90 Day Fiance has beloved stars, treasured couples, and funny moments.
The franchise is also a breeding ground for some of the worst reality TV villains to be found anywhere.
We’ve put together a list.
This isn’t about the most hated stars — that’s a different conversation.
It’s also not about the most dysfunctional couples … but you’ll recognize some names on the list.
This is about counting down the biggest villains on the show.
We’re going to be talking about their roles on the show, not who they are when cameras aren’t rolling.
This means that criminals like Geoffrey Paschel are a little too serious a subject for this list.
On-screen behavior defines this list, not off-screen accusations, arrests, or social media cruelty.
We’re making a list of reality TV villains, not an America’s Most Wanted list.
That said … some of these folks sure seem to blur the lines.
Nicole Jimeno
Yes, we’re starting off with a lowball, because this is a countdown. Nicole was an antagonist long before The Family Chantel was ever greenlit. She was there for the infamous family brawl — she was largely the instigator. She has gone out of her way to sabotage her brother Pedro’s marriage to Chantel. She’s low on this list because, well, not only has she not succeeded, but she’s arguably helped them. You don’t get your own spinoff, let alone the first in the franchise’s history, without a villain. Chantel and Pedro should thank her … but watch their backs.
Myriam Mana
Talk about a blast from the past. We’ve seen a lot of shady antics and even some catfishing on 90 Day Fiance over the years. Patrick fell head over heels for her, but calling them an early 90 Day Fiance “couple” might be a bit of a stretch. She never thought that he would actually come see her. When he did, she had to tell him the truth: she had a boyfriend. She showed him around “as a friend,” mostly just to give the cameras something to film. No one would call Myriam an evil person, but wow, what a mess.
Andrei and the Potthasts … Almost All of Them
We cycled through photos of Charlie, Jenn, Becky, Libby, and Andrrrrrei before realizing that a wholesome family GIF like this one best represented their story. Andrei antagonizes Elizabeth’s siblings, they clap back. Jenn and/or Becky quarrel with Libby because she’s defending Andrei whether he’s right or wrong, Charlie gets belligerent and makes a mess out of situations with Andrei. Chuck seems like a decent guy who doesn’t want his family torn apart. Are they all doing this for fame, to help Libby’s career? Maybe. So whether they’re bad people or good in real life, they all cycle through being reality TV villains. But hey, at least they’re not ruining anyone’s lives.
Anil and Sahna Singh
Unfortunately, Sumit Singh’s parents HAVE been ruining lives. They made Sumit miserable for years. When they forced him into a marriage to a woman he didn’t love, they impacted his life and hers. Their refusal to “allow” Sumit to marry Jenny Slatten, now enforced by Sahna’s threat to commit suicide, is making their son and Jenny miserable and has put a ticking clock over their time together. They don’t have to like Jenny, but they are the primary antagonists of Jenny and Sumit’s lives and a pointless obstacle to them marrying.
Jesse Meester
Darcey Silva and Jesse Meester had a toxic nightmare of a relationship — one that people just couldn’t stop watching. They would have extremely public fights on Instagram, but we’re focusing on the show — where Jesse’s bloated sense of self-importance turned off fans who might otherwise have cheered for him every time that he had his shirt off.
Tom Brooks
Darcey Silva was the first 90 Day Fiance star to return to the franchise with a new partner. Tom Brooks at first seemed to be everything that Jesse was not, but beneath the surface, he harbored his own brand of toxicity — and fans believe that he led Darcey on just to stay on TV longer. Whatever they think of Darcey, she did not deserve that. The dude’s a creep who hit on other 90 Day Fiance stars.
Ricky Reyes
Ricky’s story began with what fans feared would be catfishing. The woman whom he went to Columbia to meet turned out to be real, though. She showed up for the date … but wasn’t interested in following up. All of that sympathy for Ricky shattered when Ricky revealed that he’d been messaging two different women. That’s right — the guy had a backup gal in the same country, just in case things fell through. The manipulation at play was disgusting, and fans felt like they were suddenly watching a psychological horror.
