90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days star Ben Rathbun is clearing his name.
While his romance with his South American girlfriend, Mahogany Roca sounds far-fetched to both viewers and his friends, the 52-year-old says he’s “risking everything for love.”
However, 90 Day Fiance fans are questioning his intentions after hearing he was scouted for the show through his fitness modeling and went as far as to accuse the TLC newbie of being a paid actor.
90 Day Fiance star Ben Rathbun denies claim that he’s an actor
Taking to his Instagram stories to “clear a few things up”, Ben Rathbun refuted claims that he was “acting” on the show.
Detailing that the extent of his performance background goes as far as community theater with his kids, the Michigan native explained, “So I tried out with them about seven years ago and I got the lead role of Tarzan. So that’s something, but no, not an actor.”
Sharing why he decided to be on the TLC show, the father of four explained later in the video, “I just emailed Before the 90 Days and told them this very inspiring incredible love story and I thought the world would be inspired by it.”
And while the story hasn’t turned out exactly how it’s supposed to after getting stood up at the airport in Peru, he continued, “And yeah I realize, no one is inspired yet. It is not inspiring but I still believe in it and I’m risking everything for love. And I hope that people can just appreciate that.”
The nontraditional way Ben Rathbun landed on 90 Day Fiance has viewers questioning his intentions
While the former pastor denies any professional acting background, the nontraditional way he was found for the show does have viewers lifting their eyebrows.
In a YouTube posted by @thecelebtalkguy, Ben opened up on how his fitness modeling got him the gig on 90 Day Fiance.
Rathbun confessed, “One of my fitness pictures got…put into a men’s magazine, and from there a couple of producers got ahold of me [and] said ‘hey how would you like be in a reality TV show?’ and I said ‘yeah, maybe. I mean, if it’s fun. If there’s a free trip involved.”
While Ben declined that offer due to “craziness” he didn’t want his kids to see, the door to reality tv wasn’t closed as he added, “But something else kinda came up, and I was like ‘yeah, that one I can do.'”
90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days airs Sundays at 9/8c on TLC and Discovery+.