90 Day Fiancé: Love in Paradise season 4 star Shawn Finch is no stranger to the spotlight. Shawn is one of the four new couples joining the cast of 90 Day Fiancé: Love in Paradise season 4, a 90 Day Fiancé spin-off that follows international couples who live in places that would be considered paradise. Shawn joins the series alongside his Brazilian partner Alliya de Batista, who used to identify as Douglas. Shawn met Alliya when they still identified as Douglas, though explained in the premiere episode that Douglas was no more.
90 Day Fiancé has been critiqued for a lack of diversity among its cast. However, in recent seasons, the show has made an effort to expand its representation. The first queer couple on 90 Day Fiancé was Stephanie Matto and Erika Owns on 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days. Since then the franchise has begun casting more LGBTQ+ couples, and it’s interesting to learn about more diverse stories. 90 Day Fiancé: Love in Paradise is gearing up to be one of the best reality television shows right now, and Shawn’s story will play a big part in that.
Shawn is 61 years old, and he’s from West Hollywood, California, and splits his time in New York City. He met the 25-year-old Alliy, who is from Brazil, online during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the premiere episode of 90 Day Fiancé: Love in Paradise, Shawn said he has never put a label on his sexuality. Their time on 90 Day Fiancé: Love in Paradise will be pivotal as Alliya navigates her identity and relationship with Shawn.
Shawn is a television and film hairstylist. He has had quite a lengthy and successful career, having worked on several projects in the entertainment industry. According to his IMDb, Shawn’s first job is listed as an uncredited additional hair stylist position for the original 1996 Scream movie starring Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox. From there, Shawn’s career only grew, and he took on several hairstyling jobs. Shawn has worked on the 1997 Michael Douglas film The Game, Nickelodeon’s Victorious, the reality singing competition The Voice, and Armageddon Time, which stars Anne Hathaway.
Shawn appears to have a great relationship with MTV, as he’s worked on hair for a number of the MTV Video Music Awards. He was cited as a hair stylist for the 2015 and 2018 MTV VMAs, a makeup artist for the 2016 MTV VMAs, and the hair department head for the 2023 MTV VMAs. Since Shawn lives in West Hollywood, it’s clear he has established a profound career in Hollywood for himself. It will be interesting to see if Shawn elaborates on his career as a professional TV and film hairstylist on 90 Day Fiancé: Love in Paradise.
While Shawn hasn’t stepped directly into the spotlight during his career, his Instagram serves as a memory album for his hairstyling work. Ahead of the 90 Day Fiancé: Love in Paradise season 4 premiere, Shawn has under 400 followers on Instagram, and his page is not verified. His most recent post is from August 20, 2018, and it’s a post about the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards. His Instagram is full of pictures of Shawn with varying celebrities. He has posted pictures with Blake Shelton, Barbra Streisand, and Cher, to name a few.
Shawn is new to the 90 Day Fiancé franchise, so it makes sense that his Instagram is not quite current. If anything, it shows Shawn isn’t a 90 Day Fiancé clout-chaser looking for fame on the reality series. Shawn will likely update his Instagram with pictures of himself and Alliya. While Shawn has less than 400 followers, Alliya is one of those. Shawn and Alliya both follow each other on Instagram, but neither has posted any content about the other, aside from Alliya sharing a promotional video for the season on her Instagram stories.
In an exclusive sneak peek on Access Hollywood’s YouTube, Shawn revealed he met Alliya online. “She lives in Brazil, and she is the most amazing person I’ve ever met,” he said, adding, “When I first met Alliya, she was he, and he was Douglas.” Shawn explained that Alliya was assigned male at birth, and enjoyed wearing makeup throughout their relationship. Shawn said that roughly a year and a half into their relationship, “everything started to change.” LGBTQ+ couples are not always represented on 90 Day Fiancé, and Alliya is navigating her identity on the show.
Shawn told PRIDE that he was excited to share the story of his relationship with Alliya. “It’s an amazing story,” he said, adding, “As much as I wasn’t prepared for everything that was going to happen in my life, I was glad it was being documented. I think it’s such an important story.” Shawn hopes that the greater 90 Day Fiancé audience will be able to learn more about the LGBTQ+ community as they watch his relationship with Alliya. He thinks that Alliya’s story is going to “touch” a lot of people as it airs.
He added that 90 Day Fiancé: Love in Paradise season 4 will also showcase his own story as a partner to someone navigating their identity. “I’m half of this relationship, but I’m dealing with a whole person that has to live their life authentically,” he revealed. In the end, Shawn admitted that he joined the series for Alliya and that it “was a big deal” for him to join such a successful TV show. Shawn wants to do a good job representing “this particular part of the community” that viewers may not understand yet.
90 Day Fiancé: Love in Paradise season 4 is introducing a new slate of couples into the 90 Day Fiancé world. Shawn’s relationship with Alliya is monumental, as Alliya is extremely open about sharing her journey on a massive platform. 90 Day Fiancé. Shawn is hoping to represent his community during his time on the show.
Sources: Shawn Finch/IMDb, Shawn Finch/Instagram, Access Hollywood/YouTube, PRIDE