Spectator

Watching Mohamed sit and the table with Yve’s son, I was getting real sibling vibes. Certainly not step father/step son vibes. This relationship seems so so so off. But then again - He’s looking for a mother to take care of him. She’s looking for a babysitter. Maybe they actually did find exactly what they wanted in each other. But that still doesn’t mean it’s not super super weird and clunky.

As much as despise Emily, I must say she’s got some good genes on her side. Her mom is a true natural beauty and this week revealed that her grandmother is as well. Lucky girl. Too bad she squandered hitting the genetic lottery by being such an entitled, selfish, bossy brat.

Actually, that absolutely happens! Toddlers don’t understand boundaries (obviously) so those that are still breastfeeding have been known to get confused and grab the breasts of other random women. People seem to forgive such behavior when an infant does it, but a 3 year old toddler? Not so much. It gets even worse when it happens at school in front of other kids. Because kids never gang up on other kids and make fun of them. Nope. That never happens. If Emily wants to go down this road (extended breast-feeding and co-sleeping) to each their own, but I hope she’s receiving guidance from a doctor or other trained professional to help her avoid some of the common developmental pitfalls with that approach. There certainly are benefits but if not navigated intelligently, she can risk some significant developmental problems as well.

Sleeping on a flight is a lot more work than Ari normally does so it’s no wonder she acted like she just ran a marathon when she got off the plane. The poor girl was exhausted from walking through airports and stuff! Lol. Watch the footage…she very rarely carries the baby (Bini always does). She very rarely feeds the baby (the babysitter and Bini do). She very rarely cleans the house (the babysitter does). She very rarely cooks (the babysitter does). Heck, she doesn’t even do her own hair (the babysitter does) I seriously have no idea how she spends her time but the woman never actually “works” at anything. I’m very curious to see if she will be able to pay her own bills in that apartment. My money says no but I’m sure her parents will find a way to bail her out, even if it means that her dad hires her as a paper filer one day a week for $100k a year.

I agree completely. The ring was all very staged/promotional and production didn’t even try to hide it. I just wish they executed the promotion when Steve and Noi were alone, not in front of all the couples. It was inappropriate and quite uncomfortable for the other couples (and the viewing audience).

Geez - Ari and Emily sure are two peas in a pod. Both are fully dependent on their parents. Both seem entirely ungrateful for the generosity of their parents. Both are clueless that their parents generosity is actually enabling their own bad behavior. Both insist on bossing their partners around, despite having terrible judgement themselves. Both use their children to maintain control over their partners, restricting access to the children when it benefits their own agenda (ex: Ari refusing to give Avi to Bini at the airport to spite his sisters, Emily restricting Kobe’s access to Koban almost ALL the time to satisfy her own insecurities…the woman needs to feel important and in control and that selfishly trumps the need for her child to bond with his dad). Both need to be the center of attention despite offering nothing to earn that position (ex: recall how Ari abruptly went to bed when bini and avi were first reunited in the US after Avi’s procedure - father and son were obviously very excited to be together and Ari wasn’t having it; Emily repeatedly blocks Kobe’s contact with Koban so that she can remain “top parent”). Emily is Ari 2.0. Yikes. I really hope these two are the exception to this generation and not the new norm, otherwise this country is toast!

While Steve’s gesture with the second ring was very sweet, I think he really picked the wrong time to give it to Noi. Why do that in front of three other guys that were all in the exact same situation with their wives (married eight weeks who were also celebrating their decisions to stay married). How could those other guys not feel bad that they didn’t do the same? And how could their wives not feel bad that they didn’t get new “confirmation rings”? I really wish he’d done that in a private moment. It turned a sentimental moment into somewhat of a performance, with a hint of one-up-man-ship.

Poor Kobe. Emily is acting like the baby is just hers, not theirs. First, she kept Kobe from seeing his son on the first night, then when they finally do meet, she holds the baby the whole time and even pushes Kobe’s hand away when he’s playing with the baby’s feet. Then she scolded him for bugging the baby. Are you kidding me? Poor Kobe has had to watch his son grow up on a video screen for the last two years and she essentially wouldn’t even let him touch his son. I’m speechless. Just speechless. The more I see her, the more I see her as spoiled, entitled and bossy.And the worst part is that while she insists on calling all the shots, she has terrible judgement. One of my favorite i- day moments of any season was watching Kobe’s reaction to his son looking at him. Wow. His love for his son was oozing out of the tv. Loved it!

