GuiltiestPleasures

She really does *not* get it does she? He's not doing surgery if he thinks she has an active drug abuse issue!

Though it's hard to be excited for two hours of watching an addict slowly destroy her life.

Hello all - I made it or the actual live-chat for once! What other imaginary *painful* health issue do you think Angie will diagnose herself with on her quest for meds? Eating habits were yummy pasta with a sausage tomato sauce. It was VERY good for something so simple to make.

You win closest to the second weigh in for sure!

Are we not counting Samantha's surgery from the first episode because she didn't actually earn it from Dr. Now? It does seem like she should get partial credit at best.

I think that the issue Kanae had and part of the reason "do your own research" may not be all that helpful is that the vast, vast majority of weight-loss material on the internet is intended for people who are much smaller and healthier than these poundticipants. Heck, half of it is just fitspo targeted at people who are already a healthy weight. Like Kenae' who "knew" that losing 100 lbs in two months wasn't healthy. She's right...as long as you don't currently weigh 600-700 lbs.

Alert, alert - she needs to start "taking care of herself" and she came to that conclusion without even writing a letter to her Mom or something. (Ahhh, never mind, while I was typing she brought up her therapist.)

I haven't eaten in FOUR hours so hopefully that will make a difference. Oh honey, no. That's like the weird excuse so many of them use about car rides causing swelling (though kind of in reverse) but one very, very brief fast will make no meaningful difference on 600+ pounds.

I think she said she was 34? Whatever it was, it was surprisingly young.

I'm saying 649. She seems pretty tall and the weight is (relatively) less dramatic looking than some poundicipants.

Between the real flatware and the relatively nice house and her mobility, I'm hopeful too. But the show has psyched us out before so let's not get too excited. That's a truly enormous amount of pasta and frozen garlic toast.

Can we keep the teasing about the beard to a reasonable level - facial hair due to PCOS isn't exactly her choice. But good lord, this woman's life has been difficult. Unfortunately, an enormous amount of Chinese food is not the solution. Also, I wonder why she feels the need to blame her interest in women on her history and not just that she's bisexual?

Not only are you not weird - you are absolutely correct. It is incredibly inappropriate for Robert to have his child sleeping with someone who is essentially a stranger to him. Even if nothing ever happened, it models really, really bad boundaries to the little boy as he grows up. If, god forbid, child services ever got involved in their family somehow, they could actually find that this living situation is unacceptable and force Robert to find a separate sleeping situation for his son. In fact, in evaluating a foster home, most child protection agencies won't accept sleeping on the couch as a solution for a child - they have to be able to provide a bed for the child (not necessarily in their own room but certainly not in the room with the parents). I know that lots of cultures co-sleep either because of necessity (generally poverty) or out of tradition. And I know that Bryson (is that his name, I keep forgetting) is still fairly young, but if he announces to a teacher or other mandatory reporter that he is sleeping in the same bed with his "new mommy", they absolutely are risking having a DCF case worker showing up at their door. Also, Robert is just one more of these guys who lied through his teeth about the lifestyle he could provide for her so that he could get this beautiful/sexy/provocative woman to come to the US ... and then is shocked and amazed when she continues to BE a beautiful/sexy/provocative woman when she arrives in person. AND he seems to expect her to want to be a stay-at-home mom (at least until she gets her work permit) who scrimps and saves and is content with whatever he gives her...which appears to just be "America." I have no doubt that she is using him but HE was using HER too and the main difference seems to be that she was entirely upfront about who SHE was while he lied constantly and is now upset that she's angry about that. It has the same vibe as Jorge/Anfisa or even Colt/Larissa - the women are made out to be the evil gold diggers but really they are just expecting to get what was promised to them! Honestly, I have little patience for either of them, but I think Robert is especially awful.

Yeah, so I did some googling and it seems like the only boiler plate questions that apply for the Fiancee interviews are: "Do you work" or "Have you have been convicted of a crime". I really do think that the question specifically about prostitution must be based on at least some suspicion on ICE's part. I don't think it's just a standard part of all the interviews. That being said, I can believe that the ten year mark is just a boiler plate amount of time. But regardless of the ICE questions, I still think that if she really did work as "more" than a model, then the odds that Juliana was trafficked as a teenager are really high. Which seems like a crappy reason to deny someone a visa. Someone in another post said they think TLC would never have allowed them on the show if they believed she had been trafficked as a child but I don't believe that for a minute. Because she and Michael aren't going to budge from the position that she never did that kind of work while viewers will be split in their opinions and will delight in the "scandal" - it's exactly the kind of BS that TLC producers live for.

Sure, there is a sub-set of sex workers who really enjoy their work and do it willingly. But there are many more who are using it as a way to escape grinding poverty, feed a drug habit, or for other depressing reasons. But, in this particular case, we're talking about Juliana potentially being trafficked as at least a teenager if not a pre-teen. Children cannot consent to sex work and even if they could, no 15-year-old should be handed around to dirty old men. It isn't the same thing at all.

