Paula’s family flew in from Brazil with eight days to go before her wedding to Thomas, and the introduction did not go the way most future in-laws would hope. Rather than a warm welcome, Thomas greeted them with a list of house rules.
“First, I want to explain the law of the land here,” he told the group. “No shoes in the apartment.” That one landed fine. What came next did not.
“Also, guys, this is very important. I’m a very sensitive man for little smells,” he continued. “Please, you can’t use perfumes in the apartment. For example, no perfumes in soap.”
90 Day Fiance: Confusion, Then Concessions
Paula’s family did not immediately understand what he was asking. Some laughed, assuming he was joking. Paula clarified, and her mother asked through Paula whether baby soap would be acceptable.
“Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Normally, products for babies don’t have perfumes because they’re sensitive like me,” Thomas said, granting the one exception.
Paula’s parents described the whole exchange as “complicated” in a confessional, a diplomatic word for what was clearly a jarring first impression. The family’s confusion deepened once they learned Thomas doesn’t own a television, a fact he shared with visible pride.
90 Day Fiance: Her Brother Doesn’t Hold Back
Paula’s brother, Aldir, had already known Thomas for a while by this point, and the family visit only sharpened concerns he’d apparently been sitting on.
“I’ve known Thomas for a while ever since he started dating Paula. Sometimes I worry about how he acts, and some quirks he has,” Aldir said. His wife, Gizelle, was blunter, calling Thomas simply “annoying.”
When Thomas proudly announced he’d spent “zero dollars” preparing for eight houseguests, Aldir summed it up in one word: “crazy.”
90 Day Fiance: The Steak That Broke The Illusion
Tension boiled over into a public argument after Aldir discovered a steak in Thomas’s fridge that had been sitting there for two years. Paula, who is vegan, was furious less about the smell and more about the waste, arguing it was bad for the environment. Thomas snapped back, explaining he’d left it by accident after getting called away on a sudden work trip.
Aldir’s read on the moment cut deeper than the spoiled meat itself. He observed that Thomas “complains about a pin and doesn’t complain about an elephant,” fixating on minor irritations, like a suitcase resting on a mattress, while ignoring an actual health hazard rotting in his own kitchen for two years.
That is a sharp diagnosis of a pattern that’s been building all season. A person who polices deodorant and soap scent with total precision but lets meat spoil for two years without noticing isn’t actually organized around cleanliness or sensitivity. He’s organized around control over specific things that matter to him, and indifferent to plenty that should matter more.
90 Day Fiance: Aldir Says What Paula Needed To Hear
The most consequential moment of the episode wasn’t the rules or the steak. It was a private conversation between Aldir and Paula, where her brother stopped observing and started intervening.
Paula tried to explain her deeper reasoning for staying. “Thomas is a gift from the universe, but that doesn’t mean that he is my universe,” she said. “I want to be happy in this relationship, but I can’t be happy with him if I’m not happy with myself.”
Aldir wasn’t reassured. He told her directly he worried she and Thomas were incompatible and that she would come to regret marrying him, calling some of Thomas’s behavior “childish.” He reminded her she has a solid, independent life already built in Brazil as a businesswoman, life she doesn’t need Thomas or this wedding to validate.
90 Day Fiance: Eight Days Out, And Still No Answer
The pressure from her family visibly shook Paula’s confidence. “Thomas and I, we have so many things going on that I really don’t know if I’m going to say yes,” she told cameras. “I love him, but not enough to sign for a life of being not happy.”
That is about as honest a preview of cold feet as this franchise gets. With the wedding just over a week away, Paula now has her own doubts about Thomas’s controlling streak plus her family’s direct warning stacked on top of it. As of this episode, the two remain together, but “together” and “certain” are clearly two very different things for Paula right now.
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