Warning! The following contains spoilers for the 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days episode "Sound and the Fury." Stream it with a Max subscription, or watch it on TLC.
Tigerlily Taylor and Adnan Abdelfattah have been on my radar since 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days Season 7 officially kicked off. Beyond the age of Adnan, who's 20 years younger than his fiancé, it seemed the TLC franchise was repeating a story we've seen more often than I'd like to acknowledge. I hoped this time it wouldn't play out like previous storylines, but I was let down by the latest episode hitting the 2024 TV schedule.
I guess if this season was going to blindside me with the wild vampire and cannibal talking happening with Chidi and Rayne, it's fair game that Tigerlily and Adnan's Day one wedding play out exactly as I've expected it to thus far. I'll break it down for readers who missed out, complete with the humble request for TLC to stop highlighting and exploiting these types of couples.
Tigerlily Was Shocked By Adnan's Treatment Of Her After Arriving In Jordan
Tigerlily was preparing for her marriage to Adnan, which was scheduled not long after she arrived in Jordan. Tigerlily immediately felt blindsided by the news that their marriage would not be a private ceremony and that he hadn't told her. While not a dealbreaker, she didn't appreciate not knowing his entire family would be there, while she had only brought a couple of friends for the trip.
The problems kicked off, however, when Tigerlily went to get her hair done before meeting everyone. Adnan was upset because she had a male hairstylist, which he did not approve of. He also didn't like how much time it was taking to get her hair fixed, so he started a timer on his phone and started hounding her to wrap it up while pointing to the timer.
As one would expect, Tigerlily didn't like the way he was hounding her. The 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days cast member had divorced her previous husband for being too controlling, and it remains to be seen if this 90 Day couple will split after marriage. For those wondering if the two even make it down the aisle, this video from Adnan's Instagram page does kind of spoil one part of the storyline:
The marriage might've gone through, but I can't help but think there are some serious compatibility issues that need to be addressed. The most frustrating thing about this is that we see it so often in 90 Day Fiancé, specifically when it comes to American women going to the Middle East, that I really wish the franchise would stop highlighting it.
Can 90 Day Fiancé Please Stop Showing Americans Entirely Ignorant Of Middle Eastern Customs?
It's so frustrating as a viewer to see another American traveling to the Middle East with little to no knowledge of the customs and cultural norms of the people living there. Tigerlily openly stated she knew nothing of Islam but was "curious" about it the same day of her marriage.
It felt the same as when Nicole and Mahmoud Sherbiny had an argument about the Burkini, and she ultimately realized she could not live in a place where the culture felt so different than life in the United States.
It's not that people aren't allowed to experience something and realize that the lifestyle is not for them. What bothers me most is that these 90 Day Fiancé cast members could've easily found out a ton about these cultures had they just bothered to do a bit of research. Granted, it's possible some of them are led to believe they won't have to follow those rules, as Brittany Banks said when she explained why things went wrong with Yazan Abo Horira.
While I know 90 Day Fiancé targets couples that will make for the most entertainment, I can't help but feel the trope of the ignorant American suddenly learning how much more restrictive Middle Eastern culture can be to women is getting played out. Surely, there have to be some success stories that could be highlighted from these types of relationships.
Or at the very least, focus could be put on more educated subjects that fully understand what their future spouse expects when they arrive overseas. I think, to educate the masses on how it would work, it's a storyline I'd love to see, if only to break the cycle of constantly seeing this happen season after season.
90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days airs on TLC on Sundays at 8:00 p.m. ET. The season only started recently so there's still plenty of time to catch up.
