If we think back to late 2021, the 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way Season 3 Tell All was airing.
This is when viewers had to hear about Alina and Steven Johnston’s ongoing problems. No, marriage did not make their issues evaporate overnight.
But the two were posting about each other during the holiday season of 2022. That showed that they were still together, more than a year later. So they’re good, right?!
Wrong. Not only have they gone radio silent on each other in recent months, but they have dramatically unfollowed each other on Instagram. Yikes!
We know that 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way Season 4 is already underway and it has been well over a year. So, understandably, some fans may need a refresher.
Steven Johnston spent a lot of time overseas as a Mormon missionary. He learned a lot of Russian and made friends in that time.
The primary purpose of this sort of missionary work is to give the missionaries an adversarial relationship with the world beyond the faith. But when Steven and Russian beauty Alina fell in love, he hoped to convert her to the LDS church.
But there were some issues, even before the two united in Turkey (because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they could not go to each other’s countries).
For one thing, Alina is a young woman. She displayed signs of (age-appropriate) immaturity. Her family worried about her. (Particularly her mom, who apparently believes far-fetched conspiracy theories)
And for another … Steven is a bit of a weirdo. He has impulse-control issues. Charming? Probably. But also a potential deal-breaker for any relationship.
But there were bigger issues at play.
See, Steven wanted to wait until he married Alina, who had never had sex, before they would sleep together. Alina, understandably horny, clearly only agreed for his benefit.
She sat there for studies of the Book of Mormon, because he intended for her to convert. But then she found out the truth about him.
Steven, the guy who wants to wait until marriage? He’d already done some boning in his day.
It turns out that his impulse control issues extend to more than just tree-climbing and jumping into a pool while fully clothed.
Basically, it sounds like if a girl was flirty enough with him, he’d be slipping her the business before he knew it. That would be fine … except that it goes against the orthodoxy of the religious organization to which he belongs.
And except that Alina did not love finding this out. Because, well, he was the one keeping them from boning before marriage.
(There are many solid arguments for why it’s a good idea to test for sexual compatibility before making a commitment, but it is ultimately a personal choice. Steven has every right to wait)
To Alina, it basically felt like someone eating a slice of cake and then declaring that no one was allowed any dessert tonight. Unfair. And it made her question his future fidelity almost as much as him failing her friends’ “tests” did.
Another big concern was Alina’s plans to convert to the Mormon religion.
She told him that she would become baptized in his church, but he worried that she would change her mind.
Viewers could not help but observe that Steven seemed very insistent about Alina making specific choices about her body and beliefs. In contrast, and after his failed tests, her request that he delete social media was arguably less dramatic.
But they married. Steven even brought some of the stray cats (stray cats are a cultural staple of Turkey) that they had fed to the wedding.
There was, Alina assured people on social media, a lot of good to their relationship. Things that we did not see on screen.
Of course, at the Tell All, viewers learned that Steven was once again engaging with thirsty fans on social media. Also, he wanted a threesome with Alina. Which, hey, threesomes are great … but only if everyone involved wants one.
Despite being in seperate countries for so much of their marriage, Steven and Alina gushed about each other on social media. And, over the 2022 holiday season, they posted lovey-dovey stuff.
And … they haven’t posted about each other since. They have now unfollowed each other, which is a big deal even just for castmates, let alone for an actual married couple.
90 Day Fiance blogger John Yates called out this unfollowing on Instagram on February 14, 2023. Valentine’s Day is a particularly awkward day for a couple’s issues to become public.
It is possible that only one of them did the unfollowing. If you block someone, they automatically unfollow you. It can be a unilateral move.
But it looks like Alina (who deserves better) and Steven (who has nice hair when he lets it grow out) are, at the very least, having marital conflict.
Given the months of silence before this, it’s possible that this is more than just a dispute. Is it over?
