gavinmac

She actually lives in Ryazan, not Moscow. Beggars can't be choosers. Derek Jeter's not going to propose to her, and she knows that. She can move to Knoxville, do her two year marriage stint, and then she's free to move to New York if she wants. What are her other options? Many successful Russian men don't want an opinionated woman over 30. Many Russian men are alcoholics, and don't earn very much, and die around age 65. Actually, didn't she tell Geoffrey she could have married online American guy #1 but turned him down? I wonder if that's true and what was wrong with that guy. He must have been older/creepier or less attractive than Geoffrey.

She seemed pretty upset to me but also acted like a green card-motivated 30+ year old Russian woman who has few other options and who has already introduced Geoffrey to her mom and put all her eggs in the Geoffrey basket. The Filipinas on this show will excuse absolutely anything that the American dude does. The Russian women will excuse . . . almost anything. You didn't see Anfisa run back to Russia when she found out that Jorge was a convicted drug dealer. And she was probably relieved that he ended up going back to prison. She gets the green card without having to spend any more time with him. What a stroke of luck.

True. I think it's $2500. If you ever go to a US embassy abroad and ask to renew your passport, the first thing they do is ask you to slide your passport to them under the glass partition and tell you to take a seat. Then they run your name for warrants and child support. And if you have active warrants or child support obligations, they don't give you a new passport, and they don't even give you back your old passport. Instead they say "We can only give you a special limited passport allowing you to return promptly to the USA to resolve your outstanding obligations, do you want one of those?" And if it's a serious crime you're wanted for in the US, the embassy folks might call the local police and have them waiting right outside the embassy gates to arrest you and start the process of you being deported to the USA involuntarily. People with arrest warrants (and child support obligations) generally have no trouble leaving the USA, assuming their passport hasn't been flagged or confiscated. But sooner or later they will need to renew those passports while on the run, and that's one way Uncle Sam gets them. But American convicted murderers, rapists, drug dealers, child molesters, etc. who have served their time and are off probation/parole are generally free to leave whenever they want and wreak havoc in any country that will let them in.

I've never met a prostitute who actually calls herself a "commercial sex worker," that sounds like a term used in academia but not commonly used in the real world by prostitutes, johns, or anyone who interacts with them or writes or talks about them. The New York Times is pretty "woke" and even their preferred term is "prostitute" not "commercial sex worker." https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/02/sex-worker.html

This is true. You can't get a passport if you have active warrants for your arrest. But American ex-cons can absolutely get passports and leave the USA. Why wouldn't we want ex-cons to leave? With any luck they won't come back. The vast majority of countries will let an American in as a tourist without asking if you have a criminal record. Russia, Japan, and Australia come to mind as countries that ask Americans if you're a convicted criminal. I think many ex-cons will just check the "no" box anyway and have no problem entering countries like Russia and Japan though, because the USA doesn't share criminal records with them. Because they wash the clothes by soaking them in a bucket and beating them on the ground near a water runoff that leads to an open air sewer? Yeah, I don't understand why viewers of this show are obsessed over the cell phone thing. Used cell phones cost $10-$20 in the developing world and a month's worth of data costs $1-$2. And having a phone is essential in the developing world because few people have landlines or laptops. Pointing out the phone ownership is a bit like saying "Rose can't that be poor, she has shoes."

Ed asking Rosemarie's dirt poor father "Do you like living in the Philippines" was one of the most condescending, cringeworthy, ugly American moments in the history of the 90DF franchise.

That's a fair question. The Russian tourist visa form does ask American applicants if they have ever been arrested, and if you answer yes then you may be called for an in person interview and have to explain it. So one of three things happened: 1. Geoffrey lied on the visa form and checked "no" to the arrest question and since Russia and the USA don't share criminal records, he was approved for a visa 2. Geoffrey checked "yes" on the form admitting his arrest and the Russians never followed up with him and approved his visa application 3. Geoffrey checked "yes" on the form admitting his arrest and the Russians followed up with him and he provided details of his drug trafficking conviction and they gave him the visa. I think 2 and 3 are very, very unlikely. I suspect he just lied, and the Russians don't know he has a criminal record. By the way, did anyone else notice the huge sh*t eating grin that came across Geoffrey's face when Varya said "If you had told me from the beginning that you were a convicted drug dealer I never would have met you?" He got this HUGE smile as if to say "I know! Right? That's why I waited until after we had sex and I met your mom! Now it's too late for you to dump me over this without looking stupid in front of your friends and family!"

I appreciate you don't like the term GRO, but I'm disappointed you would say "I've never heard of that in any SE Asian country . . . I don't know where you go that from" if you are familiar with the term but just find it outdated. I could post a lot of links now to very recent news articles written by journalists in the Philippines using the term "guest relations officer" to refer to bargirls and prostitutes but I think we're just getting off track.

That's not obvious to me at all. Do all Americans bring gifts whenever meeting their girlfriend's parents? I could see him not knowing a gift would be expected. He's a dude. From Tennessee. Who sells drugs and beats women and gets pissy when women don't sleep with him the first night they meet. He's not a nice, thoughtful gift-bearing boy like Manny from "Modern Family." I doubt Geoffrey had the foresight to pick out a thoughtful gift for Varya's mother, like a lovely snow globe from Dollywood, and the producers slapped it out of his hand and said "HAHAHA you'll give her roadside flowers instead." A gift probably never crossed his mind until Varya mentioned it.

It could have been. She said she was so poor in Brazil she would steal fruit from the neighbor's tree right? Poor in Brazil is similar to poor in the Philippines.

I thought the euphemism in the Philippines is G.R.O. or "guest relations officer."

I didn't say that "only prosti's have tattoos." I offered my opinion that tattooed poor Southeast Asian women with Western boyfriends twice their age are more likely to be hookers than non-tattooed poor Southeast Asian women with American boyfriends twice their age. But we can agree to disagree, I see that I am in the minority here.

Avery is hipster dope-cooking American, that's why she's tattooed. She isn't from a country where there's a strong correlation between tattoos and prostitution. Similarly, I don't think Geoffrey is involved in organized crime just because he has the horrible chest/nipple tattoos. But if he were a heavily tattooed Japanese guy with a record of drug dealing and beating women, I would definitely assume he was a member of the "Yakuza."

You forgot Larissa.

Noon's Asian and I don't think many people suggest Noon was a prostitute. Or Daya. Or Aya. Or Jenny. Because they didn't look, dress, or act like prostitutes.

Based on my experience of traveling in Southeast Asia, I'm going to guess that Rose is/was a prostitute. The tattoo of her name on the inside of her bicep is strong indicator giveaway. I would never say that tattoos on American women are indicative of promiscuity or prostitution, but in Southeast Asia, they are. "Good" poor girls don't get tattoos there, and display them prominently, because they don't want to be mistaken for prostitutes. Then you add in "She or her sister ask Ed for money," "Reaches into his wallet for cash," "Willing to be seen walking around her village with Ed," "Not at all embarrassed about checking into a hotel with Ed," "no one cares she's sleeping with Ed in her family home a day after meeting him," "gives him a death stare of rage when angry" and "apparently bisexual." It adds up to probable prostitute to me.

Didn't Avery visit Australia because Ash had no money to fly to the USA or couldn't get a visa due to a bankruptcy? Maybe Ash's life in Australia just sucks. Divorced, no money, no one is paying him for advice, no retirement savings, no viable career, no Australian citizenship, etc. I don't remember if he is living with his more judgmental brother. Maybe he just wants a "new life." Or he may think the USA is less racist than Australia. All I know is that I don't trust anything he says.

