’90 Day Fiancé’ Has Better Record Than National Divorce Rate

TV shows that try to manufacture a romance don’t have the best success rate (here’s looking at you, The Bachelor). But it’s different for the folks who appear on 90 Day Fiancé, TLC’s wildly successful reality show that’s currently in its ninth season.

“Sadly the divorce rate in the United States hovers around 50% — 50% of couples do not make it. We’re well above that,” said Matt Sharp, the CEO of Sharp Entertainment, which produces the show. He was joined by Brooklyn Bagwell, Sharp’s senior director of casting, and new couple Bilal and Shaeeda from Season 9 for a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted awards-season event.

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90 Day Fiancé follows couples who meet online, and one of whom uses the government’s “90-day fiancé” visa to fly from overseas to the U.S. to either get married or go back home.

“Our couples are well above 75%,” Sharp continued. “There are a lot of people who sometimes watch the show and say, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so hard.’ And, you know, ‘They’re going way out of the box here and they’re not gonna understand each other.’ That’s one of the really amazing things about this show. This show is incredibly diverse. There are people that come from all different backgrounds who are finding these connections … who get in these incredible love journeys. And so, yes, I was very happy to see the great majority of our couples are staying together.”

Added Bagwell: “You know, honestly I think the couples on 90 Day are more likely to stay together. They’ve already gone through so much. Why break up now? They’ve done so much to get to be together.”

Check out the panel video above.