There will be no new 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way on Sunday, February 12. The culprit is some sort of sporting event.
While TLC heartlessly forces viewers to wait another week for Season 4, Episode 3, they did at least throw us a bone.
Last week’s episode introduced Nicole and Mahmoud, one of this season’s most curious and likely-to-be-ridiculed couples.
A teaser to tide us over during this hiatus shows Nicole telling viewers the bizarre circumstances in which she married Mahmoud. It involves someone else’s wedding.
On Sunday, February 12, some sort of sportsball event is taking place. Involving a ball shaped like the head of the titular character of Hey Arnold. There are chip sales, though they’re barely making a dent in price-gouging.
Looking forward to the big game? Great! We hope that you enjoy yourself. Because 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way is taking the weekend off.
But don’t worry. When the show returns a week later, Nicole Sherbiny will be just as curious and perplexing as she was on Episode 2.
Nicole met Mahmoud by chance while taking a spiritual tour of Egypt. The attraction was instantaneous.
That attraction remains the only thing that anyone seems to be able to understand about this relationship.
TLC offered viewers a little preview of what’s to come with Nicole. And it starts with her speaking to her family.
As the preview begins, someone — presumably a relative of Nicole’s — asks her if she is planning to convert to Islam.
Remember, Nicole’s own friends described her as secretive. She has not disclosed many aspects of her life, including major milestones, to the people in her life.
Nicole tells her relative that she has already converted to Islam. It is unclear if she holds any Islamic beliefs or adheres to any Muslim practices. We have seen her drinking alcohol, for example.
One has to wonder if perhaps Nicole converted in order to receive permission to marry Mahmoud. As her story of how they married unfolds, that begins to sound more and more likely.
“Mahmoud and I,” Nicole begins during the preview for the February 19 episode, “married at the Justice Department.”
Their legal marriage, however, was not enough. Not by Mahmoud’s family’s standards — not enough for them to share a bed.
“But then,” Nicole narrates, “his uncle said that we wouldn’t be able to spend a night together.”
“So,” she explains, “we had to get married that night … again.” It gets even stranger.
“And we crashed somebody else’s wedding,” Nicole reveals. “It was so weird. And … then we were married!”
Nicole does not seem to be hurting anyone — which puts her well ahead of some 90 Day Fiance cast members whom we could name.
Thus far, she does not have any of the hallmarks of a franchise villain. In fact, as the season progresses, we may find that Nicole is deeply sympathetic … especially if previews of Mahmoud’s behavior are any indication.
But that doesn’t mean that Nicole isn’t, you know, kind of weird. We don’t mean anything bad by it. But her perplexing choices and simple quirks are going to keep viewers guessing all season.