I think Emily’s mom is so pretty. A true natural beauty. I sure hope Emily realizes how lucky she is to have such supportive and tolerant parents. They might be enablers but I hate to always blame the parents when kids continually make bad decisions. It can be an unwinnable challenge when you have a kid who lacks basic judgement. Exhibit A: Emily.

Omg! Ben suggesting that mike needs to stand up for himself and that the male cast members, in general, have been really weak this season was EPIC! Are you joking me????? Not him, just the other men? He’s the worst of the bunch. Then he went on to comment that tonight might have been too much for Mahogany and she might be done for good. Huh??? She’s done, but he’s still in despite everything she said??? I feel like I’m in the twilight zone. The guy has zero self awareness. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Wow.

Mahogany should go into politics. She is tremendous at manipulating a conversation and brilliantly deflecting whenever she feels cornered by a tough question. Although her behavior is not admirable on principal, her skills are quite impressive for someone with so few years of life experience. Even before this tell all episode, she exhibited these same skills. She’s asked a tough question and she delivers an incomprehensible word salad in return. Ben catches her in a lie and she turns the tables and somehow Ben winds up being the one who apologizes. Granted, she found an easy target in Ben, a desperate fool who sops up her manipulation and comes back for more, but man, the woman has some skills.

Teary eyed Ella: “I just wanted to have a good birthday” Me: “wtf!??!!!” (while throwing a shoe and a slice of pizza at the tv) What is she, 12 years old???? Does anyone over the age of 21 really put that much importance on celebrating his/her birthday???? plus, considering Ella’s recent accidental sexual “slip” I cannot believe she would risk doing anything even remotely like that with a guy she met on what sounds like an international dating site. She REALLY needs to work on herself snd her self esteem before she dates anyone. And Johnny, dude, grow a backbone…you’re a nice guy but you’re also a gigantic doormat. Lots of people need physical touch, or whatever Ella said was her issue and her excuse, but that doesn’t give them a permanent green light to cheat on their partners unless their partners are 100% on board with an open relationship. Johnny clearly is not. She’s a hot mess.

So does Mahogany. Sometimes. hmmmmmm…

Yep. I think he has zero, and I mean zero, relationship experience, which means he has zero experience breaking up with people. It REALLY shows. He reminded me of my young teenage niece after her first breakup…her life was over, she’ll never “love” again, blah blah blah, accompanied by various levels of disbelief, lots of sobbing and an extended period of silent, post-breakup cyber stalking. It was all pretty textbook…for a 13 year old! But it’s quite unfortunate (read: sad) to witness this same kind of behavior/denial at his age. His stunted social development is on full display and it’s really not a good look for a 30 something year old man. So bottom line…shock among shocks…the internet stripper with hitmen and other jailed winners carving notches on her bedpost is not going to be part of Mike’s fairytale “happily ever after” dream fantasy life??? I’m stunned. Just stunned.

Did the TLC producers really need to air the clip of Memphis being fed that oversized piece of liver by Hamza’s family??? Come on. Just about everything that woman does makes me sick to my stomach but that was off the charts. Yuck. And don’t get me started on her bizarre, confused, clueless facial expressions throughout the ceremony. Did she never think to research, or even ask the family what the wedding would be like - the wedding she demanded so emphatically and on her very tight timeline, no less??? Come to think of it…does the girl ever plan ahead for anything in life??? She seems like the type of person who wanders around never contemplating consequences then gets blindsided by life at every turn. She talked to attorney about a prenup the day before the wedding then seemed shocked that he couldn’t get it done for her in under 24 hours. She had no clue about the wedding ceremony practices and traditions despite the wedding being her number one priority for the entire trip. She appeared to have had unprotected sex with a man she’d only known in person for about 10 minutes then seemed surprised to learn she was pregnant (although, as others noted, that could have been part of her master plan to falsely pin fatherhood Hamza…in which case, then not only does she plan ahead, she’s devious!). The remarkable thing is to hear that she’s disappointed with how she’s been portrayed on the show and regrets doing it. Was she really not that self aware to have even the slightest clue that 9 times out of 10 her behavior is nothing short of abhorrent???? Yikes. Sometimes I think these reality shows wind of being free therapy for the participants. At least she is starting to see her true self now.

