Warning! The following contains spoilers for the 90 Day Fiancé Season 10 episode "We Are Gathered Here Today." Read at your own risk!
90 Day Fiancé has highlighted many couples in ten seasons. Some of them work out, allowing for returns to the franchise via various spinoffs, while others flame out before heading down the aisle. I'm already getting strong vibes about one couple in the latest season that don't indicate they'll ever get married. In fact, my suspicions have grown to the point where I'm questioning if Ashley Michelle and her fiancé Manuel actually had sincere marriage goals to begin with.
While their story seemed almost like a modern-day fairy tale at the beginning, reviewing their introduction with my HBO Max subscription after watching the latest episode is giving me second thoughts. Did the New York native really intend on marrying her Ecuadorian fiancé from the get-go? Some red flags have me questioning one or both of their intentions.
Manuel And Ashley Have Known Each Other A Long Time, And He Knows Very Little About Her
For a couple that dated a decade ago and one whose reunion years later was powerful enough to spark marriage plans, it's kind of astonishing to me how little Manuel seems to know about Ashley's life. The number of things he appeared to be clueless on ranged from the fact that she's a cat-owner to her standing as a practicing witch. He later admitted she had mentioned it offhand once, but he didn't believe when she said "witch" that she meant it was a part of her religion.
Ashley was distraught that Manuel, a devout Catholic, admitted he was uncomfortable with her practicing witchcraft, and claimed she was blindsided by this, and then spent her time venting to 90 Day Fiancé producers about the situation. This led to my favorite line so far this season, "I'm a mother fucking witch, ho." Even if this relationship isn't destined to last, that line will stay with me for a long time.
Manuel Immediately Started A Fight Over A Door
Another weird incident from this latest episode that indicates a lack of cohesion came when Manuel yelled at Ashley over removing the door to her bedroom. The reasoning is that he, as someone who isn't a fan of pets in the house, and didn't want any animals taking up room in his bed. After he stated the goal of reinstalling a door the next day, the hiccup turned into a major argument.
The door argument was weird, but more because of the context of what was happening. This seemingly occurred within the first couple hours of him arriving at her home, which is usually when we see couples still in their honeymoon phase, when details like that haven't yet started to make a dent. To see them getting into such an intense fight over a relatively non-vital issue doesn't bode well for this relationship. The tension reminded me of the fights and pettiness between Brittany Banks and Yazan Abo Horira, and considering they're one of several former couples no longer together, the comparisons also don't make for optimistic hopes.
As I mentioned, it also has me wondering if maybe these two aren't as serious about marriage as the other cast members featured in Season 10 of 90 Day Fiancé. Is this 90 Days really about deciding to get married, or is this a reconciled couple spending time together in the United States and also getting some reality television experience? I'll be interested to see where this story goes because right now, I do not feel like Ashley and Manuel are in it for the long haul.
90 Day Fiancé airs on TLC on Sundays at 8:00 p.m. ET. The season only just started, so now would be a time to catch up by watching the latest episode, the season premiere, and see the new side of Jasmine that I wish we saw more of.