I certainly hope so but in the wake of Epstein, I don't think we can just accept that she was a (ostensibly) consenting adult when she was first trafficked for sex. I mean, she was only 20 when she met Michael and her passports already had "lots" of stamps in it from her jet-setting ways. So that couldn't have just happened over night. I also don't think that asking about working as a prostitute is on the standard ICE interview sheet (I've done some asylum work) but is probably something they include when there are suspicions. But no matter when it started, I think piling on a super young, super poor girl for turning to sex work to support herself is kind of gross. Why is it always the prostitute who gets blamed and abused in these situations when really the focus should be on the Johns who exploited her.

So a lot of people have made these sorts of comments but can we keep in mind, if ICE is really right that she has worked as a prostitute for the last ten years, she wasn't a prostitute, she was a victim of child sex trafficking and it would be nice to see people showing that distinction a lot more respect. Makes me wonder if Anna's Mom is trying to participate herself as the next Family Chantal because one spin off show about a super xenophobic family abusing their child's foreign spouse. Ugh.

So, I created this account to comment quite a long time ago (and had completely forgotten my username) but I HAD to get back on because something in this episode made me so ANGRY! Juliana is only 22 or 23 years old right now. When she met Michael she was only twenty. That means that ten years ago, she was either 12 or 13. If ICE is right* and she HAS been "working as a prostitute" (which - who really knows - perhaps those modelling gigs fell somewhere in the gray zone) for the past ten years, then she was neither "working" (in so much as she would have been incapable of giving consent even if she could) - I think the word they are looking for is "exploited" - and she also was not a "prostitute" - she was a victim of child sex trafficking. *Note: a lot of what I said in this is somewhat predicated on the idea that ICE was right. I'm not at all convinced of that; she very well could have just been working as a model at parties for the rich and famous, which I don't think is unusual. But back to regularly scheduled programming. If it is truly ICE's contention that girls (and boys of course) who were trafficked for sex cannot be granted a visa of any kind to get into this country because they may be planning to participate in "nefarious activities" in the USA is horrifyingly inhumane. Basically, if trafficked girls do finally find a way out to protect themselves/get out of the life, it is absolutely shameful that our government (and lets face it, a decent percentage of the population) protects them as potential dangers that must be excluded. I know some people on here have been surprised that Juliana seems to actually have feelings for Michael despite the large age difference. I think that there are two "obvious" reasons that Juliana is so fond of Michael: (a) he has more money than the other old guys who have brought over much younger fiancees in other seasons [I'm looking at you Anna's David who, remarkably, have some of the best chemistry on all of Pillow Talk]. Even guys who brought women over who were about their age, they had so frequently lied about how much money they have that it was absurd. Now, I have no idea how much money Michael has but it is very clear that he is significantly more wealth than most, if not all, of the men who used this ploy (what's up Jorge, Coltee, and, David again, and I know I'm just barely scraping the surface). So of course she appreciates he has money. If she *were* trafficked as a child, that kind of fiscal security (as well as emotional security) would be a heady thing. (b) Secondly, it has not escaped my notice that Michael is somewhat more handsome than most or all of the other older dudes with young fiancees too. But I'd also point out, if Juliana was trafficked as a child, it wouldn't really be a surprise that she would be looking for a man who she believed could protect her. She might even be doing it sub-consciously. And I don't think there is really anything wrong with that (even though I spring-fall relationships do freak me out) because we all have types. And he seems like he really cares about her and sees her as something than a sex doll come to life, though I guess we'll see as the season progresses. TL;DR If ICE is correct, Juliana was exploited by child sex trafficking and excluding her from the country because of it seems deeply wrong. Also, it kind of helps explain what she sees in Michael.

So, I saw a lot of the people in the live chat wondering why the mother would get skin surgery as part of repairing her mid-line incision and hernia. I had a major perforation in my intestines a couple years ago (I have a pre-existing GI condition) and needed emergency surgery in the middle of the night to repair it. It was also the first of my surgeries that had to be a full open abdominal surgery rather than laparoscopic. After surgery, the sutures on my incision actually dissolved (within 24 hours, I don't even remember it happening I was so out of it at that point), but that meant that my incision had to heal over the course of several months with something called a "wound vac". Why am I sharing all this? Because I think that may be approximately what happened to the Mom in this episode. When you have surgery like that, your abdominal wall is actually split, and even once it's "healed", it can still mean that the wall itself is still split underneath the scar/skin. This actually happened to me and while my wound never re-opened, I did have a hernia where my intestines were apparently *really* close to the surface of my skin. But we didn't even know about the hernia until I was in surgery (which was last fall) - I could easily have had that hernia for a couple of years without ever really knowing because there was so much else going wrong with my abdomen). Anyway, mostly I shared this because I saw a lot of people commenting on Dr. Now giving her a "tummy tuck" and skin removal surgery, but that's not really an accurate description of what he did. When I needed surgery in the fall for an unrelated issue, I talked to my doctor about my scar and how it made life more difficult for me (in ways that don't really need to be shared with the crowd) but he actually agreed that it might be impacting my quality of life and potentially causing other issues so he brought in a plastic surgeon to perform an "abdomiplasty" to take the muscle walls and essentially knit them back together. That's when they discovered the hernia that they also had to remove. Now, instead of having a huge three-four inch wide mid-line incision scar (that wasn't even flat, it had a dip that made me call it the Grand Canyon), I have a fairly normal, long, thin incision scar which I cannot tell you how much better it looks. But it has also helped my quality of life because I could feel my abdomen and core was stronger almost as soon as I was healed up from the surgery and it continues to improve. TL;DR: The Mom's hernia issue may not have been solely due to her hygiene issues (though it's crazy that she didn't get it checked out when it became visible externally) and the "tummy tuck" wasn't an optional cosmetic procedure or even traditional skin surgery like the ones Dr. Now usually performs on his patients - it was most likely a medically necessary surgery to fix her abdominal wall and remove the hernia. Sorry for the opus.

