The Family Chantel season 5 premiere airs the most awkward scene in the show's history

Pedro looking confused in The Family Chantel
Pedro on The Family Chantel (Image credit: TLC)

I've been looking forward to watching The Family Chantel — The Final Chapter, as it’s the final run for the 90 Day Fiancé spinoff series. As viewers know, in The Family Chantel season 4 finale, Chantel and Pedro decided to call it quits, with Pedro moving out of their shared family home and Chantel taking the money from their joint bank account. Going into the new episodes, I wondered if their pending divorce would be even more contentious or if they somehow would find themselves in an amicable place. 

Well, in the season 5 premiere, it became clear that the gloves were off all around. 

In her confessionals, Chantel wasted no time hurling insulting remarks at her ex. She doubted he ever loved her, claimed he did nothing to warrant him thinking he deserved more than half of their assets in a divorce settlement and she wasn't shy about calling him a word that rhymes with "pick." 

Then there was Pedro. He repeatedly called Chantel evil and even accused her of calling immigration on him in an attempt to prevent his Green Card from ever being renewed and, furthermore, stop him from one day attaining American citizenship. 

I can't forget about the family of the exes in this equation either. I thought Chantel's family loathed Pedro, his mom and his sister before. But in season 5, Chantel's support system had absolutely nothing nice to say about Pedro. The feelings were mutual down in the Dominican Republic about Chantel. 

Although I was intrigued by this from start to finish, I ended the episode with one important question on my mind. How could they show Pedro brushing his teeth like that? 

In the scene in question, Pedro was getting ready to meet Chantel for the first time in months. They both agreed to the terms of their divorce, but the exes needed to meet in person with a realtor to discuss the sale of their home. As the camera crew showed Pedro getting ready for the day, they panned to him standing in front of the bathroom mirror with nothing on but a white tank top and white briefs, better known as tighty whities. He then inexplicably places one foot on the bathroom countertop and lunges as he brushes his teeth. Take a look at the image below to help paint the picture. 

In all of my years of living, I can't recall ever seeing a person brush their teeth like that. I had to think, "Perhaps he gets more leverage that way when brushing, which leads to cleaner teeth." But if that were the case, wouldn't dentists recommend it? 

Looking at X (formerly known as Twitter), I wasn't the only one who was confused by the scene. Check out a few of these posts. 

With all of that said, let me make it clear that I'm not tearing Pedro down. I'm simply confused by his hygiene habits. 

The Family Chantel continues airing new episodes on Monday on TLC. Episodes become available to stream on Max and Discovery Plus.  

Terrell Smith

Terrell Smith has a diverse writing background having penned material for a wide array of clients including the federal government and Bravo television personalities.  When he’s not writing as Terrell, he’s writing under his pseudonym Tavion Scott, creating scripts for his audio drama podcasts. Terrell is a huge fan of great storytelling when it comes to television and film. Some of his favorite shows include The CrownWandaVision, Abbot Elementary and Godfather of HarlemAnd a fun fact is he's completely dialed into the TLC 90 Day Fiancé universe.