Nobody Told Us What to Say! You Can't Herd Cats!

Every season of 90 Day Fiance — and its ever-growing brood of spinoffs — sees fans spinning conspiracy theories.

After Mahmoud’s raging tantrum at the Tell All, some viewers blamed Gabe for asking him questions that he didn’t like.

Meanwhile, others speculated that producers had given the cast specific instructions on what to say and how to act.

Debbie is now clearing the air and giving a no-nonsense rundown on what went down behind the scenes.

In years past, some 90 Day Fiance cast members have spoken about how producers encouraged them to speak out during Tell Alls.

It is absolutely possible that some cast members wanted to blame producers when they seemed too combative and audiences didn’t like them.

But production suggestions do sound realistic. And while many reality TV personalities do cry “bad edit,” bad edits also happen. But what went down for 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way Season 4?

According to Debbie Aguero, the 67-year-old fan favorite from this season, production was very hands-off for the Tell All.

A fan asked her if producers suggested that they “start trouble for ratings.” It’s a reasonable question, and not a conspiracy theory.

But, according to Debbie, it’s also not what happened. If anything, it was more like the opposite.

“They had never approached me about starting trouble,” Debbie replied to the fan on Instagram.

“They even told everybody to go easy on Kris,” she claimed, “because she was in a fragile emotional state.”

Debbie then remarked that “I thought that was kind of them.”

The fan had specifically thought about Gabriel Paboga.

Gabe had asked Mahmoud about his (frankly, abhorrent) treatment of Nicole during the season.

And when Nicole and Mahmoud brought up having kids — and Mahmoud’s ideas about raising them — Gabe asked questions, and pressed Mahmoud when he gave plainly contradictory answers.

“Gabe was probably just frustrated,” Debbie then speculated about her castmate.

“He gets a lot of hate mail,” she acknowledged.

That is an understatement. Trans folks are under siege in America, and Gabe’s home state of Florida is the epicenter of legislation that is, simply put, part of the early stages of genocide. So yes, he has received a lot of hate mail simply for daring to exist.

This week, a fan account reposted a screenshot of Debbie’s comment. There, Debbie reiterated her statement.

“No one was directed to say or do anything,” she wrote in a new comment.

Debbie joked: “I doubt if anyone would be brave enough to try to [herd] a bunch of feral cats.” Love, love this woman.

Her castmate, Daniele Gates, also offered her own comment on the topic. Daniele and Debbie have very different vibes, but neither of them have much of a filter when it comes to this kind of thing.

“I will 100% confirm that no one asked me to do anything – go easy or hard on anyone,” she wrote.

“And,” Daniele expressed, “I’m actually surprised and/or disappointed to hear that anyone received that direction.” It’s possible that a producer may have simply noted Kris’ situation to Debbie as an offhand remark. Or not. We don’t know.

“I feel like it’s up to us to say what we say and mean it,” Daniele asserted.

“No one can put words in our mouths, or we can easily say, ‘No, I’m not saying or doing that,'” she clarified.

Daniele then suggested: “You can’t do this work without understanding fully your own values and [principles] and non-negotiables.” She’s absolutely right.

There are sometimes contradictory claims made about Tell Alls.

It’s at the point where one would almost believe that a few vocal “fans” just want to imagine the worst scenario possible. And then complain about it.

Namely, people claim that the cast engages in “scripted” arguments. And then those same people turn around and complain about Shaun Robinson as a host for “not asking enough questions.”

Folks, Shaun Robinson is the Tell All host. This isn’t like Real Housewives Reunions, where Andy Cohen essentially gave himself hosting duties. (He was a VP at Bravo and an executive producer for the shows)

Production has questions that they want her to ask, and they have questions that they don’t want her to ask.

Producers will sometimes edit out segments that could make a potentially profitable cast member unmarketable. That’s not a conspiracy theory — they did it with Lisa Hamme. Only when the Tell All raw footage leaked did they end up firing her.

Meanwhile, Shaun’s hands are tied — metaphorically speaking — when it comes to her hosting duties.

When people ask “why is Gabe asking these questions instead of Shaun,” it’s because Gabe doesn’t have a script. The only one who has anything like that is Shaun herself.

Shaun is the only one who is there to ask questions and bring up topics on production’s behalf. Considering that she has to interact with the likes of Angela Deem and Ed Brown without being able to speak her mind, we doubt that she’s truly getting enough money for this.

As we have extensively and repeatedly reported in the past, production does meddle. They’ve made suggestions of cast members, or asked people to repeat things (sometimes just to get good audio due to background noises).

But most of the “control” that these shows have over their casts comes in two forms — casting people who will be entertaining, and editing weeks and months of footage into a short, coherent storyline.

Also, Gabe asked normal questions of Mahmoud — questions that many viewers would have wanted to ask in his stead. He doesn’t need an agenda for that, unless “caring about Nicole and their potential children’s human rights” qualifies.

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