Key Takeaways
- Angela Deem denied watching ex-husband Michael Ilesanmi’s reality-TV return in a cryptic Instagram Reel, comparing herself to a trailing racehorse and telling fans, “Keep watching me.”
- Michael joined Season 2 of 90 Day: Hunt for Love newly divorced, revealing a crush on Brittany Banks before connecting with Kay.
- His comeback contradicts Deem’s earlier suggestion that TLC would drop him after their split, while she hasn’t appeared in the franchise in roughly two years.
Angela Deem says she isn't watching her ex-husband Michael Ilesanmi's return to 90 Day Fiancé—but she clearly knows he's back with the franchise.
The franchise breakout star dropped a cryptic Reel after getting flooded with questions about whether she's watching the franchise, just as Ilesanmi settles into his new role as a single man on 90 Day: Hunt for Love. Rather than name Michael or the show, Deem answered with an elaborate horse-racing analogy that seemed aimed at people keeping score of their post-divorce lives.
“Am I watching that? No,” Deem said. “What I can tell you what I am ‘watching’ and what I do know from being my age is—watching a lot of horse races.”
Deem explained that her father owned racehorses before getting to her point: “The first horse out of the gate ain't always the winner, but the last one comes in first.”
And she wasn't finished.
“Do you get my drift?” Deem continued. “So, no, I don't watch nothing that you're asking me. Why would I?”
She then turned the racing metaphor toward herself, adding, “Keep watching me because I'm that horse that's way behind.”
Whatever Deem intended with the analogy, the timing comes as Michael is enjoying something of a 90 Day Fiancé reset.
After five seasons of franchise appearances dominated by his volatile relationship with Deem, Michael returned for Season 2 of Hunt for Love as an officially divorced man. He revealed during the premiere that he'd reached his breaking point in February 2024.
Michael left Deem's Georgia home and eventually settled in Houston, where he said adjusting to the United States wasn't easy. By the time Hunt for Love began filming in Puerto Rico, however, the divorce was finally complete.
“[As of] a couple of weeks ago, I'm officially divorced,” he said. “I think I'm ready to mingle now.”
He wasn't kidding.
Michael arrived at the resort with an existing friendship—and a secret crush—on Brittany Banks. “Brittany and I, we are friends already, but I don't think she knows I have a crush on her,” he admitted.
Brittany wasn't exactly shutting the door either, confessing, “The messy part of me is like, ‘He's looking good.’”
The season has since complicated matters. Michael has begun developing a connection with Kay while questions remain about the night he spent with Brittany, although he has maintained that nothing romantic happened between them.
That makes Michael's return particularly notable given Deem's previous statements about his future with TLC. After their split, she publicly suggested the franchise wouldn't want anything to do with Michael once their marriage was over. Instead, Hunt for Love has put him back at the center of the 90 Day Fiancé universe without her.
Deem, meanwhile, hasn't appeared on the franchise in roughly two years and has given conflicting signals about whether she'd ever return to reality television.
But her final message made clear she doesn't consider her own race finished.
“I don't jump out the first when the gate opens,” Deem said. “I come as it comes to the finish line.”
