90 Day Fiance: The Other Way viewers are divided over whether Ariela and Biniyam have a future together.
But the two are engaged … and Ariela just revealed that they filmed their entire season just to make Biniyam famous.
Ariela Weinberg and Biniyam Shibre are one of this season’s most eye-catching couples.
Towards the end of Season 2, they were one of the show’s most talked-about couples, second only to Brittany Banks and Yazan Abo Horira.
But their litany of conflicts and problems with no obvious long-term solutions has left a lot of viewers with a lot of questions.
Some of their baffling choices start to make much more sense if they did the show for fame.
That’s exactly what happened, according to DMs leaked by 90 Day Fiance blogger extraordinaire John Yates.
According to the fandom’s favorite oracle of behind-the-scenes tea, Ariela herself has admitted that they did the show for one reason only.
“We did the show because Bini is an entertainer,” Ariela appears to confess in the screenshot shared by John Yates.
She lists his skills: “Artist, dancer, circus performer, martial artist, etc.”
“And,” Ariela explains, “I wanted the world to see his talent.”
Ariela wanted to get Biniyam seen and noticed “and get him opportunities.”
“So he has some scene showcasing that,” she notes, referring to the scene of Biniyam’s sexy nightclub performance.
“His song was in his intro package,” Ariela adds.
“So,” Ariela continues, “I’m hoping that will get his music video will get a lot of views.”
“And,” she says of their endgame goals, “we can sell his song.”
She goes on to note that Usman Umar has had “some success” after his 90 Day Fiance season.
At the risk of tooting our own horns, we have been saying more or less this for … months.
Specifically, we speculated that Ariela and Biniyam were remaining in Ethiopia temporarily, and not actually planning to live there for the rest of their lives.
We said that based upon what appeared to be clues. This unsurprising revelation is yet another clue that points to plans to live in the US at some point.
Becoming famous, even mildly so, can be an amazing recipe for success as a performer.
Larissa Lima is making bank these days through OnlyFans.
Plenty of 90 Day Fiance stars are raking in tens of thousands of dollars just by doing Cameos.
But the comparison to Usman is interesting, because Usman was viewed very favorably by 90 Day Fiance fans.
Part of the reason for that was that “Baby Girl” Lisa Hamme took on an antagonistic role when she was exposed as a slur-spewing racist.
On top of that, however, suspicions that Usman might be a scammer were never enough for viewers to perceive him to be a villain.
At the beginning of the season, Biniyam struck viewers as a very soft-spoken, kind, sweet, and respectful person.
Much of that is true. It also didn’t hurt that he is cute, albeit not nearly as handsome as he was when he and Ariela first hooked up.
But as the season has progressed, it has become increasingly clear that Biniyam is not as sweet as he first appeared.
Don’t get us wrong, a lot of people have major issues with Ariela, enough that it was easy to see Biniyam as the “good guy” despite red flags.
Ariela appeared to make impulsive, reckless decisions with herself. She also complains a lot.
Some (garbage) fans even sex-shamed her for having sex, implying that birth control never fails when that is obviously not the case.
But while whining and crying can grate on some viewers, others sympathized with her, and others were reminded that editing can make occassional tearful moments look like a daily occurrence.
We only got to see these two for a few hours of total footage. They were filmed for months. Editors can cherrypick whatever they want.
But the way that viewers changed their view of Biniyam was all about Biniyam.
Ultimately, his gentle and calm tone of voice doesn’t matter when you look at what he says and does.
Time and time again, he has disparaged the mother of his child, ignoring any problem that she has or concern that she expresses unless she whines at him nonstop.
Fans have concluded that Biniyam is a deeply selfish person … and they’re right.
Let’s look at the scoreboard for their relationship compromises.
The circumcision? Ariela caved and agreed to go through with it even after acknowledging that it violates her son’s human rights.
The baptism? Ariela is Jewish, but also agreed to the baptism after nonstop pressure from Biniyam and his family.
Then there is the fact that, temporarily or not, Ariela uprooted her entire life to live in Ethiopia for months (at least) so that Biniyam could be there for his son’s birth.
That is a tremendous personal sacrifice, especially when she came to live with someone who now leaves the house at a moment’s notice without telling her where he’s going or for how long.
Ariela also took the added step of becoming a reality star, exposing herself to hate and ridicule, just to give Biniyam’s career a boost.
Every time that Ariela tries to explain to Biniyam why she feels one way or another about something, his response is … bad.
He acts as if it’s ridiculous for someone to do anything other than what he does and how he wants to do things.
That’s not compromise. That’s not an attitude of empathy. He doesn’t even appear to listen when Ariela explains why she feels the way that she does — he justs insists and insists until she caves.
So yeah, at the end of the day, Biniyam is now famous. Maybe not a household name, but famous.
Maybe Ariela’s plan will work and he’ll be able to launch a successful music career from this.
But after his antics on the show … I’m not going to rush to give his performances any listens or views. Are you?
