From a convicted kidnapper serving 18 years to a woman under investigation for her infant's death, this list earns every name on it.
Every season of 90 Day Fiancé delivers at least one person who makes you grip your remote a little tighter. But some cast members go far beyond annoying. They lie to partners, abuse people they claim to love, get convicted of violent crimes, and still manage to keep showing up on your screen like nothing happened. This list is for them.
Jesse Meester from Before the 90 Days Season 2 dated Darcey Silva, and the two of them created a dynamic that was genuinely painful to watch. Jesse was condescending in a way that felt studied, like he had practiced it. He corrected Darcey constantly, lectured her about her behavior, and presented himself as the reasonable one in a relationship where he was actively unkind. Everything with Jesse was a lecture. He talked to Darcey like she was a student who kept failing the same test.
The moments that defined him were small but telling. He turned cutting a steak into a full blown argument in front of Darcey's daughters because she suggested slicing it on a bias. He stormed out over it. On another occasion he accused Darcey of assaulting him by throwing a Louboutin shoe at his head. Darcey said she tossed the shoes on the floor because her feet were cold. He treated it like a criminal investigation. And the worst part was how calculated all of it felt. He never lost his composure. He never raised his voice. He just made her feel small, calmly, over and over again.
After the show he kept going. He claimed on Instagram that he had photos of Darcey choking herself, trying to paint her as unstable and a liar. Fans were already done with him by that point. Jesse came back for the tell-all in a suit, composed and unbothered. Darcey was a mess. That contrast told the whole story. Darcey has since had her own show and gone through additional relationships on camera. Jesse has largely faded from the franchise. Nobody misses him.
Colt Johnson belongs on this list as much as his ex Larissa does, maybe more. He showed up on Season 6 living in Las Vegas with his mother Debbie, sharing a house, sharing a car, sharing what appeared to be every decision he ever made. When Larissa arrived from Brazil, she walked into a relationship where the third person was already there and wasn't leaving. The fights started immediately. Larissa was arrested three times for domestic battery during their marriage. But what became clear over time was that Colt wasn't the innocent victim he presented himself as. He admitted to having an emotional affair with Vanessa Guerra while still married to Larissa.
After Larissa, he moved straight into a relationship with Jess Caroline. Jess asked him to cut contact with Vanessa. He lied and said he had, while still talking to her and admitting he'd slept with her. When Jess found out, it was over. He then got engaged to Vanessa, the woman who had been lurking in the background of both previous relationships. The pattern was always the same. A new girlfriend, the same lies, and Debbie sitting in the living room acting like she had no idea what was going on. Fans watched this cycle repeat across multiple seasons and spin-offs. Colt always had an explanation. None of them ever held up.
What made Colt especially hard to watch was the gap between how he saw himself and how everyone else saw him. He played the quiet, reasonable guy. But he cheated on every partner, let his mother sabotage every relationship, and never once took real responsibility. He's currently on Hunt for Love, still technically married to Vanessa, and still looking for someone new on camera. Some things don't change.
Larissa Dos Santos Lima from Season 6 appeared alongside Colt Johnson and delivered some of the most explosive fights the show has ever aired. She was arrested three times for domestic battery during their marriage. The first arrest came just five days before their wedding. The third left both of their faces bloody, and Colt filed for divorce days later after seven months of marriage. Colt's mother Debbie was a constant presence in everything, and the whole dynamic was a triangle that nobody was winning.
After the divorce, Larissa went all in on reinventing herself. She spent over $72,000 on cosmetic surgery and launched an OnlyFans page that she claims earned her a million dollars. TLC fired her after she did a cam show to promote her new look. Then ICE showed up. She was arrested by immigration officers in September 2020, and for a while it looked like deportation was a real possibility. Her legal team got her released, and she eventually moved to Colorado to start over.
Larissa has softened considerably in fan perception over the years, partly because Colt and Debbie's behavior in later seasons reframed some of what viewers had seen. She got her green card approved in 2022 and obtained U.S. citizenship in 2024. She even appeared on House of Villains, fully leaning into the reputation the franchise gave her. But at her peak on 90 Day, people tuned in just to be mad.
