Steven Johnston, one of the newest cast members on 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way, admitted that he’s “so weird” and is hoping that his mom doesn’t watch him on the show.
Steven, a 25-year-old devout Mormon and native of Utah, was introduced to viewers during Season 3 of The Other Way.
After meeting his love interest, 20-year-old Russian native Alina, on a language-learning app, the two decided to meet in Turkey to be together amid the pandemic.
Because Steven can’t travel to Russia and Alina can’t travel to the United States, the couple decided on Turkey to live temporarily, albeit in separate accommodations.
Although Steven and Alina want to wait until marriage to have sex due to his Mormon beliefs, he admitted that he, however, is not a virgin.
Steven Johnston responds being labeled a hypocrite by The Other Way fans
Steven talked to Melicia Johnson from ET (you can see the interview here) about his choice to withhold the fact that he isn’t a virgin from Alina and responded to claims that he’s acting like a hypocrite for his actions.
“I don’t think ‘not honest’ is the right terminology here, it’s just something that didn’t, like, come up necessarily,” Steven explained of keeping his sexual history from his future wife.
Steven explained that he didn’t purposely keep his sexual activity from Alina, but that it’s not a topic he typically discusses with anyone.
He said of talking with Alina, “Most of the time when we were calling and talking, it didn’t hit upon those subjects.”
“Usually when I call and talk with people, I usually don’t tell them how many people I’ve slept with. So, with Alina, that was just something that we never brought up,” he added.
Steven explained why Alina may have assumed that he was a virgin, telling ET, “Sexuality should be something special and I think that’s the way I always talk about it, is just something sacred and because of that, I think that kind of led her to believe, perhaps.”
Responding to critics calling him hypocritical for not being a virgin but expecting Alina to abstain from sex, Steven said, “I think Jesus says it best, ‘He who is among you without sin, let him first cast the stone.'”
“So many people have so many opinions, and that’s just what they are — just opinions. My own beliefs and my own opinions are my own, and I’m fortunate enough that I can have whatever opinions that I want to have,” he continued.
Steven, who critics accused of gaslighting Alina, also teased some drama coming this season and isn’t necessarily excited about his mom watching his segments on the show.
Steven is ‘nervous’ for his mom to watch him, admits he’s ‘so weird’
“I can honestly say that from when and where the show started … and then to go forward to now, I wouldn’t have ever guessed everything that happened and it’s scary and I’m really nervous for my mom to see it,” Steven jokingly admitted.
He added, “Like, Mom, don’t watch my parts. Watch Sumit and Jenny and she can watch Kenny and Armando, like, skip my parts.”
When it comes to watching the show himself, Steven admitted that he’s nervous each week to see what will be shown, and he fully accepted his “weird” status.
“Every episode is going to be me, personally, on the edge of my seat because I’m gonna be … there’s so many different aspects to our storyline that I honestly don’t know which parts they’re going to choose to highlight so I’m, like, so nervous,” Steven shared.
Steven didn’t give away any spoilers, but judging off Alina’s Instagram page, the couple may not have ever made it to the altar, as she doesn’t share any pics of them together.
“I’m like, what are they going to show this week? Because as you know, I sometimes do things and then it turns out to be really weird I guess, and I don’t realize that until after it happens, and then I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so weird.'”
90 Day Fiance: The Other Way airs on Sundays at 8/7c on TLC and Discovery Plus.