Jack Dunkley was grilled by the MAFS cast about dumping his ex-girlfriend to come on the show and be with his new bride, Tori Adams, during last night’s episode of Married At First Sight.
According to an article referred to on MAFS 2024 last night, Jack told his ex-girlfriend that he was going overseas for work, only for her to find out that he was going to be on Season 11 of MAFS.
According to the woman — believed to be named Courtney Jade — the pair were far more serious than he led on during his dinner-party justification last night.
“Breaks up with me right after I met his family and he told me he loves me,” Courtney wrote on The Wash’s Instagram.
“Tells me it’s for [a] ‘work opportunity in America’ only to find out he’s on MAFS in Sydney.”
PEDESTRIAN.TV spoke to both Jack and Tori today, who joined the line separately, to clarify these claims.
“When things ended with her [the ex-girlfriend], I validated the situation that we did have,” Jack explained.
“She was throwing claims at me like I used her and didn’t care about her and I said, ‘No, I do care for you and I had love for you.’
“That is the one and only time I’ve ever used that term [love].”
“And I did [have love] at that point and I wish her nothing but the best. I wanted that girl to do good things and live a happy life.”
The semantics of it all! Regarding whether or not she met the family prior to the breakup, Jack says that it was actually because he wanted support saying goodbye to his late grandmother.
“I was really close with my nan and I was actually flying home to Victoria one weekend because my dear, dear grandmother was on her deathbed and I was going home to say goodbye,” Jack told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“I selfishly asked the girl to come with me because I wanted support. It was not intended for her to meet my family and I made that very clear,” he continued.
“At the time, we even had a fight about it. She was saying ‘We should be meeting your family’ and this, that and the other.
“I said ‘No. I need your support right now. I want to go home and say goodbye to my nan, would you fly with me?’”
It’s a messy one, guys — and anyone who’s been heartbroken knows that there are different interpretations of events when in relationships. If I learned anything here it’s that Courtney’s not lying — nor is Jack saying that she is — but there’s a lot of fucking grey areas.
Jack also also said that there was communication right up until the day before their MAFS wedding.
“I was well aware it [information around the ex] coming out was gonna happen. I was still having communication like a month before, a week before, a day before I met Tori — I wasn’t responding. But my phone was blowing up,” Jack said.
“As soon as I got to know Tori and we knew each other’s last name, I was going to essentially tell her our situation — we had a three-month casual relationship, it ended and I’m here now, fully invested.”
As for Tori, she maintains that she knew all about this ex-girlfriend within days of meeting Jack for their MAFS wedding.
“We had this conversation [about the ex] maybe two or three days into our honeymoon, so I was well abreast of the situation regarding this person, so it wasn’t a shock to me at all,” Tori explained.
She said it had gotten to a point where she was prepared for the information to come out, and it was more a matter of when.
Jack said he offered Tori his phone to look at the messages and to ask anything that she liked about the ex-girlfriend situation. “I gave her full clarity on that,” he confirmed.
Tori said it wasn’t shown in last night’s MAFS episode, but that she actually addressed the table about Jack’s ex.
“Everything that Jack told me was factual, and everything that Jack brought to the table was the exact same thing [as what he told me], so there was no inconsistencies of stories whatsoever.”
With a lot of opinions surrounding Jack throughout Australia right now, Tori admits it’s been difficult to watch from the sidelines.
“Some people have really nasty things to say and I don’t necessarily like reading those things about Jack because it’s hurtful and it hurts me.”
Chantelle Schmidt is a freelance writer. You can follow her on Instagram here.
Watch MAFS Season 11 episodes on 9 and 9Now.