Mike Youngquist
At first, Mike seemed a little eccentric at the worst and definitely a little less verbal than his fiancee, but fans liked him. But over time, his dismissive eyerolls towards Natalie, his refusal to make wedding plans, and the fact that he brought her there when he wasn’t ready to marry her caused viewers’ opinions to sour. Whatever they thought of the couple’s prospects, it was appalling to see him call off the wedding just hours before it was to begin. There’s no going back from that … even though they married. Even then, Mike continued to side with his mother (don’t worry; we’ll get to Trish) and seemed entertained at times by Natalie’s distress.
Natalie Mordovtseva
Though Mike’s blunders made Natalie sympathetic in many moments, as a whole, she is at least as disliked as he is if not more, and that’s not *only* because 90 Day Fiance likes to play off of the misogynistic biases of its viewers. No one can forget how Natalie tossed the ring back into Mike’s luggage in Ukraine, least of all Mike. She was then obsessed with getting it back — though Mike was also at fault for withholding it. But Mike was not at fault for Natalie’s vicious verbal attacks — insulting his intelligence, accusing him of being stupid and uncultured and not as “classy” as she is. While her obviously disordered eating (likely orthorexia) does not make her a villain, her insistence upon controlling Mike’s diet was toxic and absurd. Natalie isn’t a caricature — she has many good qualities — but you cannot treat people as she treated Mike and come out smelling like roses.
Trish
Season 6 of Happily Ever After? showed Natalie come into conflict with Mike’s mom, Trish. Natalie was wary of visiting “Treezh” because Trish had encouraged Mike to call off the wedding, and tried to get Tamara to object during the ceremony when it did happen (though Tamara wisely declined). Once Natalie visited for her first Thanksgiving, Trish seemed to be trolling her — and we’re not talking about her haunted piggy bank collection. She badgered Natalie about working in translation instead of pursuing her career, she negged her about housework, she pressured her for grandchildren, she pranked her by taking her to a butcher shop, and she told Mike that if Natalie doesn’t eat poultry, they could serve up water moccasins — venomous snakes — to her instead. That’s just not how you treat your daughter-in-law.
Colt Johnson
Even if we don’t count the cheating that DIDN’T make it on screen, this guy loved watching his ex-wife, Larissa Lima, butt heads with his mother. Debbie isn’t on this list because she and Larissa had a complicated relationship that they both earned. Colt is on this list because he’s a lying manipulator. He followed up his toxic marriage to Larissa with a toxic relationship with Jess Caroline. In fact, he’d be higher on the list … but he really seems to have undergone a lot of personal growth over time. On The Single Life, he seemed to express sincere regrets. He also became engaged to Vanessa Guerra. We can’t know how much he means that, but even his most bitter exes have expressed that they’re happy for him. Still a reality TV villain, but … less villainous, now. Retired from villainy. Maybe.
Jay Smith
Jay is one hot dude. He’s passionate about tattooing. But though most of his public cheating scandals took place after his time on 90 Day Fiance, some of them did play out on screen. Just days after marrying Ashley Martson, the guy was chatting with a high schooler (she was 18, at least) after meeting her on Tinder. Just a couple of months later, he boned a girl in a barbershop bathroom — a total stranger. He then put off signing divorce documents for weeks (in reality, it was YEARS), keeping himself tethered to Ashley long enough to win her back again and again after multiple cheating incidents.
Angela Deem
To some, Angela is a fan-favorite. Others hate her. But this isn’t a popularity contest — this is about her role on the show. Angela screams verbal abuse at Michael. There’s no excuse for that. She also pollutes the air of everyone around her with her constant smoking as if she doesn’t care about anyone but herself (which is a vibe that many viewers have gotten). Angela might make herself laugh, but plenty of viewers are so appalled that they skip her portions of the episodes.
