MAFS star Al Perkins sets his sights on Celebrity Big Brother as he admits he 'faked' feelings on Love Island

Al, who rose to fame when he was a contestant on the 2022 season of hugely popular dating show MAFS Aus, made his confessions when he was speaking on a brand new show created by the same people behind MAFS.

The reality star, who went on to appear on Love Island Australia after failing to find love on MAFS, was a guest on Squirm Sessions, a Youtube-exclusive show made by Australia’s largest reality TV company Endemol Shine Australia.

The show, hosted by Former Big Brother Australia alumni Marley Biyendolo and Tilly Whitfield, involves famous guests agreeing to be questioned by the reality TV pair. But, there’s a twist on the traditional chat show format as guests can opt out of answering awkward questions – but not without consequences.

During his appearance on Squirm Sessions, Al opened up about his time on both MAFS and Love Island. When asked why he broke up with MAFS wife Samantha Moitzi before the process came to an end he said: “We weren’t getting along”.

A few months after MAFS filming wrapped, Al joined the cast of Love Island Australia 2022 and was instantly attracted to Jessica Losurdo, who he referred to as “amazing”.

When asked by hosts Marley and Tilly if he had “faked his feelings for airtime”, as was reported by local media at the time, the 28-year-old said: “I’m not going to lie, when I was on Love Island I wanted to win that £50k . . . so I stretched it, yeah, definitely.”

He went on to say he wasn’t sure about the strength of Jessica’s feelings for him, but insisted their decision to end their connection had been mutual. He added: “I was playing it up heavily for the camera. I was playing it up like ‘oh yeah, this is the girl of my dreams’.”

The reality star also alleged that Love Island is the kind of show where contestants have to “put it on” for the cameras. Jessica has previously said she knew in her heart it wasn’t meant to be between them as their connection turned purely platonic when they left the villa.

At the end of his Squirm Sessions interview, Al said he’s hoping to continue his reality show journey by appearing on Big Brother next.

He also revealed that his MAFS vows weren’t totally his own work - breaking the hearts of viewers who thought the sweet declarations brides and grooms make to each other are all completely genuine. Now, some of them might be, but Al confirmed that in at least some circumstances the producers have a hand in the vows exchanged.

“I sort of half wrote my vows,” he said. “Then the producer sort of . . . fine tuned them. My vows were meant to be just funny, like me rapping Eminem . . . But then they were like ‘no we need it a bit more heartfelt’. So towards the end, the wholesome part, they wrote that for me because I’m not a wholesome guy.”

Squirm Sessions is just one of the new digital-only reality TV shows that Endemol Shine are hosted on their new Youtube channel RESAY. There’s also a new dating show called Spicy Dates, were singles get to know each other over a progressively hot meal, and Glow Ups, a makeover series focused on the transformation of “self-proclaimed geeks”.

Endemol Shine Australia also developed another hugely popular dating reality show, Love Triangle. Another new dating show from the same production company is Stranded on Honeymoon Island, which which air on the BBC later this year.