Islip Terrace's Greg Chillak finds love with Ugandan woman on '90 Day Fiance'

A Long Islander who unexpectedly found love in Kampala, Uganda, is among the couples this season on the TLC reality series "90 Day Fiancé," about Americans utilizing K-1 "fiance" visas to bring their international sweethearts here.

Greg Chillak, 35, of Islip Terrace, and Joan Kruchov, 27, debuted on this season’s second episode, on Feb. 23. He had proposed on her birthday in December 2023, and she later relocated here — where Chillak still lives with his divorced mother, causing almost comedic tensions over things like Kruchov’s propensity to shower two or three times a day and his mom, Lucille Chillak, doting on her son to the point of doing his laundry and cleaning his bedroom for him.

Kruchov — her professional name, her birth surname being Nansambu — is, fortunately, the soul of patience. "One of the things that just made me fall in love with her is how she treats other people," Chillak tells Newsday. "It's just truly amazing. It is just beautiful. She's very courteous, she's very mindful. She thinks of your feelings. She's not selfish at all. One of the most selfless people I know."

She and the East Islip High School alumnus had met in 2019 following his chance encounter the year before with Amos Wekesa, founder and CEO of prominent Uganda company Great Lakes Safaris. Seated beside each other on a plane trip from Arizona to New York, the two hit it off and talked for hours.

"Awesome guy," Chillak enthuses. "He's one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life, to this day. The guy's, like, a millionaire and you'd have no idea." The two stayed in touch, and a year later, "He called me up and he's, like, ‘Dude! When are you coming out? I thought we’d had this conversation!’ " Chillak, currently a ride-share driver and freelance plumber, was at the time working for a cousin at Terry Bros. Tires in Patchogue and had some vacation time. "And I was, like, you know what? I'm going!"

There he met Kruchov, co-director of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Nakajo Hope for Girls Foundation, whose mission is "to create sustainable opportunities" for girls and women alike in her East African nation, "teach valuable skills, and provide critical support to lift families out of poverty."

"When I first saw her, dude, I just knew I want to marry this woman," Chillak says. "But I didn't want her to think I was just there to be a player, because I really wasn't. I was just there kind of soul searching and trying to figure out my life. So I let her be."

A year and a half later, Kruchov contacted him on Facebook. "I remember getting the notification, and my eyes must've lit up and I was just, like, ‘Oh, my God, it's her!’ " A mutual acquaintance had died of cancer, and she’d wanted to let Chillak know. Then, "We just started talking every single day and it just didn't stop" as they bonded over such commonalities as their Roman Catholic faith.

Chillak — the youngest of three children of retired Internal Revenue Service customer-service rep Lucille and the since-remarried George Chillak, who is retired from consecutive jobs as a New York City Correction officer and a Long Island bus driver — says he would like to be able to afford a home and move out of his mother’s. While he and Kruchov, who cannot work until obtaining her green card, "have talked about renting, I feel like I’d just be throwing money at somebody else to pay their own mortgage for their own house."

He does have one perhaps fanciful long-term goal: opening a New York-style pizza shop in Uganda. "They have pizza and it’s good, don’t get me wrong," he says. "But it’s not New York pizza, man!"