnant. Because of his age and fear, Sarper deleted the email and all contact information for his baby’s mother. Now in his 40s, he was searching for his long-lost son with only the mother’s first name in mind.
Brandan and Mary
It was all good for Brandan and Mary on Monday’s episode.
The couple spent time bonding with Brandan’s mother, who tried to adjust to the new culture and warm to her new daughter-in-law. “In order to reestablish a good relationship with me again, you need to connect and bond with Mary,” Brandan told her. “If all three of us aren’t OK, there’s going to be parts in our child’s life that you’re going to miss out on. And I don’t want that. You know, like Mary didn’t have her mom. She never had the type of person that would give her guidance and like, you got to have her back.”
The mom received this urging and told Brandan, “I will try to build a healthy relationship with Mary, and I appreciate that you are willing to give me a shot at being your mom even though you are in a position where you are becoming a dad.”
In an interview, she admitted she still harbored some skepticism. “As to Mary and the toxicity, the jealousy, I can let that go as long as I see effort for improvement. If her actions and behaviors were to continue to reflect the same patterns that she’d had in the past, we would have a major problem.”
That didn’t stop her from truly seeking to support the couple. The mother facilitated a gender reveal for Brandan and Mary, giving them some relationship advice along the way. She strongly encouraged both Mary and Brandan to seek individual therapy for their unhealed trauma, promising that it would strengthen their bond.
“You come from what I believe to be a dysfunctional environment,” she told Mary before pointing to her own son. “You come from a dysfunctional family as well. As much as I know that you guys love each other, it’s not enough. Because when you haven’t dealt with all the things that you grew up learning, it just becomes this repeated pattern.”
Mary responded with respect. “We are trying to be better as a couple. Also me, I’m trying to be better myself because even now I’m still overthinking and I can’t handle it because my parents abandoned me and I’m really scared of [being] abandoned.”
As she got tearful, Mary thanked her future mother-in-law for the advice. “I’m willing to and also I’m really thankful that you give us advice and it’s it helps me a lot, you know and came from Brendan’s mom. It really means a lot to me. No one’s [done] that to me before.”
Finally time for the gender reveal, they learned their baby would be a girl. Brandan won the couple’s bet, which meant a pie would get smashed in Mary’s face. The sweet moment for all of the family members might just go down as one of the happiest moments yet for Mary and Brandan.
Holly and Wayne
Holly was done trying life in South Africa.
She hit the end of her rope during a power outage and declared to Wayne that she was moving back to America as he asked her, “Can’t you, like, just give it some more time in South Africa just to, like, adapt?”
Holly told him bluntly, “No. It’s crushing my spirit. I’m slowly just breaking away, and I’m becoming nothing here. I can’t do this anymore. I have to leave.”
She did invite her new husband to move back to the U.S. with her — but Wayne couldn’t give her an answer as he weighed the realities of what he’d been leaving, including his business and his father.
Earlier in the episode, Wayne questioned Holly’s new self-care tactic — a mermaid tail. “I’ve always loved mermaids and I’ve always thought it would be fun to be one,” she said. “ I just think it’s cool that there’s this whole other make-believe world under the sea and we have a swimming pool.”
Wayne didn’t exactly grasp her reasoning but encouraged Holly to make friends to find more joy, telling her, “You’re not trying hard enough.”
Holly responded with a cry for help. “I am depressed. I’m sad and like everybody has a breaking point. I don’t know how much more I can take,” she said. But Wayne viewed their relationship through the commitment in their exchanged vows. “You sure chose this life, you know what I’m saying — with me. And we’ve got to make it work here.”
Kenny and Armando
Kenny and Armando were one step closer to welcoming a new family member — or two!
The couple continued their surrogacy journey by forming an emotional connection with Emma, the woman who may carry their baby. She met the pair for lunch and explained why she’d chosen to be a surrogate despite of the stigma and emotional strain.
“When I speak with my sister, she told me you are nuts. How are you going to give a baby without feeling anything?” she said. “And I said, ‘No, I will feel something.’ Yeah, but I’m [also] completely [clear] in my head that it won’t be mine. That is like a gift that I will give you, to have your own family.”
This made both Kenny and Armando emotional. “You know what makes me emotional is, I guess, really just because Hannah lost her mother,” Armando responded. “So it feels good that you would give it love, you know, do all those things that a mother does.”
He also made it clear in an interview that Emma, or any surrogate, would have a place in the family for life. “I think if we pick Emma,” said, Armando, “I do imagine in our future that she’ll be part of our family after the child is born.”
Kenny had similar thoughts, noting, “I love emotional people, and I’m getting the feeling that she really knows it’s going to be hard and she wants to do good by us. What a beautiful thing, right?”
By the end of the lunch, all three were crying and expressing their love for one another. Kenny and Armando still had to think the process over — but it seemed like Emma might be exactly who they’ve been seeking.
90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on TLC.