Jihoon Lee
Some people actually feel sorry for the man who lied to his wife to lure her to Korea when he wasn’t financially able to support her or their two children. Ignoring the horrifying things that happened off camera and the extended drama that has followed, Jihoon should have done a lot more growing up before impregnating anyone. We don’t just mean financial security — he needed way more emotional maturity, too.
Big Ed Brown
It took a little while for Big Ed’s string of bad behavior to catch up with him. The guy wanted to be seen as a lovable man — the next Danny DeVito. Instead, people see him as Danny DeVito’s character from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Frank Reynolds. He’s a creep, and not only because he pursues women in their twenties and acts disgusted by the idea of dating a woman even close to his own age (unless she’s J Lo). When he’s with these women who are younger than his daughter, he treats them with disrespect — shaming Rosemarie’s hygiene and body hair, demanding that Liz leave his house every time that they had an argument, etc. Ed may laugh it off, but viewers stopped laughing along with him a long time ago.
Anfisa Arkhipchenko Nava
Anfisa being a “gold digger” is up for debate — whether that really describes her (or was just encouraged by production and her dry sense of humor), and whether that’s necessarily a bad thing. How exactly things ended while Jorge was in prison is moot, because their divorce happened after their time on the show. What happened on screen, very clearly, was Anfisa attempting to hit Jorge during a discussion. That’s not acceptable — it’s domestic violence. Why production just stood there filming instead of calling the police to report the assault is anyone’s guess. But there’s no coming back from something like that.
Betty Gibbs
All of the people who thought that Debbie was too overbearing with Colt were not prepared for Betty Gibbs, but her codependence with her son, Brandon, is the least of her issues. Yes, she spent decades convincing Brandon that he couldn’t really make any decisions on his own, teaching him to totally depend upon her, but that’s only part of it. A narcissist with control issues, a woman who makes doctor’s appointments without the permission of the “patient,” throws explicitly unwanted parties and then acts angry when she’s called out for it, who dictates which bedrooms grown adults sleep in — she’s like if the JustNoMIL section of Reddit manifested as a person. HUGE villain. Brandon and Julia didn’t just need to move off of the farm — it would be better for them if they went no-contact with Betty and Ron.
Lesina Pulaa
“I don’t care about the kids!” is a fine line when a bunch of teens on Twitter are talking about how hard they stan “Goober” or whatever the latest Minecraft YouTuber that no one who’s old enough to rent a car has ever heard of. It’s not a fine line to use when you’re talking about your own grandchildren. Lesina wants money, she wants Asuelu to labor to earn money for her, and she uses her Samoan culture as a shield to try and justify her parasitic nature. None of that is okay.
Eric Rosenbrook
This 90 Day Fiance villain kicked his own daughter out of her apartment (yes, HER apartment — reportedly, she was living there first) because his wife, Leida, told him to. He’s also a huge jerk. Leaving out the frankly unspeakable things that he has said in interviews, he loves to malice-signal about young people, which tells you everything that you need to know about the guy. Well, almost everything. His wife tells you the rest.
Mark Shoemaker
Before we get to #1, Mark is one of the biggest creeps on 90 Day Fiance. That’s what happens when you’re like a million years old and your “wife” is barely old enough to not be considered a child bride. Nikki was a teenager, and Mark seemed like something out of To Catch A Predator. Worse, it has been years since Nikki has been seen posting anything on social media. What kind of 20-something young woman doesn’t use Instagram? Fans wonder if Mark simply doesn’t allow her to. Just thinking about this dude gives people hives.
Leida Margaretha
The worst villain in the history of the franchise (not counting off-screen crimes) is Leida Margaretha. Her various attempts to repair her image have all imploded, because she seemingly cannot help herself. She got Tasha kicked out of her apartment and went on to further sabotage the teen’s life, taking out a restraining order to keep Tasha from “badmouthing” her online … something that shows up on Tasha’s background check whenever she tries to get a job. Eric Rosenbrook may be a huge jerk who doesn’t deserve affection, but Tasha should have been the one to decide to break off contact with her dad. Instead, Leida and Eric decided that for her.