'90 Day Fiancé' season 7 couple Tania and Syngin are still working through major issues when it comes to their relationship.
90 Day Fiancé season 7 couple Syngin and Tania are still working through major issues when it comes to their relationship.
ET's Lauren Zima spoke to the pair on Tuesday about the new season of 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?, which follows their journey together after tying the knot. Viewers previously saw Syngin's struggles after moving from South Africa to Colchester, Connecticut, to be with Tania, whom he connected with after they met at a bar while she was traveling to his country. In a preview of the new season, the couple is shown back in South Africa with Syngin's family, with Tania in tears.
Syngin told ET that he seriously considered not coming back to America after the trip.
"This was for me a very emotional roller coaster, going back down," he says. "You'll get to see the main reason of going down there and everything, there's a real cliffhanger. It was a very surreal moment, ups and downs, you're there literally with your wife, you're like, 'Damn, should I even go back home with my wife?' Yeah, it's definitely a lot. I would say this was more emotional than last season."
Ultimately, he said what brings him back to America is Tania.
"I'm committed, you know, and I think there's a good future in America right now for me and good things going on here and everything," he says. "You know, obviously, it's all because of this girl sitting next to you. But if that doesn't work out, I think I will be on the first plane out of here. I don't think I would be staying around in America."
"There's definitely a lot going on, we'll have to see," he adds of the possibility still being there of him moving back to his home country. "I think for my immediate future, yes, I think I am on the right path [in America]."
For her part, Tania called their emotional time in South Africa a "build-up moment." She explained that prior, she and Syngin were still in "vacation mode," and that they now need to do the tough work of settling down in their marriage.
"Now that we're in that process, there's a lot that's been coming out and just, you know, questions wondering, are we making the right decisions?" she shares. "Are we doing the right things? Are we meant to be? And it kind of just boiled over that night."
"If relationships were built only on love, we would have the best relationship ever," she continues. "But we're two individual people with our own habits and likes and dislikes and minds and thoughts. If we can blend all that together, we'll see."
Clearly, Tania and Syngin are still dealing with big issues in their relationship that were a problem even before they got married. One major aspect of their future together they memorably didn't agree on was having children -- Tania wanted to be a mom right away, while Syngin didn't even know if he wanted kids or not.
"He's still trying to figure it out, and I'm trying to figure out what's a healthy boundary for me," Tania says about where they stand today on having kids. "I'm not going to pressure him into having kids or not or even pressure him into making a decision, but I need to figure out for me, how long do I feel comfortable waiting? I want to start planning this future. I want to start thinking about what it looks like to start building, to have a stable life to bring children into this world and I'd like to plan that with my husband, but we'll see."
Syngin adds, "I'm trying to get myself more familiar with children and see how I really feel."
One other big issue was when Tania said she didn't consider Syngin her "soulmate" -- rather, her first love was -- which even her own family and friends criticized her for. Syngin said that while he doesn't hold on to resentment over her statement, it's still something they discuss today.
"It was very tough to hear that," he acknowledges. "It's still something that we're looking into a little bit more right now. There's still a little bit more of an open door when it comes to that conversation."
Meanwhile, Tania still had trouble explaining herself when it came to her much-talked-about comments.
"I definitely know that our souls were destined to cross paths," she stresses. "Do I see myself, like, with you forever? Like, I do. Do I see you being the father of children? I do. And do I see us being cranky old people together, waiting for a bus ... yeah, I do."
As for all the criticism Tania has faced from fans -- including when she left to go to Costa Rica during her and Syngin's 90 days together and didn't check in with him when he asked -- she has no regrets.
"I don't think I learned too much about myself and I don't think I would have done anything too differently," she reflects. "I think a lot of it came from the heart. There were a lot of emotions there. It is what it is."
"Expand your mind," she adds when asked about what she would tell her critics. "Challenge the notions and the way you think, and why you think the way that you think, and just challenge yourself on all of that."
Syngin and Tania are currently living together at a rental property in Connecticut -- moving out of her mother's shed -- and also talked with ET about their current lives, including participating in protests against police brutality and supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Syngin said Tania, a vocal activist, has been teaching him about racism.
"Tania is the one that has actually -- not shaped my mind -- but introduced how racism works and what's really behind the scenes and how black and brown people really feel," he says.
Syngin says he got "a lot of hate for" showing his support for the Black Lives Matter movement online.
"I don't care, you have to show what you stand for," he responds. "You get this platform and all of sudden, out of the blue, you know, and one day you're normal, the next day, bam. So you kind of want to figure out, well, how's the best way to use your platform? So, I think that's a movement that really touches all of us."
For her part, Tania said her husband was always open to learning.
"Ever since I kind of met Syngin, we've talked about racism and, like, what that is and how it shows up and it's been ongoing conversations," she shares. "I'm just grateful that Syngin's just so down to, like, listen and learn, and be ready to think things through that he probably would have never thought before."
90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? airs on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on TLC.
Got more on Syngin and Tania's 90 Day Fiancé journey, watch the video below:
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