Barely a week in, MAFS is already causing quite the stir, and one particular groom seems to be at the forefront of most of the controversy.
Jake Edwards was one of the first grooms to walk down the aisle during Married At First Sight Australia’s new season, and the former AFL player has tracked quite the trail of scandal in his wake.
Before the show even began, Jake, 32, was involved in a cheating scandal with his ex-fiancé Paige, when friends of hers called him out on social media.
Taking to Instagram, one of Paige’s friends said, “First of all LEL at ‘EX AFL Star'” which was a reaction to a news headline about Jake.
Another friend also posted comments about his past behaviour, saying: “Good luck to his future. In the midst of it all finds it somewhere in him to apply for MAFS.”
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Jake’s ex and her friends slammed the groom online.
(Channel Nine)And that’s only the tip of the iceberg, following on from those comments, Paige herself came out to inform her followers that she wouldn’t be watching this season, adding she won’t be “wasting” her energy with it.
“I am not watching MAFS and have no intention to. I don’t want to waste my energy on it so please stop sending me everything you see,” she wrote.
Fans also took it upon themselves to take a deep dive into Paige’s Instagram, where they found that she had gone back and edited her captions on old photos of her with Jake, taking not-so-subtle digs at her ex.
On a post from August 2017, the original caption read “LOVE”, but Paige then added under it to read “Edit: deceit.”
She also edited the caption beneath another photo from November 2017, where it was originally captioned “my rock” but now states “Edit: ehhkkkk also other people’s rocks”.
The ex-couple were together for a few years, and in Jake’s official MAFS bio, he says he ended the relationship when he realised “he didn’t love her anymore”.
In a hope to move on, Jake took the plunge with the experiment, and what started off to seemingly a good start, Jake was immediately blown away by his blushing bride.
However, the same couldn’t be said for 27-year-old Perth socialite, Rebecca “Beck” Zemek.
As she head down the aisle, Beck was less than impressed with her groom Jake, claiming he was looking at her like she was a “piece of meat.”
Jake was smitten with his new bride, but the feeling wasn’t mutual.
(Channel Nine)Things went fairly downhill from there for the two, with Beck dodging Jake’s attempts for a kiss on their honeymoon.
Although there was a turning point later on, after the two managed to find some middle ground and bonded over past mental health experiences. And while it’s still early days for the couple, the emotional exchange appears to have strengthened their connection.
But in yet another twist (because this storyline isn’t already a mess) Jake was spotted in real-time spending a night out with Bachelor contestant Jessica Brody.
Over the weekend, Jess uploaded an image to her Instagram of her and another person’s hand next to two glasses of wine, and eagle-eyed fans were quick to point out the identifying tattoo on Jake’s hand, which reads “order”.
Jake’s ‘ORDER’ tattoo was spotted in Jess’ photo.
(Instagram)Jess later confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that the pair did in fact catch up, but they’re just “friends”.
This did next to nothing to ease speculation that Jake and Beck have split since the show, especially considering their rocky start.
Only time will tell if the pair have in fact made in through to the end, but until then, we hope this groom has no more surprises in store.
