Darcey Silva has over 870,000 followers on Instagram, a recurring spot on one of the most popular franchises on television, and a music career (of sorts). Still, describing her as “just” a reality star or a full-blown celebrity feels a little... off. This isn’t to say she isn’t famous in many circles (hey, she’s on Cameo, too) — it’s just hard to say for what, exactly.
Of course, there is the obvious source of her notoriety: Her role on 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days and many of its various spin-offs. But unlike almost everyone else on the show, Darcey has been familiar with the entertainment industry for decades now. Oh, and there’s two of her.
Darcey’s twin sister Stacey Silva is a less prominent character on 90 Day Fiancé, but she still has her fair share of airtime.
But fiancé or not, Darcey’s not going anywhere. If there’s anything the Silva sisters seem to have maintained over the years, it’s a deep commitment to being on TV, whether people are asking for it or not.
On Monday, TLC announced that Darcey and Stacey will star in a new show called Darcey & Stacey, premiering August 16 at 10/9c. Entertainment Weekly got the scoop that Darcey's daughters Aniko, 15, and Aspen, 14, and the Silva twins’ parents Michael and Nancy will be on the show, along with Stacey’s Albanian fiancé Florian who’s in Connecticut on a, you guessed it, 90-day visa.
The show is about the Silva sisters’ journey through family life and their love lives. And it’s been a long time coming.
Darcey and Stacey Silva were born September 23, 1974 in Middletown, Conn. — the same town where many of their 90 Day scenes are filmed today. The twins grew up there but also spent their childhood “traveling the world,” according to their first reality show teaser from 2009. In the credits of the video, Darcey and Stacey, who executive produced it, call this teaser a “reality concept” pitch, and have named the show The Twin Life.
If you’re hoping to get a clear picture of Darcey and Stacey’s life from that 4-minute video, you’re out of luck. Instead, you’ll find a heavy dose of side-swept bangs (I mean, it was 2009) and a general sense of chaos.
One minute the twins are talking about family tragedies in the back of the cab, the next Darcey (or is it Stacey?) is drinking a beer alone in complete darkness, and the next they are both singing “Billie Jean” and playing air guitar in a bar.
While the confusing aspects of the video are numerous, there is one thing that is abundantly clear after watching: The Silva twins want to be famous.
This fact becomes even more clear when you watch the full 2010 “super trailer” for their reality show pitch, which dropped on YouTube about eight months after the first teaser.
In the super trailer, The Twin Life now has graphics and its own theme song, and follows Darcey and Stacey as they balance being wives, moms, and twins who are trying to make it in show business. Notably, they live in the same house for all of this, along with two sets of (now ex) husbands and children.
The video is about 10 minutes long (one could assume it was supposed to serve as a more thorough pitch for a full-blown reality show) and introduces us to Darcey, Stacey, and their families. Little did they know (or did they know this whole time?) that 10 years later, their dream would come true.
But back to the super trailer, because it's so good.
Since Darcey and Stacey are both unmarried on 90 Day, perhaps the most interesting part of the 10-year-old pitch video is meeting their then-husbands. Darcey’s ex introduces himself in the video as an “aspiring rapper” (go to 9:05 in the video if you’d like to see him in action) and Stacey’s ex is a former professional soccer player turned soccer coach; see the below screenshot.
Oof. Other highlights of the trailer include things like a brief tour of the twins’ bedrooms (they have separate rooms, of course, but they do coordinate aesthetically).
The tour also includes a brief shot of their dad’s room who, yes, also seems to live with them during this time period.
Toward the end of the video, Darcey and Stacey both talk about how important their relationship is with their father, Michael Silva. In fact, Michael himself is interviewed for the video. He talks about how proud he is of his daughters and how he’s there to help them in their lives as best he can — “to a point.”
See, this is where it’s important to note that part of Darcey’s schtick on 90 Day is that she likes expensive things. There is an entire episode that centers around Darcey's now-ex Jesse Meester accusing her of throwing her pair of Christian Louboutin heels at his head, for example.
Considering the widely reported rumor that 90 Day cast members make about $1,000 per episode (which comes out to about $14,500 a season, if you count the Tell All) and that most pairs of Louboutins start at $700, one can deduce that Darcey is not living on 90 Day money alone.
Whether you’re a diehard 90 Day fan or you’ve spent the last 10 minutes watching The Twin Life for the first time (I’m sorry? You’re welcome?), you may be wondering how, exactly, someone can afford to produce an entire reality television pilot and buy $1,000 pairs of shoes when their days seem to mostly consist of having meetings about nothing and occasionally performing karaoke solos in dive bars.
