90 Day Fiance fans are still watching the bitter unraveling of Mike and Natalie’s marriage.
No matter what we see on Happily Ever After?, fans know that it has now been over for months.
But fans are realizing that Mike isn’t even close to the age that they had assumed.
How old is Mike really? And why did fans get it so wrong?
90 Day Fiance fans aren’t sure what to make of it all as they try to come to terms with reality.
Mike Youngquist is a 6-foot-7 man who lives in Washington State.
He is also 34 … nearly a decade younger than some fans had assumed.
“It blows my mind that Mike is only 34,” remarked a Reddit denizen who sparked a whole conversation.
“He’s giving me 42,” another suggested.
A commenter remarked: “Wow that is a hard 34.”
Another opined that “quite a few of the 90 Day’ers look older than the age they flash on screen."
That is certainly true.
Though one name in particular comes to mind.
Angela Deem is 55 years old, give or take.
Since she first appeared on the show, fans have noticed that she looks about 10-15 years older than she is.
In her case, a major culprit was likely cigarette smoking, an act of olfactory terrorism that also ages the user rapidly.
In Mike’s case, fans pointed to a few features.
They observed that he has some graying hair and a somewhat "puffy" face.
One didn’t even point to physical features, noting only that Mike "has older energy."
Some fans observed that Mike simply has a chill vibe that most of us associate with older men.
This isn’t always a good thing, as it seems to make him a man of few words.
Mike’s terse replies and lack of emotional engagement reminds viewers of men of previous, worse generations.
Additionally, and on the positive side, Mike has been married and owns property.
Among Millennials, that puts him well ahead of millions who find one unlikely and the other impossible in our nightmare economy.
As older generations hoard wealth, seeing someone with their own house and own land makes them seem older.
Truth be told, Mike is probably just chronically exhausted, physically and emotionally.
Before the "Natalie was draining him of his will to live" jokes start, we don’t mean from his relationship.
Just look at his commute. Multiple hours in both directions, five days a week? Miserable.
Additionally, we can look to context clues that might indicate that, as one commenter suggested, it was a "hard 34 years."
We don’t know Mike’s mother’s age, but the infamous Uncle Beau is reportedly only 50 years old.
Hard lives can age you rapidly, and sometimes, many members of a family can lead similarly hard lives to one another.
There are things that Mike could do to highlight his actual age of 34.
And no, we don’t just mean that he could dye his hair, though that’s certainly the easiest option.
How about displaying a little more positive energy and enthusiasm? That could shave years off of his perceived age.
Of course, one explanation for why Mike gave off "older vibes" is that we have always seen him beside Natalie.
In reality, the two are the same age — almost shockingly age appropriate for this show.
But Natalie is a very high energy person who wants to talk and engage, and that contrasts makes Mike seem even more passive than he is.
In contrast, castmate Julia Trubkina sometimes shocks fans who assume that she is, like, 20.
She is 26. And, honestly, she doesn’t even strike us as immature.
Julia has learning and growing to do, but that seems age-appropriate for a woman in her 20s.
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