Mahogany Seems Too Good to Be True on '90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days'

When the cast for 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days Season 5 was announced, there was one couple that stood out, and that's because for the first few episodes, viewers didn't see them.

Now, Ben Rathbun and his Peruvian girlfriend Mahogany Roca will make their debut in the Jan. 16, 2022 episode. Well, sort of. Mahogany isn't in the show yet because, as is often the case with this franchise, Ben hasn't met her in person.

Because there are so many questions surrounding who Mahogany is and whether or not she's a catfish, it's unlikely that viewers will meet her in the same episode they're introduced to Ben. Instead, it might be a case of watching Ben prepare to travel to Peru to see her in the hopes of meeting Mahogany as advertised on her social media accounts, who he fell for online.

If Mahogany isn't a catfish, she could still be using Ben for money, presents, or something else we haven't yet heard about on the show. It's happened before.

David Murphey was in Season 4 of 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days. In his case, he hadn't met his online girlfriend Lana in real life, but he went on a mission to find her in her home country of Ukraine.

Before David traveled to Ukraine, he had only chatted with Lana online and seen videos of her, but they'd never spoken on video calls. Ben and Mahogany in Season 5 are in the same boat.

Ben explains in previews for 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days that he hasn't been able to talk to Mahogany on video calls because she's a little shy.

We've heard that before. It's a big red flag when trying to figure out if your online lover is real, or if they're a catfish and they've been playing you the entire time. Let's hope that's not the case for Ben.

He's a 52-year-old model who was once a pastor. He still has strong Christian beliefs, which he shares with Mahogany. When she found him online because of his modeling career, they bonded over religion.

There's a chance Mahogany is someone else using her photos to lure Ben in and make him trust her. It's also entirely possible that she's the woman in the photos, but that she's using him. However, for now, it also seems possible that Mahogany is real and Ben's worries will subside once he meets her.

Although he used to be a pastor, Ben became a model after falling on hard times. And, according to someone on reddit who says their family knows Ben, he always wanted to get into modeling and acting.

Could the show be Ben's way of putting himself out there to gain more exposure? There's nothing like a jilted and heartbreaking storyline to allow him to shed some tears and try to win a 90 Day Fiancé Emmy in his mind.

Ben is featured in the trailer for 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days Season 5. However, he and Mahogany are absent from the first handful of episodes. To be fair, there are seven couples who have to share air time each two-hour episode. So it's possible that there was more content for the other couples who were introduced first than whatever Ben's storyline provides.

This could be another indication that Mahogany is a catfish and that his story ends on an unhappy note. But for now, let's hope for the best for this pastor-turned-male model.

Watch 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days on Sundays at 8 p.m. EST on TLC.