best 90 day exchange of the episode: ben: I love you mahogany: you’re crazy ben: I love you so much mahogany: it’s ok

So basically Myrla broke up with Gil for the exact reason we all thought they were mismatched from the start…their financial profiles were way too different. Myrla said she was very driven by money, Gil said he wasn’t. Myrla clearly made money and had a lot to show for that accomplishment. Gil didn’t. So when Gil didn’t show much financial maturity and financial responsibility in the marriage, Myrla wasn’t having it. I totally understand that, but most importantly, it was TOTALLY PREDICTABLE. Financial disequilibrium ranks super high on the list of divorce catalysts. We all saw this coming from episode 1. They never should have been matched. These “experts” are ridiculous.

I kind of laugh when an arguably “average” guy thinks sleeping with a lot of woman makes him more of a man. You could totally tell Caleb thought he was hot sh— when he drank on the 100 partner line during their drinking game. To me, that means one of two things: 1. The guy is lying because the biggest braggarts tend to be stretching the truth (like when not so bright guys verbalize how smart they supposedly are - they try to convince people they are more than they are). Genuinely confident, accomplished guys often don’t feel the need to talk about their accomplishments. They don’t feel the need to brag. 2. If it’s the truth, in order to rack up those kinds of numbers it means the guy hasn’t had a lot of long term committed relationships which, then, could mean one of two things: 2a. Either he’s an insincere user who only wants to bed a woman then move on…one and done. Red flag. OR 2b. The women are so unimpressed after the first encounter they don’t seek an encore performance. We all saw Caleb in those sadly flat in the front spandex so I’m thinking that last option is a real possibility. Whatever is going on, I don’t see his “confession” as the positive he seems to think it is. The exact opposite, in fact.

So if Noi takes his name she’ll be Noi Moy…sort of sounds like something out of a Dr Seuss book. But I’m guessing she’ll be a good sport about it

I give Meri a lot of credit for finding the strength to smile as often as she does. Kody has really done his best to try to squash every ounce of joy out of her life.

I often silently note some of the questionable fashion choices on this show, but this time I just can’t keep quiet: omg! two words……… Kody’s visor 😭 So. Much. Forehead.

I couldn’t help but notice that too. I’m shocked Caleb would highlight that on day 1 by sporting those weird spandex pants, but he seems to have a rather inflated sense of self so perhaps he’s deluded himself into thinking there’s a whole lot more there than meets the eye. There was literally nothing there. Poor Caleb. Actually, poor Alina!

I was getting serious Joker vibes from Kody…

Christine looks prettier and prettier as she ages. I thought she looked beautiful when she was sitting outside her house with that ass of a husband of hers when he finally showed up a week after they returned from their “surgery vacation”. I am so hopeful that she starts dating, meets a bunch of guys that really show her how truly terrible kody was by comparison, and she never ever looks back. I hope they all leave him. Except Robyn. They’re perfect for each other.

I remember attending the wedding of a friend when I was around 25 - I recall having weird, contradictory feelings where I was happy for my friend, who looked so beautiful and seemed so so happy in the moment, but at the same time I was so sad because I was certain that the marriage was a terrible mistake (I was right…infidelity, emotional abuse and a messy divorce were soon to follow). I haven't had that same feeling since…up until last night, that is. And more than once, sadly. Both Alina and Corey ignored AAAALLLLL the red flags in their relationships and wound up married. I just wanted to fast forward through both weddings…I didn’t see either as a reason to celebrate anything as I’m quite certain they could both be quite a bit happier with other people. Or alone even. I hate watching people get rolled over and then going back for more. They can’t even say they weren’t warned…