90 Day Fiance couple Bilal Hazziez and Shaeeda have revealed whose idea it was to join the show's ninth season and why they wanted to broadcast their relationship for the world to see.
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Bilal, a 42-year-old real estate investor and agent from Kansas City, MO, and Shaeeda, a 37-year-old yoga instructor from Trinidad and Tobago, are currently starring on 90 Day Fiance's ninth season on TLC.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
"It was my idea, yeah," Shaeeda admitted during a joint Entertainment Tonight interview with Bilal.
"I [thought] this up. [Bilal] didn't want anything to do with a reality show. He was like, 'No, I'm a private person. I don't want to put myself out there.' I was like, 'You know what? I have always lived inside of the box and so I want to do something different.'"
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Shaeeda revealed that she actually "begged" her fiance to become 90 Day Fiance cast members.
"Just putting our whole life in front of everybody, I was pretty -- I was like, 'Nah, we're not doing that,'" Bilal said with a laugh.
"But she tends to get her way, so like most things, I submitted and here we are."
The couple has also been watching the 90 Day Fiance episodes back, getting a glimpse of themselves on television.
"I've been watching it," Shaeeda confirmed.
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"For me, it's strange watching myself on television. I laugh so hard at my facial expressions. I had no idea I [make] so [many] faces. I was like, 'Oh my God, is that me?!'"
If there's anything Shaeeda and Bilal want fans to know about, it's that their relationship is "real."
"With Bilal, there was a lot of things I was not prepared for," Shaeeda noted. "I just want fans to know this is a real relationship... You're going to see moments when we argue or we disagree or we're in love."
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: BEFORE THE 90 DAYS' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
Shaeeda said she and Bilal are both Muslim individuals but they still have "problems like everyone else."
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Bilal added, "You're gonna see a roller coaster and you have to remember, we're still trying to get to know each other."
In fact, Bilal and Shaeeda "still have arguments" based on Bilal's prank in which he made Shaeeda think he drives a white work van and lives in a small "dilapidated" home with peeling paint, broken windows and a torn ceiling.
It was Bilal's childhood home, and he wanted to test Shaeeda to make sure she's a humble woman who wasn't trying to marry him for his money or fancy lifestyle.
"We haven't got past this test. It still comes up; he still talks about it and says how much I hurt his feelings," Shaeeda disclosed. "And I try to express my point of view, so he tested me on something that really could have, you know... it's just too heavy."
After meeting on social media and communicating for some time, Bilal flew to the Caribbean to meet his love interest in person.
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The pair only spent one week together in person before Bilal proposed marriage. He and Shaeeda then they applied for the K-1 visa so they could start their life together in America as soon as possible.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: HAPPILY EVER AFTER?' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
A couple of months later, however, the coronavirus pandemic hit, and so Shaeeda and Bilal weren't able to see each other for a whopping two years.
"I just feel like she had the essence of things that I was looking for, great motherly qualities for my children and any future children to come," Bilal gushed.
On why he fell for her, he added of Shaeeda, "She was ambitious, she wears her faith on her sleeve, she's very God conscious, so a lot of different qualities I was looking for she possessed."
90 Day Fiance's ninth season, which currently airs Sunday nights on TLC, has documented Shaeeda getting adjusted to her new life in America.
She was thrilled to see Bilal's real house and the fact he had built a yoga studio just for her.
But Bilal acknowledged on the latest episode how his prank had backfired in his face, and he worried Shaeeda was happy with the house more than she was happy about being with him.
To read spoilers on Bilal and Shaeeda's relationship and whether they got married and are still together, click here.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
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