After last week’s ultimatum, 90 Day Fiance Season 10, Episode 5 had to show some progress.
And it did. Sort of.
As Nikki confronted Justin about a lack of intimacy, she questioned why he’s with her. It’s not just about money, is it?
Nikki Sanders and Justin
Last week, their story left off when Nikki confronted Justin about giving her the cold shoulder. His words have been romantic, but she’s feeling weirdly unloved by him (some of that, he’s being reasonable, and some of it might be coincidence, but yeah, some of that’s legit). So she tells him that something needs to change in the next 48 hours or she’s gone. Nikki has never had a partner deny her sex, and she’s afraid of rejection. Justin did it before, after all.
Patience
Justin tells the confessional camera that Nikki has a big heart, but her passion also makes her impatient. She can be pushy. And he’d love it if she’d give him more time when it comes to sex. He says that his body is still warming up to her presence.
Nikki fears that it’s something else
She even asks him what it is that he likes about her if he’s not wanting to bone right away. Nikki does ask if he likes that she financially supports him. Obviously, she fears that he’s using her — something that at least one of her friends fears, too.
Justin takes offense
He doesn’t like it when Nikki brings up the financial side of their romance. First of all, he feels like she is trying to guilt him about it. And second of all, he says that they both do a lot for each other — so how can one measure who does more? That doesn’t really address whether he’s using her, but he’s still making solid points. Unfortunately, he takes the conversation in a different direction.
Justin starts trying to minimize Nikki’s contributions
To the camera, Justin sounded reasonable. In person, though, talking to Nikki, he starts acting like she helps with “little things” like paying for gas for his car. This leads to Nikki eventually blurting out: “Your nose alone was $7,000.” She doesn’t like that he downplays this. Nikki says that she’s not asking for a refund or anything. Instead, she’d just like for him to be honest. Again, this is way off topic from her questioning his interest in her.
Ouch
Even in the confessional, they’re arguing. Nikki points out that she has always been there for Justin. When she asks “Who the f–k do you think you are?” … Justin just gets up and walks away. We’re clearly missing some key context for this confessional squabble … but the most important thing is that they haven’t fully resolved this days or weeks later when recording side-by-side.
“You stop?”
After Nikki does a series of unkind impressions of Justin while lamenting how selfish he is, he finally comes back. He either asks her if she’s done or asks her to stop. We’re not sure which. However, in the moment, in that park in Moldova, things are going better.
“Save your power for our love”
Justin encourages Nikki to devote her energy to their relationship. To the camera, Nikki acknowledges that she goes from 0-100 pretty quickly. Part of that is hormones, she points out. To the camera, she notes that part of it is also his pattern of behavior. And he does not have a mature approach to discussing intimacy. That’s fair.
Nikki checks in with her mom
Myrna is surprisingly positive about Justin this time around (she was not during their first engagement). As Nikki describes their recent disagreements, Myrna asks if Nikki flipped out. Nikki admits that she went “from zero to a thousand.” Myrna reminds her that openly dating a trans woman as a cis man is big for Justin, especially in his home country. “This is big for him,” she tells her daughter. “Let him adjust.”
Date night
Nikki and Justin have a very nice, peaceful time at a restaurant. They discuss Justin’s plan to take her to a larger gym, where he says that she’ll feel more comfortable. Nikki figures that he wants to keep his smaller gym separate, since he knows people there. Overall, though, he’s making an effort. Nikki does worry that another patron as clocked her (that is, noticed that she’s trans), but they resolve to just finish theri food and leave. (Not pointing anyone out, but Nikki is very clearly not the only LGBTQ+ person in the restaurant, not just because that’s how statistics work but like, visually, on screen. We’re not sure if Justin or anyone else noticed)