90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Daysstar Matilda Nti succeeded in tricking Niles Valentine into marrying her, and here’s how I think it happened.Niles is a 27-year-old man from Mobile, Alabama. The autistic Niles has described his struggles and how his condition affects his decision-making skills even in day-to-day life.Niles’ bluntness didn’t help himmake a lot of friends, but he did find a girlfriend online. Niles didn’t get along with other people due to his autism, but with Matilda, things were different.
Matilda is from Offinso, Ghana.Matilda is a 23-year-old with big dreamsand a yearning to move out of her small town where she has no job and has to help her mother sell plantains since her father passed away. While I don’t think it was avalid reason for Matilda to scam Niles, she was feeling suffocated in her hometown andthought of herself as someone who deserved better.Matilda had big ambitions, and Niles was going to help her achieve them, even though he seemed oblivious to every warning about Matilda potentially being a fraud.
The Way Niles & Matilda Met Is Sketchy
How Did Matilda Find “Valentine” On Valentine’s Day?
I felt that the story Niles told viewers about how he met Matilda was genuinely scary. Matilda and Niles did not know each other or have any mutual friends when they met on social media. Niles recalled Matilda having sent him a DM out of nowhere. Matilda had messaged Niles saying, “Hi Valentine. How are you” The date that Matilda hadsent the message was February 15 and the time was 5:49 am. I found it weird that a 20-year-old Matilda had randomly started chatting with a stranger named “Valentine” on what looks like Facebook on Valentine’s Day.
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90 Day Fiance’s Niles himself added that he thought what was happening to him was too good to be true. I wonder if Niles was concerned and thought he was being catfished because the woman in the profile’s photos was very beautiful. Niles and Matilda dated for two years. They talked every day, whenever they could. Niles gave his heart to Matildawhen he told her he had autism, and she accepted Niles for who he was.
Niles was the one who proposed to Matilda over the phone because he couldn’t wait anymore.
Matilda Just Wanted Niles To Do As She Said
It was just five months before Niles and Matilda started filming90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Daysseason 7 when Niles asked her to marry him. Niles was very happy when Matilda said yes. However, I remember a worried Niles telling the cameras that he was surprised at how quickly things started going from there.Matilda had gone “full steam ahead”and was planning everything for a wedding during his trip to Ghana. It started stressing Niles out. Niles assumed it was a cultural thing when Matilda began rushing the process of being married so soon.
Matilda’s Felt Like “Dying” When Niles Canceled The Wedding
Matilda Didn’t Know What To Do – This Was Never Part Of Her Plan
I believe Matilda’s reaction when Niles finally gathered the courage to tell Matilda he wouldn’t marry her was genuine. She never expected him to cancel the ceremony or postpone it. Matilda’s dreams of making it to the U.S. were coming crashing down. She told the cameras that they had discussed getting married when Niles was still in the U.S. I liked how honest Niles was when telling Matilda that he wanted to get to know Matilda better and that marrying her was not possible until that happened.
“Like, right now it’s like disgracing to me. People will laugh at me.”
90 Day Fiance’s Matilda tried playing mind games on Niles. She was angry that Niles had not told her about his indecisiveness before, since her family had already begun the preparations. Matilda was being unreasonable considering she was also getting married to a man she hardly knew at all. All that mattered to Matildawas getting married to an American man ASAP. I didn’t like how Matilda didn’t even appreciate the ring Niles gave her as a sign of his commitment to her. I’m sure Matilda feared that Niles would change his mind entirely and realize she was scamming him.
Matilda Agreed To Do A “Knocking Ceremony” Instead
Niles Needed A Family Member To Perform The Ceremony
The “knocking ceremony" is a traditional Ghanaian practice where the prospective groom symbolically knocks on the bride’s family’s door to ask for permission to marry her. Matilda convinced Niles that if not a wedding, he could do it to formally ask her family for their blessings for the marriage. However, Matilda expertly tried to make the knocking ceremony as grand as the wedding itself! I was as surprised as Niles was when he discovered that Matilda had invited 90 people to the event and expected him to pay for everything.
I thought Niles had the best opportunity to make an excuse and leave Ghana as soon as he could when Matilda revealed Niles’ family was expected at the ceremony.Niles had even told Matilda that his family did not like herand disapproved of his relationship with her. Niles should have listened to his family and not followed his heart to Ghana. Instead, he was expertly manipulated by Matilda into talking to a village elder named Mr. Arc who Matilda thought could step in and take on the role of Niles’ father during the knocking ceremony.
Matilda Manipulated Niles Into Talking To Mr. Arc
Mr Arc. Was Not A Well-Wisher – He Was A Part Of Matilda’s Plan
It was Matilda’s idea that Niles meet with Mr. Arc, the local community leader to discuss his participation in the knocking ceremony.Mr. Arc was Matilda’s “family friend”after all. Mr. Arc had only one solution when Niles mentioned that they were having the knocking ceremony. He told Niles that knocking was just a custom and in Ghana, Niles had to follow their culture and customs. As his “father” now, Mr. Arc wanted Niles to know that he would never agree to just have a knocking ceremony and go back home.
“I would never allow that. And it’s never done anywhere. Marriage is the custom.”
I couldn’t help but notice that Matilda appeared to be glad that her plan was working. Mr. Arc had been able to change Niles’ mind. When Niles told Mr. Arc how Matilda told him a lot of money was involved with this, that he had to buy food for everyone in their family, which was 20 or 30 people, Mr. Arc advised him that he didn’t need anything. “A simple marriage, that is our custom,” Mr. Arc continued. Niles wondered if Matilda was scamming him into paying for an expensive party.
What Niles didn’t realize was that Mr. Arc was asking him to marry Matilda directly.
Niles & Matilda Are Married In 2024
Matilda Was Able To Fulfill Her Ultimate Wish
I really think an expensive party was never Matilda’s goal. Her goal was to marry Niles and get a visa. The money for the knocking was the least Matilda would have been able to extract from Niles if he hadn’t agreed to marriage. However, blogger90dayfiance_alexadiscovered Matilda’s Facebook profile where, although her page says she is “single,” a photo posted by the plantain seller on July 03, 2025,shows her in a bridal outfit and suggests she is married to Niles. The90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Daysstar might be on her way to America right now.
90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Daysairs Sundays at 8 p.m. EST on TLC.
90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days
Cast
A deeper look into the lives of couples established in 90 Day Fiancé, 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days is a reality tv/documentary series that follows the potential spouse from a foreign country and their lead-up to their journey to America. The show documents the early days of the relationship across the ocean and the K-1 visa process required for the spouse to live in the new country. Couples battle with culture shock, language barriers, and the opinions of friends and families alike as they prepare themselves to take the ultimate leap.
