TLC and 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days star Ben Rathbun has given viewers plenty of reasons to dislike him based on his first episode. Michigan man Ben is a recent entrant into the world of 90 Day Fiancé alongside his very mysterious girlfriend Mahogany Roca. Viewers suspect Ben is going through a mid-life crisis and refusing to see the obvious signs of Mahogany being a catfish.
For one, he believed Mahogany telling him she’s too “shy” to appear over video and settled for two audio calls in a three-month-long relationship. At a young age, she has the emotional maturity that Ben’s friends think only a scammer could possess. Of course, apart from that, Mahogany uses a lot of filters on her photos to look almost unrealistic. Viewers have witnessed Ben getting called out on 90 Day Fiancé, with his friends and family telling him he’s too old to be so gullible.
However, it's worth noting that Ben has several red flags of his own. For starters, he is 52 years old while Mahogany is only in her early 20s. Mahogany seems to be around as old as Ben’s eldest child, if not younger. This same daughter has possibly distanced herself from Ben, as her face has been blurred out in family photos on the show. Still, age gaps are a constant theme in the franchise, and Ben and Mahogany are adults who are in a mutual relationship. However, Ben is trying hard to justify the entire scenario as God’s work, claiming he’s just following His will. The fact that Ben was earlier engaged to a woman 18 years younger than him doesn’t help.
Viewers are convinced that Ben tries to hide his desire for younger women as the path God wants him to follow, which is why they find him creepy. Plus, after Ben's kids, who come across as very sensible, tried to dissuade him from visiting Mahogany, he decided to school them about life experiences instead. He claimed everyone deserves a chance at love, and he wants to “model” what he’s doing with Mahogany as something that his kids could “one day” do with their future partners. “I wouldn’t want them to be that young,” was Ben’s daughter Joy’s response, which he immediately dismissed.
It doesn't help that Ben has talked about connecting with Mahogany on a “spiritual level” and told his children, “She says she loves you kids without even meeting you.” Not only does Ben look like he’s detached from reality, but he’s also following an obvious pattern even when he claims it’s not “history repeating itself.” This justification isn't sitting well with viewers. Still, it’s too early to theorize what will happen with Ben and Mahogany’s relationship on 90 Day Fiancé, even though it likely won’t end well.
90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days airs Sundays at 8 p.m. EST on TLC.