While 90 Day Fiancé fans are busy thinking about how much Mike Youngquist and Natalie Mordovtseva resemble Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, many are also trying to recall Mike and Natalie's past on the show. The couple’s first episode ended with Natalie finally getting her K-1 visa but also having just 20 days left to get married to Mike. TLC viewers are bracing themselves for Mike and Natalie’s race to tie the knot.
As 90 Day Fiancé fans were wrapping their heads around the final episodes of 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way, TLC did a surprise reveal of the OG show’s return. While some saw a few of their favorite couples return, there were viewers who weren’t happy to see Mike, 35, and Natalie, 35, on the list. The couple is infamous for giving the franchise some of its most cringeworthy moments. They are set to get married on season 8, amid more foreseeable troubles. The trailer foreshadowed the fiasco by showing Natalie crying frantically and calling Mike a monster. Still, episode one of 90 Day Fiancé season 8 showed Natalie in a better frame of mind. She was excited about flying down to America. Mike gave a deadpan expression that’s certainly getting meme-d. While Natalie also showed her apprehensions about sharing the roof with Michael’s uncle Beau, it could also be them not believing in the same God (or diet) that could break their 90 Day Fiancé relationship apart.
To start things off, Sequim, Washington, resident Mike had met Kyiv, Ukraine’s Natalie via mutual friends. When the 90 Day Fiancé star’s friend Matt welcomed a baby with his Ukranian wife, Mike was chosen as the godfather, and Natalie became the godmother. It was love at first sight for Mike. After seeing Natalie's modeling pictures, he texted her immediately. Then, he flew to Kyiv to meet up. While Mike and Natalie were going through divorces when they met, Mike proposed upon their second meeting in Paris. He popped the question in front of the Eiffel Tower. Then, Mike returned back home and started applying for Natalie’s K-1 visa, but their many differences started to cause problems.
While 90 Day Fiancé’s Natalie “pushed hard” for having babies, Mike claimed that his $30,000 debt was a good reason to wait. These two are polar opposites. Mike loves meat and Natalie is a vegetarian. She is devoutly religious and he believes in aliens. “She’s a beauty and I’m the beast,” Mike famously said during his introduction. Furthermore, Natalie's problems with getting her visa made Mike suspicious of her. He wondered if she applied for the same type of visa with another man. Then, there was the moment when Natalie took 17 seconds to reply to the producer who'd asked her, "Do you love Mike?" The 90 Day Fiancé star’s reply was, “God, it’s hard. I think we have a potential because he’s a good guy.” This struck many fans as odd but only until Mike and Natalie's engagement was called off.
The explosive 90 Day Fiancé season 7 Tell-All saw Natalie saying to Shaun Robinson, “I have feelings for Michael but I love myself more,” while also accusing Mike of cheating, which he denied. Lovestruck Mike was adamant about proving himself to Natalie, even promising Shaun that he would return to Ukraine to win her back. He held on to the engagement ring she'd tossed, as shown on 90 Day Fiancé season 8.
With Natalie finally having her K-1 visa in place, it looks like the couple might be sorting things out, but there's bound to be 90 Day Fiancé-style hiccups along the way. Will Uncle Bojangles Lawrence and his criminal record be a bother to Natalie or will it be Mike’s apparently “monstrous” ways that hinder her future marriage? 90 Day Fiancé fans can start placing their bets.
90 Day Fiancé season 8 airs Mondays at 8 pm ET on TLC.