90 Day Fiancé star Josh Atkins talks K-1 visa journey and reality TV life | FOX 10 Talks

I'm really excited for our next guest here this morning. Me too. I love this show, 90 Day Fiancé. It's on TLC. It's so good. It is a fantastic show. It's so good. If you want one of those shows where you just like get kind of, I guess, in the weeds with these individuals, it's the best reality show I think there is right now. So if you haven't been watching, we're going to play a little clip of our next guest, Josh Adkins. So take a look. Do you ever consider converting yourself? That's a big question. Dining table and chairs are fairly important, I think. I don't think they're super important. Okay, so do you enjoy this? It's comfy. Do you think you can settle down or do you still like, do you still crave the party life? Do you still crave being crazy? I crave the party life. She's got a good heart. Unpredictable. Got a good heart, but she's unpredictable. Sounds like you. Oh, boy. All right, so joining us via Zoom here this morning is Josh Adkins. Mr. Adkins, it's great to see you. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Hi, thanks for having me. How are you guys? We're doing good. It looks like you're sitting on a chair, so that's good. Yeah, did you finally get some furniture or are you in a studio? I've got this office space in downtown, so that's where I am at the moment, but I do have a dining table back home. All right, good. I'm glad that she got you that dining table. We have it. I have so many questions for you, Josh. I want to start at the very beginning. How did you, I guess, get cast on the show? Was it just like an open audition? Were they looking for folks that were dating in two separate countries, or how did this all come to be? I know that sometimes they go online on forums or Facebook and stuff like that, but we actually reached out because we'd decided to get engaged. And we just thought, hey, it'll be a laugh. Let's see what they say. That's so fun. And then where did you guys meet? We actually met in my hometown of Cambridge because Katie was pet-sitting, traveling the world, and she was actually on a date with one of my friends. But that date obviously didn't go very well. And you swooped in and charmed her? Something like that. I think it was kind of Dutch courage. Oh, that's great. All right, so people, obviously the name of the show is 90 Day Fiance. Explain to folks what that 90 days is, because this is part of the K-1 visa process, right? Yes, exactly that. So you apply for the K-1 visa, the fiancé visa, and that can take about a year, I think. And then from the time that you enter the U.S., you have to get married within 90 days. And if you don't, then you have to leave. So you applied for the visa, and then the show was like, sure, we want to make you one of the couples. What is the filming process like? Are those cameras in your face 24 hours a day? What is the filming schedule like to be on this show? That's a really good question. It was one of the first things that I wondered. And what we do is we kind of arrange things that we're doing that are going to be filmed. And so the cameras join us every couple of weeks. The biggest shoot was when I first arrived, because I'm kind of settling in, I'm arriving. So that was a big point. And I guess near the end as well, that's quite a big shoot as well. And moving to the United States, anything? Or just being here in the country? I mean, what's the overall thoughts? What do you think? I absolutely love the U.S. I'd never thought that I would end up moving here until I met Katie. And since this was kind of on the timeline, I've been looking at American history and learning about the politics and all of this. And I just think it's such a wonderful country. But I think as well, being here right now with all of the kind of immigration policy that is kind of being discussed in the national conversation, it makes you a little bit apprehensive. And so it's kind of a bit of both. But I absolutely love the United States as a country. All right. So you had obviously watched 90 Day Fiancé before. I guess my question is, why did you want to put your life out there? I mean, because people are so judgmental when it comes to the show. I mean, if you just Google your name, there's like Reddit posts. You know what I mean? Were you kind of ready to be judged for the world to see as far as your relationship, how you do each and every little thing? Short answer, no, I wasn't. And you quickly learn to adapt. Certainly the first few weeks of the show airing, I kind of began to realize, OK, people have a lot of opinions. Yeah. And there are a lot of people who have strong opinions and are a bit negative. But then there's actually, for every person that's negative, there's probably at least 10 people that are saying something positive. And naturally, you listen to the negative ones, but you just have to choose to listen to the people who are on your side and are just watching to be entertained and want things to work out. And this is obviously reality TV. And, you know, I've heard a lot of, there's a lot of spinoff shows, and there's just so much that goes into 90 Day Fiance. But a lot of people sometimes have questions and they're, you know, hey, is