In addition to seeking romance, 90 Day: Hunt for Love star Tiffany Franco has also been on a weight loss journey.
“I got to almost 300 lbs. … and I realized it’s my relationship, it’s my self worth. It’s everything all together,” Franco, 33, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting 90 Day: Hunt for Love, which premieres on TLC Monday, May 26. “I said, ‘Enough, I need to do something.’”
Franco noted that she had weight loss surgery in 2021 and lost 70 lbs. from that — and she went on to lose 40 more.
“The rest was just pure willpower and struggling,” she added.
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After divorcing from Ronald Smith in 2021, the 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way star has continued her quest for true love, leading her to appearing on Hunt for Love. The series highlights eight alums including Franco — and some new faces — who are looking to find love again.
“I’m like a mole. My happy place is with my kids at home and that’s my circle and I’m happy there,” Franco, who is mom to son Daniel from a previous marriage and shares daughter Carley with Smith, explained to Us. “But I also know that my prince charming’s not just going to come knocking at my door, so I got to hunt for it. You got to go out there and get it.”
Franco shared she had “zero expectations” walking into Hunt for Love so she wasn’t “disappointed.”
“Walking into it, I’m like, if anything, I’m not going to meet someone, spend this amount of time with them and walk away married,” she said. “But definitely I want to see if I can ignite a spark with someone and then see what we do with that.”
The TLC personality learned a lot from her Hunt for Love experience, including what it’s like “being in a bubble and then getting to know people” one-on-one.
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“I got to experience how that can make the world spin 10 times faster,” she said. “You move a lot faster when you take a few dates to get to know someone. It takes a few dates and then you’re like, ‘I like this person.’ When you’re in this bubble and you’re all in each other’s faces at all times, it’s like you’ve known them for two days, but you’re already like, ‘Oh, I love him and I feel like he could be someone I see in my future.’ … It’s crazy.”
While Franco didn’t reveal if she did or didn’t find the One on Hunt for Love, she did share that one man did catch her eye at first.
“I had one special guy with a cute little mustache and some beautiful eyes that got my eye [the] first night,” she gushed.
90 Day fans were first introduced to Franco on The Other Way, in 2019 where she traveled to South Africa with her son to be with her then-fiancé, Smith. The twosome tied the knot in 2018 and welcomed daughter Carley in 2019 before separating in 2021. Franco went on to appear on 90 Day: The Single Life, which aired in 2022.
Throughout her experience in the 90 Day franchise, Franco shared that it did change how she approaches her future relationships.
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“I think it pushes you … it definitely pushes your boundaries and it … forces you to learn some hard truths about yourself and mistakes or habits from the past,” she explained to Us, adding that it’s sometimes hard to rewatch her past seasons. “It’s like this wound that you have a little time to heal it and then you rewatch it and you’re like, ‘Oh my, did I say that? What was I thinking? What’s wrong with me?’ And especially after you go through the process and you learn some things and you’re like, ‘I’m doing better now.’”
90 Day: Hunt for Love premieres on TLC on Monday, May 26 at 8 p.m. ET.
