One rogue cast member has already received a blue tick on Instagram before the season ends.

One rogue cast member has already received a blue tick on Instagram before the season ends. Photo: Channel Nine

While this year’s season of Married At First Sight has almost finished airing on TV, the cast is still several weeks away from regaining access to their Instagram accounts. For the past few seasons, participants have been given the option to hand over their social media passwords while the season airs so Channel Nine can post on their behalf.

If they opt in, their profile is set to public and all of their content and captions must be reviewed and approved by Nine and the show’s producers, EndemolShine Australia. They then regain access to their account one week after the end of the UK broadcast, typically with hundreds of thousands of new followers and a coveted blue tick.

This year’s cast appears to be playing by a different set of rules, however, with two participants already somehow logged back into their accounts before the reunion has even aired on TV.

Dave Thomas Hand and Veronica Cloherty shocked fans this week when they each started posting on their accounts and answering fan questions on their Instagram Stories, which is a clear breach of their contracts.

Dave Thomas Hand and Veronica Cloherty have both regained access to their Instagram account. Photos: Channel Nine

Surprising MAFS star already has a blue tick on Instagram

Fans were also surprised to see that one participant had already received verification on Instagram and has a blue tick next to their name. While you might think it would be someone like Jamie Marinos, who is currently sitting on over 160,000 followers, the unlikely participant is Jake Luik.

In case you need a refresher because he only appeared in a handful of episodes this season, Jake was paired with Ashleigh Ackerman and quit the show in week two. The 30-year-old teacher isn’t set to appear at the upcoming reunion and has only shared six photos on Instagram throughout the season.

He also currently has the least amount of followers out of everyone in the cast with just over 2,000, while his ‘wife’ Ashleigh has 13,600 – despite appearing in the same number of episodes.

Jake Luik is currently the only MAFS 2025 participant who has a blue tick after appearing on the show. Photo: Channel Nine

Why is Jake verified on Instagram?

A former MAFS participant tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the cast are given social media guidelines at the beginning of the season that state Channel Nine “will be assisting you in applying for verification” after the show finishes airing on TV.

“Even if you get 5,000 followers or 500,000 followers, you still get a blue tick,” they share. “But you only get your blue tick when you get your Instagram back, which happens once the show finishes in the UK.”

The former cast member, who wishes to remain anonymous, admits it’s odd Jake has received his blue tick before regaining access and questions if it’s something he paid for himself. Since 2023, creators can subscribe to Meta Verified on Instagram for around $19.99 per month to receive a verification badge.

“There’s a chance Nine could’ve started applying for people’s blue ticks already because they come in at different times, but it’s usually all within the same week,” they detail. “I remember some people got it and some people didn’t, but this was all in the weeks leading up to us getting it back. This year’s cast is still six weeks away from getting their accounts back, so it’s weird for Jake to already have it.”

It’s important to note that Sierah Swepstone is also currently verified on Instagram, however, she already had a blue tick before going on MAFS because of her appearance on The Bachelor in 2021.

Sierah Swepstone was already verified before MAFS because of her previous appearance on The Bachelor. Photos: Channel Nine / Channel 10

MAFS groom’s ’embarrassing’ act to obtain blue tick

2024 groom Tristan Black tells Yahoo Lifestyle that he was one of the first participants to regain access to his Instagram account last year, but was the last to receive a blue tick.

“I got mine like two to three weeks, maybe even a month after everyone else did,” he says. “I did heaps of chasing up. I felt like such a pleb, but I sent about seven different emails to Nine.

“One of the subjects said, ‘Day seven of no tick’. I sent a fair bit of follow-ups. They did their best, we got there in the end, but it was super embarrassing for a bit.”

Tristan adds that he believes participants need to keep ‘MAFS’ in their bio when they regain access to their Instagram so they are guaranteed to become verified.

“I don’t even know why I was stressing out, it was such a Third World problem, right?” he laughs. “But it did eventually come through.”