Mohamed Jbali from Season 2 married Danielle Mullins after they met in an online chatroom. He flew from Tunisia to Sandusky, Ohio on a K-1 visa, and the red flags started before he even unpacked. He refused to get intimate with Danielle, citing religious rules. Her kids questioned his intentions from day one. And both of them had been lying. Danielle hid the extent of her financial problems. Mohamed had lied about having a job. They got married anyway.
Then Mohamed left. He moved to Miami almost immediately after getting his green card, and Danielle said she felt used. She filed for an annulment, hoping it would get him deported. Mohamed begged her to file for divorce instead, which would let him stay in the country. She gave in. A judge granted the divorce in March 2017, and Mohamed kept his legal status. Danielle spent the next several seasons being brought back for Tell Alls where she was mocked, questioned, and turned into a meme. Mohamed moved on and refused to engage with any of it.
What made it sting for viewers was how one-sided the aftermath felt. Mohamed got exactly what he needed and disappeared. Danielle was left dealing with the humiliation on camera, season after season. Mohamed has since remarried. He lives in North Carolina with his new wife and their son, and is working toward U.S. citizenship. Danielle eventually moved on too, and the two have apparently made peace. But for years, their story was the blueprint for every green card suspicion storyline the show has ever done. That template started here.
Adnan Abdelfattah appeared on Before the 90 Days Season 7 with Tigerlily Taylor, a 41-year-old woman from Texas who was nearly 20 years his senior. Tigerlily flew to Jordan and married Adnan the same day they met in person, after connecting with him on Instagram four months prior. The warning signs started almost immediately. Adnan was controlling from the jump. He expected Tigerlily to follow his strict Islamic customs, pressured her about having children, and tried to block her from seeing a male chiropractor, a situation that eventually led to her being hospitalized. He also attempted to give his brother power of attorney before moving to the U.S., which would have granted access to Tigerlily's finances.
His behavior at the tell-all made things worse. He bullied co-stars Niles Valentine, who has autism, and Vanja Grbic on set, calling them "idiot people" when they raised concerns about his treatment of Tigerlily. He also criticized Vanja's outfit, which drew heavy backlash on social media. When cast members pointed out that Tigerlily seemed to look to him for approval before answering questions, Adnan treated that as a compliment.
The situation escalated further when Adnan made antisemitic statements on an Instagram Story that was archived on Reddit. The post surfaced around the time of the Happily Ever After Season 9 tell-all, and Tigerlily and Adnan were notably absent from that special — with host Shaun Robinson simply announcing they would not be joining. TLC has not officially explained why. Whether it was the social media controversy, other behind-the-scenes issues, or both, it appears the couple's time on the franchise is likely over.
Paul Staehle has one of the most chaotic histories in 90 Day Fiancé history, and that is a genuine competition. He first appeared on Before the 90 Days Season 1 in 2017 with Brazilian partner Karine Martins and spent several seasons making both her and the audience increasingly uneasy. His background came out in pieces over time: in 2007 he committed second-degree arson, was charged with burning personal property to defraud an insurer, and was found guilty of felony arson seven years later. He also had a violation of a domestic violence protective order on his record.
His behavior on the show tracked with that history. His relationship with Karine was marked by instability, accusations flying in both directions, and situations that viewers found genuinely alarming to watch. At one point his visa was denied, reportedly flagged in connection with terrorism-related charges in a visa preview that aired during the season.
His relationship with Karine eventually deteriorated completely. They share children together, which made the ongoing dysfunction harder to watch and harder to dismiss. Paul never really got a redemption arc. The story just kept going, and each new chapter was worse than the last.
Big Ed Brown arrived on Before the 90 Days Season 4 in 2020 and immediately became one of the most talked-about people in the show's history — and not in the way he probably hoped. His relationship with 23-year-old Rosemarie Vega from the Philippines showed viewers exactly who he was within a few episodes. He told Rose she had bad breath. He asked her to shave her legs. He demanded she take an STD test while refusing to take one himself. Then, after all of that, he revealed he hadn't told her about his vasectomy. That mattered because Rose wanted children and he had let her believe that was a possibility.