It's less the fact that the AC is broken (which if he had explained in a calm way and said "I'm going to get it fixed" would have been fine), it's more the attitude he had when she complained about the AC. His "Well this is a desert".....Okay. Yes, you're in a desert. So your car SHOULD HAVE AC! She's not expecting something unreasonable and he just comes off as a jerk for acting like *she* was the spoiled one.

My take is that Colt is probably an adherent to the Red Pill stuff on Reddit/4Chan and maybe even an "incel". He has that mix of "American women don't work with me" (i.e. he's driven off any girl he HAS met) and this kind of aggressive attitude that I think is his attempt to establish his "authority" now but being stubborn about stupid stuff like the flowers and the AC. These two are NEVER going to be able to have reasonable, calm discussions about money and I think they are going to end up being the worst couple because he's going to pretend like he's sooooo reasonable while being emotionally abusive and she's never going to let go of her expectations of what an American husband is supposed to me. And somehow he is DEFINITELY going to come out of it thinking HE'S the victim. Guarantee it.

Does anyone else get a distinct "incel Red Pill" vibe from Colt? I feel like he's one of those guys who would call you "milady" and talk about how he's so much more chivalrous than all those "other" guys. But also thinks he needs to "establish his alpha-ness" so that the woman doesn't expect anything, hence the lecturing about AC and flowers. He wants to make clear that he's the boss. I hope Larissa gets out of there as soon as possible. That personality mix is so toxic, especially when mixed with her being (a bit) more high maintenance (personally I don't think she's THAT high maintenance...though the demand that he buy a same day ticket is a little absurd). They are NEVER going to be able to have reasonable discussions about money, which they clearly need to do. I think they have the makings of being low key the most dysfunctional couple, even if other couples are more dramatic about it.

I can't believe how brazenly terrible Azan is when he is translating from his family to Nicole (and vice versa). I mean, it's hard to feel sorry for Nicole about anything, but watching him basically telling HER that his family was holding them both responsible for delaying the wedding while simultaneously speaking to his family like it was entirely her fault was legitimately sad. And now they are essentially demanding they pay her back a large sum of money because of it while Azan continues to take no blame - i.e. basically telling her that she must pay them back. Can't help but wonder if this is just another elaborate ruse designed to milk even MORE money out of the big white American cow (I honestly mean that just as a metaphor - it's way too easy and kind of a low blow to just making fun of Nicole for being overweight). I am absolutely not one of the conspiracist theorists who think all of these people are trying to come to America so they can HARVEST American dollars. For example, I think Pedro and Chantal could probably have a happy marriage with no agenda if her family hadn't treated him like a con-artist from word go. His behavior, even if odd seeming to Americans, is entirely typical of Dominican immigrants, most of whom also send money back to their family. As Pedro has said, it really *is* part of his culture to help support his family back home (one of the few "it's my culture" excuses on this show to ever seem legit). But watching Azan and his family sit there and basically demand (through very edited translation by Azan) that Nicole pay back the money - while essentially absolving Azan of fault and expecting no recompense from him. It's definitely something that makes you say "hmmm". I mean, this is the guy that I feel like 90% sure fabricated an email from the immigration officer saying that his application was denied - I have no problem believing that he would have purposefully told Nicole untrue things about the requirements or even gotten someone at the office to tell her they weren't acceptable. Or both. He just seems like such a snake.

Honestly, I feel like Russ is just disappointed that the white savior story he wrote in his head about saving Pao from her life of sin in Colombia hasn't played out quite the way he intended. I mean, it honestly felt like he expected her to get to Oklahoma and just be so overwhelmed by the majesty of it all that she would immediately run to the closest Dillard's or Bon-Ton to pick up some turtlenecks and cat sweaters.

Okay, I finally got to the couch scene and OMG that's absurd. I mean, La Familia Pedro is absurd too, though not as absurd as Family Chantal. But seriously, I can't imagine showing up at someone's apartment that is offering a free place for me to stay and demanding that they buy a blow-up mattress. Also, the laughter from the sister was bizarre. It really makes me wonder if it's fake or at least being re-recorded because her affect was just so off base for the mood of the room at that moment. I mean, unless this was her way of getting back at Chantal for the hotel thing in the DR (which, I do find it hilarious that Chantal freaked the frack out because she misunderstood the word "punto" but I understand why. She just WAY overreacted. But seeing how her family operates, I'm not even that surprised).