One of the new cast members that the 90 Day Fiance: Before The 90 Days Season 6 premiere introduced was David.
Deaf since birth, David shared his story of love and heartbreak while navigating life in a majority-hearing world.
Now, he has found new love with Sheila. Their online relationship leaves room for doubt, but he plans to propose.
Fans are rooting for David — and wondering if he and Sheila are together.
David is 42 years old. Though originally from Tennessee, he lives in Omaha, Nebraska.
He communicates entirely by ASL (American Sign Language) unless he is using a device like a phone, either to text or to generate text from other people’s speech.
David opened up to viewers about how he was born entirely deaf (rather than hard of hearing) in an all-hearing family.
David has two jobs and enjoys pastimes, including retro arcades. Some bars install antique game systems as a novelty.
He noted to the camera that these games — pinball and others — remind him of happy times in his childhood.
David of course cannot hear the games. But he can feel them. And, obviously, see them.
David shares that he has two jobs.
For one, he stocks shelves in a grocery store. A lot of retail and food service jobs require customer interactions, but stocking shelves involves less of this.
He also cleans floors at a casino. David shared how this gives him a great view of people having a great time. Until they lose money, of course.
David spoke about his childhood. He faced challenges even communicating with his parents and siblings.
However, when he attended an all-deaf boarding school, David made new friends. They began to feel like family.
This is also where David learned ASL. (We do have follow-up questions about his parents, but perhaps he will explain as the season continues)
David said that he lives a fairly simple life in Omaha.
But he does yearn to be in a relationship.
David has loved — and lost — in the past.
David was open to dating someone who is also deaf, who is hard of hearing, or a hearing partner.
(For many reasons, people who are disabled or otherwise marginalized sometimes seek people who share their experiences)
However, David’s love did not last.
When David discovered that his ex had cheated on him, he felt heartbroken.
The cheating hurt his happiness and self-esteem.
But he picked up the pieces. And he found new happiness, with someone else.
David and Sheila were both in a Facebook group for deaf and hard-of-hearing singles. That is not as small of a niche as one might imagine, and of course spans people all over the world.
Sheila is a single mom from the Philippines.
Unlike David, she was not born deaf. She is hard of hearing, and this began to happen to her developmentally during her life.
31-year-old Sheila lives in Cebu, Philippines. Just like it says in the screenshot.
She also has a 12-year-old son.
David and Sheila hit it off on social media. Their relationship is very real … but decidedly long-distance. They have never met in person.
But they plan to change that. After more than two years, they will meet in person.
It should be interesting, since Sheila is learning ASL. They have thus far communicated via text.
Communicating face to face could bring new challenges. It’s a test of whether this can work.
David was of course excited to meet Sheila in person.
He also feels understandably anxious.
And some of his loved ones have been leery of Sheila’s intentions.
David is a regular at a nearby bar, where he does not have to jump through hoops to “break in” a new bartender.
The two have a simple ordering style. For more complex communication, they use their phones.
David types into his phone to communicate. And the bartender speaks into his phone to generate text.
David revealed that he has more planned than just meeting Sheila.
If everything goes well, he wants to propose.
But some of those close to him are worried about the money that he has sent to Sheila.
In the first year, Sheila did not ask for money. That has since changed.
She lost her job early in the COVID-19 pandemic. And then a fire destroyed her home. After which, a typhoon battered the charred debris.
It’s actually even worse than it sounds, damage-wise. And David said that it’s only a few thousand. To be fair, that’s not that much to spend on a girlfriend over a couple of years.
Like we said, the damage is worse than David seems to realize.
We will actually see Sheila’s home this season.
More importantly, we will find out if David and Sheila are compatible in person. They will find out, too.
Thus far, there are no “smoking gun” indicators of the status of these two.
They could be together or broken up.
As the season continues, we are much more likely to discover fun spoilers — or not-so-fun ones — about these two and the other couples.
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