After Rose ended things, Ed found his way back through 90 Day: The Single Life and eventually entered a relationship with Liz Woods, 26 years younger than him. Fans who hoped he'd grown watched that hope evaporate pretty quickly. He forced a kiss on Liz early on and later cheated on her months into their relationship. His habit of sneaking merchandise promotions into his screen time didn't help the optics.
Ed has continued appearing on the show through Last Resort. He is 58 and still a fixture. What makes him particularly exhausting is that he seems genuinely unbothered by any of it. He keeps showing up, keeps smiling, keeps selling stuff. Nobody's buying it.
Angela Deem has been on this show long enough that some viewers have almost gotten used to her. She first appeared on Before the 90 Days Season 2 in 2018 with Nigerian partner Michael Ilesanmi, and the age gap between them, 22 years, was never really the issue. The issue was the way she treated him. She verbally abused him on camera, picked fights with his family in Nigeria, and at one point tried to physically attack him and tore apart his car. That clip alone would have been enough to land most people on a list like this.
But Angela's specific brand of hypocrisy is what kept her cemented in infamy across multiple seasons and spin-offs. She demanded that Michael cut off all female friends and stay off social media entirely, while she openly flirted with men at cast events and traveled to Canada to spend time with another man she was emotionally involved with. She had cosmetic surgery and didn't tell him. She accused him constantly of lying and cheating. The rules in their relationship only ran one direction.
Michael eventually told police he had fled Angela's house and didn't want her to know where he was because he feared for his safety. Angela has appeared on Before the 90 Days, Happily Ever After, and 90 Day: Last Resort. The show kept bringing her back. Fans kept watching, furious.
Leida Margaretha is, by almost any measure, the most universally disliked person to ever appear on this show. That is saying something. She appeared on Season 6 in 2018 with fiancé Eric Rosenbrook, got engaged to him two days after they met in person, and spent the rest of her screen time systematically dismantling his life. The moment that sealed her legacy was forcing Eric to kick his 19-year-old daughter Tasha out of their home. Tasha was a teenager. Eric let it happen. Leida not only didn't feel bad about it. She later got a four-year restraining order against the girl.
What made Leida so infuriating wasn't just the cruelty. It was the confidence. She treated Eric's spinelessness as a resource and used it relentlessly. The show eventually moved on, but Leida's story didn't end well. She was arrested in October 2023 on theft and wire fraud charges after allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from her employer, Loggerhead Deco, where she worked as a bookkeeper. The owners told police she made fraudulent payments and withdrawals using company account information.
She filed for divorce from Eric in February 2024. That filing was dismissed eight days later. But Leida's story took a much darker turn in 2025. Her infant daughter Alisa was brought to a hospital in July with multiple injuries and died four days later after being removed from life support. The Adams County Health and Human Services Department ruled the death non-accidental and concluded there was evidence of physical abuse by the mother. No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the death. Leida denies all allegations. She is also facing 24 separate felony counts in Wisconsin, including wire fraud, forgery, theft, and multiple counts of bail jumping. She is currently the only person on this list facing active felony charges while also under investigation in connection with the death of a child.
Geoffrey Paschel is the only person on this list currently sitting in a prison cell. He appeared on Before the 90 Days Season 4 in 2020 with Russian partner Varya Malina. On the show he came across as charming and emotional, the kind of guy who tears up on camera and talks about wanting a fresh start. Viewers bought it at first. Then his criminal history started leaking out while the season was still airing. Arrests, protection orders, allegations from multiple women. Fans pushed hard for TLC to remove him from the show. They didn't, but he was barred from the tell-all. That decision aged badly.
What followed was a criminal trial in Knox County, Tennessee. He was convicted of aggravated kidnapping and domestic assault against his then-fiancée. The details were brutal. He grabbed her neck, slammed her head against a wall, and refused to let her leave. This wasn't a he-said-she-said situation. A jury heard the evidence and convicted him. A judge sentenced him to 18 years in prison without the possibility of parole. The length of that sentence came from prior convictions. Prosecutors classified him as a Range II Offender based on earlier drug charges in Blount County and two federal drug trafficking convictions out of the Eastern District of Texas. He had built a whole persona for television. The court record told a completely different story.
He is currently serving that sentence. Varya has since moved on. And TLC has never publicly addressed why they aired an entire season featuring a man whose violent history was already accessible in public records before filming even started.