Why ’90 Day Fiancé’ Casts People With Past Criminal Charges–’We Try to Be Open-Minded’

90 Day Fiancé has been criticized by fans in the past for allowing people with potentially dangerous criminal charges on the show.

A recent example is Geoffrey Paschel of 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days, who was arrested last year for domestic assault.

’90 Day Fiancé’ fans started a petition to get Geoffrey Paschel removed from the show

When fans discovered Geoffrey’s been accused of abuse (on more than one account), they started a petition to get him removed from the show.

“Paschel is facing a variety of claims that imply violence and assault, and many fans feel as if keeping him on the show gives a possible abuser a very big platform on which to defend himself and explain ‘his side’ of the story. Meanwhile, potential victims can’t rebut his statements unless they’re given air time,” Showbiz Cheat Sheet previously reported.

TLC must have been paying attention because, shortly after the petition began circulating, the network uninvited Geoffrey from the season “Tell-All.”

’90 Day Fiancé’ on their background vetting process

Executive producer Matt Sharp said on Reality Life with Kate Casey that TLC does perform background checks on all the couples. But they don’t have a hard and fast line they don’t cross when it comes to someone’s history.

“We have a big background vetting process for all the couples. And we make case-by-case evaluations on couples as we look at them,” he said. “We’re trying to obviously do the right thing. We try to be open-minded. Everyone’s got some sort of history.” 

Part of this approach comes from the fact that the 90 Day Fiancé team is trying to create a “super authentic” show with “real people with interesting backgrounds.”

“We wanted to do something that didn’t just show one side of love. We wanted to do a show where it’s not black and white. There’s actually a debate on the couches of America. We’re not looking for villains or heroes; We’re looking for real people with interesting backgrounds and stories and potentially interesting situations,” he said.

One way 90 Day Fiancé keeps the show feeling “authentic” is casting already established couples.

“We’re not involved in the immigration process. We find couples for the show that are already in the process,” Sharp said at the 2018 Summer TCA Press Tour. “It’s an authentic process. These are couples who are in love and going through this process.”

“We don’t put people together. Everyone we feature on the show, they found themselves organically,” he added.