Hosting future in-laws at home is an intimidating relationship milestone for people hoping to impress their partner’s families, but for “90 Day Fiance: The Other Way” star Johny Fernandes, the attempt to woo his fiancée’s mom with a tour of his Aruba home fell apart almost as soon as it started.
Fernandes, 32, works as an entertainer on a pirate ship party boat and first met fiancée Chloe Fabiano, 23, while she was on a girls’ trip in his home country.
After falling in love and dating long distance for nearly a year, Chloe left her lucrative career doing sales for her mother’s logistics and shipping company in Boston to join Fernandes full time.
On Season 7 of the hit TLC dating show, which is a spinoff of the original “90 Day Fiance” series, Chloe is one of six U.S. citizens moving abroad to marry their foreign love.
“I’m leaving a six-figure job to move to Aruba because I fell in love with a man on a pirate ship,” she says in a trailer for the new season, which premiered in September.
Now, in an exclusive clip from the upcoming episode titled “No Mas!,” Chloe’s mother Michelle travels to the island country to see for herself the home her daughter moved to, and Fernandes is feeling the pressure.
“Chloe’s mom is here today and it’s going to be the first time that she’s actually going to see where Chloe lives with me,” says Fernandes.
As the trio pulls into the driveway of a beige corner house with a clay tile roof, Chloe exclaims, “This is it!”
Behind a stucco fence are several wicker plant stands, about a dozen terracotta pots, and a tree stump surrounded by overgrown green weeds. It’s clear Fernandes is anxious about his future mother-in-law’s first impression of the place.
“I’m very, very nervous about it,” says Fernandes. “I don’t know how, what her reaction’s going to be, but, you know, I hope it’s good.”
Michelle pauses to take in the exterior scene before Fernandes leads her past a large column, mismatched patio chairs, and a motorcycle parked in the walkway to get to the front door.
“Alright guys, Michelle, welcome to my home,” says Fernandes, while defending the outside grounds. “It’s a decent yard. Not as big as your yard, but, yeah, this is going to be my house. Welcome in.”
Michele thanks Fernandes as the trio enters a tiled entryway. They walk past a glass table with a vase of white roses on top and a TV mounted to the wall as well as some art, but Michelle’s focus is on the ground, where she stumbles on a single tiled step that takes them down to the kitchen.
“This is my kitchen area,” says Fernandes, but Michelle’s attention is still on the step.
“Watch out,” she warns, to which Chloe retorts, “Why do you keep falling?”
Michelle recovers quickly to explain she’s “just not used to all these different levels,” and Fernandes seems to understand.
“There’s different obstacles,” he tells Michelle. “I’m sorry.”
Chloe agrees with her fiancé and the kitchen tour continues.
Stacked against the back wall is a vacuum atop several plastic storage bins. Opposite that wall is a suite of moody blue cabinets—with at least one that’s missing a door—and an array of mismatched appliances: a white chest freezer and two refrigerators, one black, and the other stainless steel. Additional plastic bins are also visible beneath a stainless steel work table.
Beyond the utilitarian and outdated features, there are some signs that it’s not the most sanitary place to prepare food. There’s a glue trap for insects laid out with bugs attached on top of what appears to be granite countertops, and several visible stains at the base of the walls and doors, and on the white square tile floors.
The more Michelle sees, the more concerned she becomes.
“Can I see the famous stove, please?” she asks.
Fernandes points to the electric cooktop located below an over-the-range microwave oven and teases Chloe that “she’s afraid of this one.”
Chloe pushes back, telling her mother and future husband that she “learned how to turn it on the other day.”
However, Fernandes insists it’s easy to use, explaining: “It’s just a clicker. You press it in, you turn it on.”
Michelle takes a turn at the stove herself and discovers the dial goes in a different direction than the one she has at home.
“Oh, it’s backwards,” she says. “Ours goes to the right.”
While Michelle tried to put on a somewhat brave face in front of Fernandes, behind the scenes she was quick to share her concern while opening up about her opinion of the property in a confessional.
“My first impression of Johny’s house is that it needs a lot of work,” she says.
Back in the kitchen, Michelle has more questions.
“That’s the oven?” she asks.
Even though Chloe’s been living in the home, she is also unsure about the in-cabinet appliance, asking Fernandes, “Is that the oven?”
Fernandes confirms the small appliance is indeed the oven, but when he tries to open its door, a piece of cabinet trim falls to the floor.
“You just broke your oven,” Chloe exclaims, as Fernandes counters, “I never touch that cabinet, so.”
When Michelle inquires if the oven works, Fernades is unsure, admitting: “Um, I think it does?”
Michelle expands upon her first impression in another confessional, telling producers Fernandes’ house doesn’t seem up to snuff for an engaged couple.
“It definitely gives me bachelor pad vibes, for sure,” she says.
However, Chloe attempts to paint a perfectly domestic picture of the place when she shares with her mom that she “boiled eggs” on the stove just the day before.
When Michelle questions her daughter about her cooking methods, Chloe clarifies that she boiled the eggs “in the pot.”
The whole line of questioning has Chloe aghast, and she lets out an “Oh my God” as the home tour carries on.
Even before she lays eyes on the rest of the house, it seems Michelle has seen enough—and she doesn’t see a future for her daughter at her potential son-in-law’s home.
“Would it be where I want my daughter to live?” she asks rhetorically. “Absolutely not.”
“90 Day Fiance: The Other Way” airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on TLC.
