Warning! SPOILERS for 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days season 5!
The wait is over as Ben Rathbun will meet the real Mahogany Roca on 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days season 5 episode 10. Contrary to popular belief, 24-year-old Mahogany is not a catfish and is very much in Peru. When Ben did a gig as a fitness model at 52, Mahogany swooned over his photos and sent him a friend request. Soon enough, Ben slid into Mahogany’s DMs. Despite their age gap, they connected with her over their religious beliefs. Ben considered it God’s plan to go meet Mahogany, his future wife in her country although his kids and ex-wife called out his mid-life crisis.
But the version of Mahogany that Ben fell head over heels in love with is unfortunately different from the one who shows up on their first date. Right when he was waiting for his flight to Peru, Mahogany asked Ben to not come as her father doubted his intentions. Former pastor Ben flew to South America anyway but when he landed in Lima, Mahogany ghosted him. By now, Ben started wondering if he was being scammed again after having previously dated a woman who was actually a Nigerian man. He tried contacting Mahogany and even sent her his heartfelt “runaway train” story, but Ben was left without an answer. As Ben hopped into a cab to San Bartolo, Mahogany texted him that it’s “very distant” from Lima. Alas, Ben texted her the address of a restaurant where he waited for Mahogany for an hour like his 90 Day Fiancé co-star David Murphey had for Lana.
However, unlike Lana, Mahogany shocks Ben when she finally walks into the La Milonga restaurant right when he’s about to lose faith. Seeing Mahogany in the flesh restores Ben’s faith in love. As they hug, though, the awkwardness is palpable. “I did not feel prepared to come,” Mahogany tells the 90 Day Fiancé producers and admits that she “almost didn’t do it.” Mahogany, who can speak both Spanish and English, has been nervous because her parents think Ben has “other intentions” with her. “But since Benjamin decided to come to my town, I decided I wanted to see him and get to know who he really is,” adds Mahogany, a student of international law and human rights. Mahogany apologizes for being late to Ben who’s relieved that she’s “a woman and beautiful,” yet he confesses that “in person, Mahogany does look a little different than she does in pictures and I could tell that the pictures that she sent me were doctored a little bit.”
Meanwhile, Mahogany is not impressed with real-life Ben either, declaring that he “was a little bit smaller” and not as muscular as he was in his shirtless modeling photos - even though his personality is the same. As they eat chicken empanadas, Mahogany hesitates when Ben asks her why she loves him. She tells Ben that he has an enormous heart and a beautiful soul and that he loves God. But Mahogany wants to know Ben better and he wants to win her parents’ trust. While they leave the restaurant and Mahogany gets into the car, Ben asks for a hug and she almost refuses. Ben takes this as a sign of him and Mahogany being on two different levels. Mahogany not saying “I love you” back is concerning for Ben.
With the way Mahogany reacted to seeing Ben, it seems like she feels catfished by the father of four instead. Mahogany wants to take things slowly, but Ben is fully invested in their “relationship” after only three months of talking online, which appears to scare her. 90 Day Fiancé fans have found clues on social media that suggest Ben and Mahogany were never together and still aren’t. In all likeliness, Mahogany may have used her parents’ resistance as an excuse to dump Ben when it's actually she who isn’t interested in dating him in the first place.