Season four of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days premiered last Sunday and viewers met most of the couples that will be featured this season.
Not yet featured, however, were returning cast members Darcey and Tom, the series’ first same-sex couple Stephanie and Erika, and American-Ukrainian partners David and Lana.
David, a 60-year-old computer programmer from Las Vegas, met Lana, a 27-year-old Ukrainian, on an international dating site. David and Lana have been “dating” for seven years, but have never met in person, or even video chatted.
The season will follow David on his quest to meet Lana after three failed attempts.
Parallels from last season
TLC seems to be recycling some storylines this season. Lisa, a brash, blonde, 50-something, is dating 30-year-old Nigerian Usman. They’re shockingly similar to previous 90 Day favorites Angela and Michael.
David and Lana’s situation is reminiscent of last season’s couple, Caesar and Maria. Caesar, a nail technician, sent Maria an estimated $800 a month. While Caesar, unlike David, at least video chatted with Maria, the two never met.
Like David, Caesar repeatedly tried to meet Maria, but something always came up for her. Throughout their “relationship,” Caesar sent Maria over $40,000.
Fans were furious with Maria, who was clearly catfishing Caesar, and that only got worse when Maria failed to meet Caesar in Mexico at the end of the season.
Some fans even wanted Catfish hosts Nev and Max to find Maria. Ultimately, and unsurprisingly, the couple didn’t work out, and the two are no longer together.
David is in even deeper with Lana than Caesar was with Maria; he’s said that he’s spent over $100,000 and seven years of his life on his girlfriend. Their communication has been exclusively through chat — they’ve never even spoken on the phone.
David’s been to Ukraine three times but swears that he’ll cut Lana off financially if she stands him up again.
Questions about fakery
Fans were very suspicious of Caesar and Maria’s relationship throughout last season. Many fans questioned whether Caesar was actually an actor, or at least greatly exaggerating the details of his relationship.
It was clear that Maria was a catfish the whole time, but viewers wondered why Caesar was “dumb enough” to spend as much time and money as he did with Maria.
We haven’t heard any rumors about an acting career for David, but he has yet to appear on the show. This relationship will likely be the talk of season 4, so we’ll have to tune in.
90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days airs on Sundays at 8/7c on TLC.