90 Day Fiancé Star Alexei Shocks With Military Service Challenge & Throwback Pic

90 Day Fiancé star Alexei Brovarnik has surprised fans with his latest Instagram post. He shared an old image from his time in the Israeli military. Meanwhile, the TLC reality star wrote a caption in Hebrew, challenging others to share an image in their uniform and to strengthen the security forces. He started the caption, writing, “Challenge accepted.” Read on to find out more about Alexei’s Instagram post and the reaction he got from his followers.

90 Day Fiancé’s Alexei Brovarnik challenges his followers

Alexei Brovarnik surprised his fans by making a post on Instagram, including an image of himself from his Israeli military days. Meanwhile, his caption, translated from Hebrew, reads:

The challenge was accepted-

To all the uniform wearers (past and present) – join the challenge, and post a picture of yourself in uniform, to strengthen all the security forces in these difficult days.

Just a picture, no description.

Copy the text and post a picture.

90 Day Fiancé fans will recall Alexei, 34, from his first appearance on TLC in 90 Day Fiancé season 3. In that season, Brovarnik married his American wife, Loren Brovarnik. At that time, fans assumed he was Israeli, as he was working there as a medic. However, it was later revealed that Alexei wasn’t a native of Israel and actually came from Ukraine. Since their debut on the show, Alexei has moved to Florida, where he and Loren now have three children.

How old was Alexei when he was in the military?

After Alexei shared the throwback photo to honor his military service, fans were shocked and surprised. In the image, he is wearing a typical green camo uniform, while holding his automatic rifle and smoking a cigarette. Meanwhile, Brovarnik didn’t reveal how young he was when the photo was taken, but he does look very young. In fact, he was probably in his 20s.

90 Day Fiancé fans were quick to respond to Alexei’s post and were clearly confused. Some wanted to know which service he was in and others wanted to know if he still smokes.  Fellow cast members liked the post, including Gabriel Paboga, Rishi Singh and David Toborowsky. Meanwhile, Loren Brovarnik shared her love with Alexei, offering her support.

Alexei’s Instagram post draws criticism

While most of the comments were positive, and fans applauded his words, some were more critical. Clearly, depending on which side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict his followers were from, the image could cause issues. Meanwhile, in the comments, some fans used hashtags like #freepalestine, while Instagram users argued back and forth. One fan was slammed after he posted: “I don’t like this picture ..not a good choice.. for a family that is adored by their followers.”

Yet another, referring to Palestine, wrote, “I think u sholud [sic] take off this picture, that’s not good reputation for izrael [sic] especially whan [sic] we know what they do to Palestinians. Show some respect.”

Despite the controversy in the comments, it is unlikely that Alexei’s post had anything to do with Israel’s occupation of Palestine or anything political in the country. He was living in Israel and, like all citizens, had to do his part in the national military service.

These days, Brovarnik has put his military past behind him, while he lives in America with Loren and their three children.