Big Ed Brown has 90 Day Fiance fans in a chokehold, and that has come as a surprise to a casting director for the show, who claims he didn’t see it coming.
Some love him, and many hate him, but one thing is for sure, he’s one of the biggest names in the 90 Day Fiance franchise.
We first met Big Ed on Season 4 of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days when he flew to the Philippines to finally meet his then-girlfriend Rosemarie Vega.
Big Ed and Rose’s story was very toxic, mostly on his part, and he quickly polarized viewers with some of the outlandish things he did — like buying Rosemarie a gift of mouthwash and toothpaste because he thought her breath stunk.
But Ed’s bad behavior didn’t end his time on the show. Neither did his split from Rose, who has since moved on and made a very nice life off-screen for herself and her family.
Ed keeps returning, first joining 90 Day: The Single Life, where we met and got to know Liz Woods. The pair have had a tumultuous relationship that earned them a spot on Season 6 of 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After?, which finished airing earlier this year.
Now, they’re back again, despite looking like they should go their separate ways at the last Tell All. Big Ed and Liz were cast for the latest spinoff, 90 Day: The Last Resort, which will see five couples from the franchise head to a Florida resort to work on themselves and their relationships with the help of therapists — with a camera crew following them through the whole journey.
90 Day Fiance casting director says Big Ed’s popularity is a big surprise
90 Day Fiance has successfully cast an array of interesting people from all walks of life, and their focus on telling diverse stories is a big part of why the TLC hit has been so successful. But sometimes, a cast member will surprise those who do the recruiting and casting to become even more successful than they’d ever anticipated.
Brooklyn Bagwell, senior director of casting for Sharp Entertainment, recently spoke with Variety about the casting process and opened up about how cast members are chosen in a fascinating interview.
In it, Brooklyn was asked which cast members from Before the 90 Days surprised her the most. She said, “Big Ed. I always knew he was going to be a likable character, but I never realized how big he was going to be, or how relevant.”
Big Ed’s popularity transcends 90 Day Fiance
Big Ed is very popular within the 90 Day Fiance world, with a legion of fans, and just as many, if not more, than cannot stand him. It’s safe to say that he’s also gained quite a bit of popularity outside the show.
People who have never even watched 90 Day Fiance know who Big Ed is, thanks to streamers like Pewdiepie, who introduced his massive audience to Big Ed. Just this one video was viewed 15 million times!
Joey Fatone and Tori Spelling have also been outed as Big Ed fans, with Tori showing up in one of his Instagram Lives and Joey’s admission that he got a Cameo from the 90 Day Fiance star.
Pete Davidson is also a huge Big Ed fan and admitted at one point that he’d be more excited to see the 90 Day Fiance star out and about than someone like Leonardo DiCaprio.
Yeah, we didn’t see any of that coming either.
90 Day: The Last Resort airs on Mondays at 9/8c on TLC.