Rewind. 90 Day Fiancé star Geoffrey Paschel made national headlines when he was sentenced to 18 years in prison with no possibility of parole on domestic violence charges in February 2022. Since it has been nearly two years since he’s been on reality TV, fans are wondering about his story line when he appeared on the TLC franchise. Keep scrolling below for a recap to find out who Geoffrey was with when he was on 90 Day Fiancé.
Paschel made his reality TV debut on season 4 of the TLC spinoff 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days, which premiered in February 2020. At the time, the Tennessee native was in a long-distance relationship with Varya Malina, a woman from Russia whom he met online. Paschel and Malina documented their first in-person meeting on the show as Paschel traveled to her native country in 2019.
Prior to his trip, Paschel filmed a scene with longtime friend Mary Wallace, in which she expressed her interest in him romantically. Paschel still decided to follow his heart and meet Malina. The couple hit it off almost immediately and even overcame obstacles — like Paschel’s tense moment with Malina’s friends and him revealing his secret about his criminal past, which led him to serve time in prison on drug related charges. Their trip went so well that Paschel got down on one knee and proposed to Malina, but she declined his proposal for marriage because she felt their romance was moving too quickly.
The next day, Paschel returned home to America and told Malina that he was no longer interested in being in a long-distance relationship with Malina if they were not engaged. Malina cried and told him she wanted to continue dating, but his mind was made up.
Once he returned to the United States, Paschel ghosted Malina and pursued a romantic relationship with Wallace. They found themselves in the midst of a love triangle when Malina decided to surprise Paschel by flying to his hometown of Knoxville and showing up on his doorstep. In a tense scene that was filmed in November 2019, Wallace and Malina faced off and fought over Paschel and he ultimately chose Malina. By the end of season 4, Paschel had re-proposed to Malina and she said yes. Click here to find out if Malina and Paschel are still together.
Just one month before the season 4 premiere, Paschel made headlines when he appeared in court to face criminal charges on aggravated kidnapping, domestic assault and interference with emergency calls stemming from an alleged altercation with ex-fiancé Kristen Wilson in June 2019.
Paschel’s legal issues became a hot topic as his episodes aired on TV, and the pending charges ultimately led him, Malina and Wallace to not be invited to film the season 4 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days tell-all. The landlord confirmed that the pending domestic violence case is the reason they were not allowed to attend the taping.
“I’m not sad that I wasn’t on it,” Paschel said during an Instagram Live with his former rep in June 2020. “The mentality of keeping me off the tell-all because somebody said something is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard in my life. … I want my court case to be over with, and as soon as my court case is over with, then my life will proceed.”
Paschel stood trial in the case and was found guilty on all charges in October 2021. During his sentencing hearing on February 3, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison.