On this week's episode of 90 Day Fiance, we were finally introduced to the penultimate Season 8 couple: Andrew and Amira.
Andrew is very aware of how he may come across to viewers ... and he wants fans to know that there's more to him than editing will show.
Andrew Kenton is new to reality stardom, but he has a good understanding of how reality TV operates.
"I’ve got my best clothes on for our big premier tonight!" he wrote on Instagram early this week as his and Amira's first episode finished airing.
Andrew acknowledged: "It seems as if they’re going to try very hard to make me look pretty dorky."
He knew that from the moment that they filmed him getting into costume to entertain preschoolers -- because he works at a daycare.
"That’s alright!" Andrew wrote good-naturedly. "Bring on the Memes!!!!"
He is well aware that other 90 Day Fiance stars have become memes and have embraced their buffoon labels.
"Just know I hate that interview shirt," Andrew acknowledged, referring to what he wears for the confessional camera.
He also insisted that followers all know that "the kids at my school are angels."
"And my tennis skills are way better than shown lol," Andrew added, promising: "(I’ll make a video to show everyone.)"
"Not everyone fits so easily into archetypal boxes," Andrew sagely reminded his new fans.
"We are not all stereotypes," he emphasized.
Andrew also reminded longtime 90 Day Fiance fans who are looking for patterns that "the cast is not merely clones of each other."
"And I certainly do not easily fit into a pre-contrived personality construct," Andrew characterized.
"But," he admitted, "the world will try hard to squeeze me into one anyway."
"So f--k it let’s have some fun with people’s incongruent perceptions," Andrew wrote.
"If you want to know the real me," Andrew suggested.
He described himself as "the fun loving, funny, generous, adventurous, active, way more attractive Andrew (haha) follow me here on Instagram."
Andrew concluded his caption: "We are going to have a blast with this content!!"
So first up, Andrew is being compared to Colt Johson -- even though, if anyone this season has an overbearing and interfering mother, it's Brandon Gibbs.
But Andrew hasn't had a lot of luck in his dating life and he works for his mother, so the "mama's boy" label is not unexpected.
Whether or not it's accurate remains to be seen, but we shouldn't assume that he's getting spoonfed and tended to by Debbie 2.0, right?
Others might just think that he's weird, given that he wears costumes a lot, but again, that's to entertain little kids, who love when he gets into costume and reads them stories.
There have been super mega weirdos on the show before, and also people portrayed as weirder than they actually are -- whatever producers feel will get the best reaction.
Andrew is not being unreasonable by asking for a fair shake from fans.
Andrew and Amira's core struggle this season looks like it is going to be grappling with trying to be together during COVID-19.
Their Love In The Time Of Covid misadventure will, we already know from the trailers, not work out as simply as they imagine in their first episode.
Amira will be detained by immigration authorities and it will be nothing but a nightmare.
It may turn out that Andrew, who apparently proposed this enter-America-via-Mexico scheme, turns out to be the villain by virtue of putting her through that.
Additionally, her father warns that he applies pressure too much.
Amira herself worries that if she holds off on using her K-1 visa, Andrew may resent her forever ... which doesn't sound very healthy.
Plenty of couples are waiting until after the pandemic to meet up, to hold their weddings, to move in together, and more.
But guessing what will happen later in the season and whose fault it will be is fun, but not necessarily an accurate way of figuring out what the stars are really like.
Andrew may find himself with a lot of new fans by the end of the season. The question is whether he will also find himself with a wife.