This is where some claim that the existence of Michael Silva may start to clear some things up.
As Katrina, host of The Fraudcast and knower of all things 90 Day, tells me over email, Michael Silva may very well be the “Daddy Warbucks” character in the story of Darcey and Stacey’s various attempts at fame (we haven’t even gotten to their music career yet).
Katrina sent me a link to a bio about Michael Silva's career. Turns out, Darcey and Stacey’s dad is the “original founder and previous CEO of MaisonWorleyParsons, which is the largest international engineering and construction company in China,” says his bio.
It also talks about the various countries around the world that Michael Silva has worked in, which could explain Darcey and Stacey’s claim that they grew up traveling the world. Needless to say, it seems Michael Silva has been successful.
Katrina tells me that she gets asked about who/what is funding Darcey’s luxurious lifestyle all the time. It's one of life's greatest mysteries, like the location of the buried City of Atlantis, who shot J.F.K., and how the blessed TLC producers have the time and energy to keep delivering 90 Day spin-offs. We may never have real answers, but Jesse, for his part, supposedly claimed on Instagram that he was Darcey's "sugar daddy."
For their part, though, Darcey and Stacey have their own clothing line called House of Eleven, which is a likely source of income, and Darcey's LinkedIn bio reads: "Experienced Co-Founder in the entertainment and fashion industry with a demonstrated history of working in TV/film productions. Skilled in Film Production, fashion and acting. Strong business development and worked with Fortune 500 professionals."
Stacey's LinkedIn profile directs people to TheSilvaTwins.com, the official website of the Silva twins. The site shows the celebrities who have worn House of Eleven (Demi Lovato, Nicki Minaj, and Jessica Alba) and describes Eleventh Entertainment, their production company, as "a team dedicated to creating content that entertains and inspires others."
These business ventures — fashion, TV production, and music — combined with their social media influence and their paychecks from TLC could very well mean that they're winning their own bread.
The Dipp reached out to Darcey and Stacey for comment about their father’s role in their career, but neither responded. One clue we have about their father’s involvement is his interview in the reality show trailer: he says he'd help the twins find success “any way he can… up to a point.” Whether he means emotionally, financially, or otherwise is unknown.
But, where is his so-called stopping point? Was it when they landed 90 Day? Was it their first single, “Always In My Heart”? What about their second single, “Lock Your Number”? Does he stop now that they’ve finally gotten their own show? It’s hard to say.
About the new show, Stacey told EW, “Our father, the patriarch of our family, is someone we've always looked up to. It's really special that we will be able to show [our parents] off in our new show." Getting to know Michael is going to be great for fans.
Aside from Darcey & Stacey, according to Monsters & Critics, Darcey is currently filming yet another season of 90 Day: Before The 90 Days with another foreign man. This time, according to Katrina, it’s a Bulgarian man named Georgi.
“He is a DC-based massage therapist ... whom she met during Super Bowl weekend in Miami,” Katrina claims, noting that they’ve been spotted filming in Newport, Rhode Island.
Up until now, the show has followed two of Darcey’s relationships with foreign men over the course of three years. In 2017, cameras first followed Darcey’s courtship with Jesse — a Dutch man who’s a self-described actor, author, personal trainer, and podcast host with an interest in “applied psychology, real estate, and philanthropy,” according to Instagram.
That relationship ultimately ended in flames and an explosive fight about how to properly cut steak, but Darcey was soon back on our screens in 2019 with an equally toxic relationship with Englishman Tom Brooks. Though it is unclear how, exactly, Tom cuts his meat, that relationship ultimately ended poorly, too.
As we wait to see the Silva twins’ dreams come true in the form of Darcey & Stacey née The Twin Life, you should spend some time perusing Georgi’s Facebook, which is as public as it gets for 90 Day castmates — Darcey is even commenting on his photos as recently as last week.
One has to wonder if Darcey & Stacey will have the same theme song as The Twin Life, and/or if the song will ever leave my brain. If the tune is not used for this new show, maybe at the very least, the sisters could use it in their Cameos.
And hey, maybe it’s time to raise those Cameo prices: with an eponymous TV show, Darcey and Stacey are inching closer and closer into real, full-blown celebrity status. Which is somewhat funny, since all they really wanted was to be just reality stars.
Feature Image: YouTube