90 Day Fiance star Elizabeth Potthast’s whole family has seemed ready to fight Andrei Castravet.
This week, their investigation into his past led to an awkward confrontation … and it was all caught on camera.
Elizabeth and Andrei’s plans to get hitched for a second time haven’t exactly gone off without a hitch.
Their trip to Moldova has seen Andrei on his worst behavior, and getting into conflict with Elizabeth’s family — even more than he was in the US.
They have had real questions for Andrei about why he really left Moldova. And no, a little bit of fun stomping grapes into wine didn’t make those questions vanish.
To address their concerns, The Family Potthast spoke to Andrei’s longtime friend, Marcel.
Marcel acknowledged that Andrei had been put under tremendous pressure as an underpaid, overworked Moldovan police officer.
But he did not share all of the details — except to say that Andrei got into trouble, and could have been in much worse trouble.
Marcel was only willing to tell them so much.
After all, Andrei is his longtime friend. And it’s not like he was telling them this in confidence — the cameras were right there.
So he told them that, if they really want to know more, they should just talk to Andrei about it.
So, after some good times together, the family gathers outdoors in Chisinau.
Chuck and Charlie’s attempts to interrogate Andrei had resulted in furious outbursts and nearly a physical fight.
Jenn’s approach to asking the question, however, yielded better results.
Andrei explained that, as Marcel had said, police in Moldova are very corrupt.
Police corruption anywhere isn’t really shocking news on this side of 2020 (as if it were before), but Moldova has its own flavor of awful.
According to Andrei, he was in a position where he would either have to "play ball" with corruption … or risk being set up and imprisoned himself.
He admits to the family that, had he not left Moldova for Ireland, things could have ended one of two ways.
The first is that he could have ended up driving a $100,000 car. Impressive for someone who officially makes $250 a month.
The second option would be that he would be behind bars, set up to keep him out of the way so that corrupt officers could continue to have free reign.
"I knew a little bit about his past when he was a detective," Elizabeth expressed.
"But," she added, "definitely not all of those details like he had to flee the country so he wouldn’t get in trouble."
"Like, that’s insane to me," Elizabeth stated. "I feel betrayed. I expected the man I married to be completely honest with me, and Andrei hasn’t."
Whether he felt that he had been fully honest or this was the result of producer meddling, Andrei expressed indignation.
He insisted that this was not news to Elizabeth, but she disagreed.
She had even expressed second thoughts about this second wedding.
However, the two talked it through on a balcony overlooking Chisinau.
Elizabeth and Andrei made peace and hugged.
This was a rare moment when a lot of viewers were actually rooting for Andrei.
Nothing could ever excuse Andrei’s rude behavior. He is, after all, a grown man.
However, you can understand him more when you understand where he is coming from.
Choosing to avoid corruption and leave your homeland takes a lot of courage.