MAFS Australia’s Jake ‘seriously worried’ about career after controversial photo ranking comments

14 March 2025, 12:18 | Updated: 14 March 2025, 17:12

MAFS Australia's Jake said the backlash over his photo ranking comments left him worried about his career. Picture: Nine/Instagram

By Jenny Medlicott

Jake has said he was 'seriously worried' about his career after facing backlash from his photo ranking challenge on MAFS Australia.

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Married at First Sight Australia fans were left totally bewildered when they watched groom Jake Luik during the photo ranking challenge with his wife Ashleigh Ackerman.

The challenge is set out by show experts Mel Schilling, John Aiken and Alessandra Rampolla where the contestants receive a photo of their fellow casemates and have to rank their attractiveness.

But Jake left his wife feeling pretty uncomfortable after he made some controversial comments about the other brides on the show.

“I'll just try to be as honest and truthful as possible here,” Jake told his wife before carrying out the task.

Read more: All the shocking MAFS Australia couple swaps
Read more: Are MAFS Australia's Ashleigh and Jake still together?

Jake responded to backlash over his controversial comments on MAFS Australia. Picture: Nine

He ranked Jacqui last because she has “crazy eyes” and then claimed Sierah had an “intimidating” look and face that screams “I could stab you in your sleep”.

But the most controversial of his comments were about bride Awhina, as he said: “Not gonna sound like... not racist or nothing, but I do like Caucasian people mainly, mostly.”

Until this point, the couple had been fairly smooth sailing in their experiment journey, but when Jake finished the task by placing his wife in the middle of the group, Ashleigh couldn't take it anymore.

She said in a piece to camera: “How dare you say these unhinged things about these gorgeous women? It can be honest without being hurtful and nasty.”

Initially, Jake defended his comments as “just a joke” but then erupted into anger, as he told his wife: “That really p***ed me off. I'm not a naturally vicious person and you're making it out to me like I am. I don't need that s***.” He then stormed out of the apartment.

Jake and Ashleigh on MAFS Australia. Picture: Nine

Sure enough, Jake’s comments about the other brides led to a fiery storm of backlash online.

One wrote: “I have never seen someone undo so much goodwill and reputation as quickly as Jake has just done. Awful own-goal (after own-goal).”

Following the controversy, Jake issued a response, insisting that only part of what really happened was shown and that it was edited to make him look worse.

The PE teacher from Western Australia said that the fallout from his comments left him “seriously worried” about his future because he thought he was going to lose his job.

Jake claimed that the “production crew weren't happy with anything [he] was saying” during the task so he was made to “spend 30 seconds on each girl and be more detailed”.

“So I just said something stupid. My mouth works faster than my brain sometimes," he told the Daily Mail.

He continued: “I know I shouldn't have said it, and I apologised immediately at the commitment ceremony. But they made it look like I took my time and didn't want to say sorry.”