Alina talks making history on the show and her unique romance with Caleb.
90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days season 5 star Alina is ready for her love story to play out onscreen. ET's Melicia Johnson spoke with the 27-year-old Saint Petersburg, Russia, native about her unique romance with 28-year-old Caleb from Chandler, Arizona, and also how she feels about being the first little person to be featured in the hit franchise.
Alina and Caleb first connected when they were 15 years old on social media but lost touch for 13 years. They then amazingly matched on a dating app, which reignited their feelings for one another. The two are now traveling to Turkey this season to meet in person to see if their online connection translates to real life. Alina told ET they immediately clicked when they got back in touch by chance.
"Our sense of humor is kind of similar, it's pretty important to have fun and everything," she says about what drew her to Caleb. "And he also loves traveling, he's outgoing. He has aspirations in life, so, that just really attracted me. And he seemed like someone I want to get to know better and someone I can confide in because we also know each other for such a long time."
"If I didn't do it, otherwise I would always wonder," she adds about taking a leap of faith by traveling to Turkey to meet him. "'What about Caleb?,' you know?"
Alina acknowledged that she was scared Caleb would be turned off at her being a little person when they met for the first time, though she has been up front with him since the beginning.
"I was really, really nervous, to the point where I wanted to throw up a little bit," she recalled. "Because I couldn't believe it was finally going to happen after all these years. I just never imagined that this random guy on Facebook, I would meet him in Turkey. It's just mind-blowing, actually."
She also noted that seeing one another in person was definitely different than chatting online.
"On social media and the pictures that I sent to Caleb, you can control everything," she explained. "You can control the angles and stuff. But in life, you are who you are. So, extremely nervous but at the same time, very excited."
Alina admitted that she did at some point have "questions" about Caleb's intentions but that she let his actions guide her feelings about him. As for what fans can expect from the couple this season, she notes, "Buckle up, get ready, it's going to be a fun ride and cute."
Alina is making history on the show as the first little person to be featured, and she said that a big part of the reason she wanted to be on the hit reality show is because you don't often see people with disabilities -- specifically, little people dating people of average height -- dating on television.
"I don't think it adds any pressure, maybe a little bit, maybe in a way that I hope I didn't say anything degrading to people like me and I was always correct with the terms that I use to, like, describe myself, you know?" she said. "I don't really feel any pressure, I think that it's awesome. I kind of love that I'm the first one because I'm not really compared to anyone else."
Alina said she's ready for 90 Day Fiancé fans' often bold opinions. She also pointed out that she wanted to bring awareness to insensitivity surrounding ableism, which is discrimination in favor of able-bodied people.
"I don't really see, you know, a lot of homophobic and racist comments anymore because people really know that it's not OK, and it is not OK," she said. "But for some reason, there's not much talk about ableism and how people can say degrading things about those who have disabilities, and maybe something can change with the show, because more people would know that it's not OK to, I don't know, shame someone for their height or for using a wheelchair or something."
90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days' season 5 premiere airs Dec. 12 on TLC.
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