Caloocan where she lives is part of "Metro Manila." Ed said it was three hours from Manila, but that probably isn't accurate. Google maps says it's 20 miles and 45 minutes by car away from "central Manila" (Intramuros or Makati). Traffic in Manila can be horrific and I suspect that Rose would normally travel on local transport, using a series of jeepneys and buses, and that the 20 miles journey from her home to central Manila would take over an hour but less than 3 hours.

Avery needs to learn some cross-examination skills ASAP because this guy Ash is very, very slippery. LAST WEEK: Avery: "When we talk about your son Taj moving to America, I feel like you sugarcoat it and and I'm not getting the full extent of what's going on. Is that accurate?" Ash: "You see, your perspective, I respect it. We have have to talk about Taj and how this will work." THIS WEEK: Avery: "When can I meet Taj?" Ash: "I'm looking forward to that actually." Avery: "When can I meet your ex-wife?" Ash: "To tell you the truth, I'm working on that." Avery: "So she hasn't said anything?" Ash: "I'm working on it." Avery shouldn't let him off the hook that easily. She's asking direct questions and he's deliberately avoiding all those questions and giving her non-responsive answers. She should keep asking him "How are you working on it?" "Have you told your ex-wife I want to meet her, yes or no?" "What was her response, i.e. what exact words did she say when you told her I want to meet her?" Actually, Avery should just drop Ash and move on, because he's shady and he's bad news.

I have gotten "We have photos of you sexing yourself on webcam send us money now" emails, even though I've had masking tape over the webcam since the day I bought the laptop. They just randomly send out thousands of these emails to email addresses they purchase and hope someone pays.

Do we have any Australians here who can chime in on this? Would Ash, as a dark skinned immigrant from Mauritius, be a "second class citizen" in Australia? Could he not get a white, thirty year old dope-loving single mom in Australia, if that's his thing? Does the USA offer opportunities that he wouldn't have in Australia, like permanent residence, citizenship, etc.?

Ash seems shady to me. She's acting direct questions like "How is this going to work with your son possibly coming to the USA" and he's avoiding eye contact and saying "We'll have to talk about that." Why can't he give her a straight answer about what's going on? I feel like like he is working some kind of con but I don't know what it is, because if he's a permanent resident of Australia he shouldn't be that interested in a green card to the USA.

Sure, but TLC is limited to what's available. More than 20% of all K-1 visas go to citizens of the Philippines. There are also a lot of K-1 fiancees from Colombia, Dominican Republic, etc. Also, they want drama. Canada has a lot of K-1 fiancees, but a Canadian-American couple would probably be pretty boring. And filming in Pakistan or Iran would probably be a challenge. Also, most sane couples who aren't unstable attention-whores wouldn't do this show and put their relationships on TV for everyone's amusement.

I thought it was quite bad form for Ed, immediately upon meeting Rose's father, to make a "joke" that he's a year older than the dad. No father has a baby girl and dreams that when she's 23 she'll be a single mom forced to date a trollish 54 year old from a wealthier country just to get out of poverty. For Ed to sort of remind the guy in front of the family "I'm older than you but I get to date your daughter because you're a poor Filipino and I'm a white American" was really quite offensive. Of course, the father and everyone else in rose's family still very much want Ed to marry her. I notice that Rose follows the typical and bizarre 90DF single mom script of "fall in love with guy I've never met and immediately train my kid to call him Dad." Why? And equally weird are these dudes who meet single moms online and then instantly want to hug their kids and be called Dad. Why not just shake the kid's hand and say "I'm Ed, nice to meet you." Is that so hard?

The Filipina fiancee will NEVER dump the American man before she gets to the USA. The American suitor can ask the Filipina to take an STD test (Ed), give her a very flawed engagement ring (Brett), demand she sign a prenup (Mark), tell her to shave her legs (Ed), let his brother interrogate and insult her (Tarik), or even refuse to eat the lechon (Larry). The Filipina will accept his marriage proposal regardless.