On last weekend’s episode of 90 Day Fiance: Before The 90 Days, Ella had a tearful confession for Johnny.
She had slept with someone else during the ever-growing wait to finally see him in person.
(To be fair, we all heard her warn him that she was not going to keep waiting)
However, some viewers are giving Ella grief, accusing her of being a manipulative cheater.
Ella Johnson’s romance with Johnny has, like many 90 Day Fiance couples, started out online.
Unlike most of them, it has stayed that way for years, with delay after delay keeping them from meeting in person.
In the back half of 2021, when they were filming their episodes of Season 5, Ella was ready to turn up the pressure to make their meeting happen.
A couple of weeks ago, viewers saw Ella talk to Johnny about her plans to meet him in Dubai.
He already had a ticket, but was wavering about going — due to COVID restrictions and the risk of catching the virus.
Ella purchased her own ticket to Dubai, paying $1,124 for it, hoping that this commitment on her part would encourage him to make the trip.
Ella’s gambit did not have the desired effect.
Johnny of course reiterated his love for her and his desire to see her in person.
But that was not enough in the face of all of the things — be they reasons or just excuses — that were holding him back.
Ella was pretty much accustomed to these delays and postponements by now. She’d had enough.
Tearfully, she told Johnny that she can’t keep waiting forever.
She let him know that she wouldn’t break up with him, but that if he didn’t meet her in Dubai, their long-distance relationship would have to be an open relationship.
Johnny understood that Ella is a human being with desires and needs.
But there was more than just cultural unfamiliarity with open relationships that made him worry.
What if she ended up meeting someone else, someone who was already there, and just forming a life with him, instead?
When viewers next saw them speak, Johnny was telling Ella what she already knew — that he was not coming to Dubai.
Instead, he suggested that they meet up in February of 2022 — seven months from then.
That massive delay was nothing new to their relationship, but that didn’t make it any easier.
Ella knew that she had to tell Johnny something then, and without delay.
A friend, she explained, had come over to hang out and provide her with emotional support.
That emotional comfort had turned physical, and she had slept with him.
It is, for the record, unclear if this was actually cheating, as some of Ella’s critics have accused.
(Was the open relationship in effect during this period? The timeline remains unknown)
This was hard to hear for Johnny.
Though he took the news reasonably well, it was still a shock.
He expressed his sorrow upon hearing it, but did not express much in the way of anger towards Ella herself.
Johnny even acknowledged his role in what had happened, because he had not done his part to meet her, not in Idaho or in Dubai.
After the call, Ella openly wept on camera while describing the pain of her loneliness.
This was one of those moments when, even though production was just doing their jobs, one wishes that they had stopped filming instead of continuing to ask her questions.
Ella should be pouring her heart out like this to a therapist, not to a production crew and not to millions of judgmental viewers.
There was a strong backlash from many fans of the show, who felt that Ella had definitely cheated (she may have).
They accused her of being selfish by demanding that Johnny take a flight when his reasons for not doing so during a global pandemic are very fair.
Additionally, they accused her of being manipulative — noting that she only revealed her sexual tryst after Johnny announced another 7-month delay.
However, despite the delays and all of the things that viewers have said, it looks like Ella and Johnny are still together.
This is just speculation, but not baseless, because Ella has continued to praise Johnny as her featured “man crush” even in recent weeks.
That would be surprising social media activity for exes, even on this show with its notorious NDAs.
If things don’t work out with Johnny, Ella may have to start from scratch after investing so many years in this romance.
Though Ella admitted that her dream man is Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho, there are plenty of very real people whom she could date. Yes, even in Idaho.
That’s only if things with Johnny don’t work out, of course. For what it’s worth, we wish them the best.