90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way season 2 viewers were hit with a surprise on Monday night’s episode when it comes to Ariela and her Ethiopian boyfriend, Biniyam’s, relationship.
It was revealed that the 29-year-old had a serious relationship with an American woman before, and has a two-year-old son. Ariela — who’s pregnant and plans to move from Princeton, New Jersey, to Ethiopia so that Biniyam can be there for the birth of their child — explained the situation to her family over dinner, who were skeptical of her plans for her future.
Ariela told cameras that Biniyam’s first marriage has many similarities to their current relationship, in that his ex-wife also got pregnant early into dating. His ex-wife ended up moving back to America with their son, and is now no longer on speaking terms with Biniyam. Biniyam has not seen his son face to face since the mother of his child moved back to America.
Ariela’s brother, Brad, told cameras that he was worried that Biniyam was using his sister for a green card and they couldn’t be sure of his intentions, especially since her family has never met him. Further complicating the situation is that 28-year-old Ariela told her family that she definitely plans to raise their son Jewish, although Biniyam is Ethiopian Orthodox Christian. When her sister questions the decision, asking if Biniyam gets a say in the matter, Ariela said he doesn’t, and that she finds some aspects of his religion “superstitious.”
Ariela’s father later asked why Ariela couldn’t meet “a nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn” instead of an Ethiopian. As for Ariela, she told cameras she was upset that her family was judging Biniyam before even meeting him.
Of course, Ariela has also previously been married, and was a recent divorcée when she met Biniyam while traveling. ET spoke to Ariela earlier this month, and she responded to some viewers calling Biniyam a rebound for her.
“The first thing I’ll say is, I got a baby boy out of it, so, it didn’t go too bad,” she said with a smile. “The other thing I’ll say is, you know, in relationships, whether you end up with the person forever or not, you definitely learn something from them and you grow as a person and you learn something about yourself, so, I don’t think it’s a loss either way.”
She also defended their “genuine” relationship. Ariela made the first move when she saw Biniyam on the street and found him attractive, and he quickly told her that he had serious intentions when it came to settling down and having a family.
“Biniyam is really an amazing guy,” she gushed. “Anyone who meets him really likes him the first time that they meet him. He is a very kind person and that’s what I noticed at first. Of course, the first thing I noticed is he’s a very attractive guy. He has a personality that I think people will really connect to.”
“You know, in a way it’s true, I barely even knew him, but at the same time, when you meet someone and you have that connection, you can feel like you know someone even if it’s only been a couple of months,” she continued about making the big leap to move to Ethiopia. “I decided that I wanted to try at least the experience of being together because I really wanted to start my own family.”