this real? Are they doing this just for TV and cameras? But this is your real life. I mean, this is all really happening in real time. Yeah, exactly. I think obviously, as you say, there's the TV, the production element. But I would say, if anything, it just kind of amplifies things so that it makes sense for television. But the kind of base storyline that you're seeing is authentic. Josh, what was your favorite part about being on the show? And then the same question, but what was the worst part about being on a show like this? Oh, that's tough. I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is it was just such a delight hanging out with the crew because you spend such a long time getting to know your producer and the people that you're essentially working with. And I quite enjoyed being a bit cheeky. And if you do a long shoot, just try and make the camera guys laugh a little bit. It's just funny to watch because you're just there on the camera all the time. It's fun to kind of play about in a kind of cheeky way. And the worst point? That's a really good question. I guess when there's actual real life tension and you've got the cameras right there and you want to have a conversation, but you know that people are going to see this. You don't know what it's going to look like on TV. That can be challenging. Yeah, and misconstrued, I guess, too, right? And what happens next? I mentioned, you know, there's so many spinoff shows of 90 Day Fiance. I mean, do you guys go on another season of it? Or are you guys kind of done with it once you have your season? How does that work? So I'd say that I am enjoying this. I'd be open to staying within the 90 Day kind of universe. And that's a conversation that we're going to have with producers. Have you met any of the other couples? That's what I was just going to ask. I love when they get together. It's so fun. Yeah, so the tell-all has been filmed. And so we've got the final episode of the main season this coming Sunday. And then I think it was announced that it's a three-part tell-all, which makes sense because there's a lot to be discussed and a fair bit of drama as well. I love the tell-alls when it's like the other couples start judging the other couples. And they're like, wait a second, you have drama. You did X, Y, and Z, yeah. I was really, really nervous actually going in because you don't know which clips they're going to show you. But after a while, you kind of get to speaking to the different couples and you get to make friends, which was really lovely. I was going to ask you, I mean, after, because obviously we're kind of watching the show as you're watching the show as it gets released week by week. Have you kind of, I guess, I don't know the right word. Have you figured out which couple you like the best? Do you have a fan favorite of the show that you're on? That's a dumb question. You know what I'm trying to ask you. No, it's one that I can't answer correctly without upsetting someone, I think. But I really, really enjoy watching Mallory and Rashid. I think that you just get their vibe. Do you guys have a favorite? I was going to say that's one of my favorite. I love you and Katie because Katie to me just cracks me up with some of the stuff that she says. Some of those clips we just watched, I'm like, let's sit on yoga mats, folks. Well, I think some people watch it and take it very seriously, but I think certainly I and I know Katie as well have gone on to kind of have a good time whilst we're filming it. And I think if we can make people laugh, then I think we've done something right. I was going to ask you too about the filming process. Like, do you sometimes start to forget that the cameras are there, especially when it gets into kind of a heated scene or there's emotions involved? Absolutely. And because you wear kind of like lav mics as well, you forget they're there, which is nice because it feels less like you're having to put on some sort of artificial performance. I think the funniest thing that I remember is if we're shooting at a location like a pub and then you haven't seen the cameras and so you start chatting to someone and then suddenly you see like a boom mic hovering above you. And you know that they're probably interested in this conversation now. Yep. And it's going to be in that show. Yeah, I'm definitely I'm an OG watcher. I go all the way with Angela, Michael. Oh, way back. Oh, my gosh. It's such good stuff. It is good TV. I'll tell you that. And you've done a fantastic job this season bringing the laughs. You and Katie are great. So thank you for the time today to speak with you. This has been fun. Well, thanks so much. Any spoilers for the next? I have half of an episode of the last season or rather of the last episode. I haven't finished the last episode, but then I think it goes into the tell-all, right? Yeah, that's right. And so for Katie and I, it kind of left on a bit of a cliffhanger with the tension that I was feeling and Katie looking a bit unsure. And obviously I can't give any spoilers. No, we don't want any spoilers. I hope it gives the fans what they're looking for in the final episode. All right. That's a good tease. Josh, thank you so much. It was nice talking with you. Likewise. Have a good one.