‘Married at First Sight’: Fans React to Jacob and Haley’s Crumbling Relationship

Jacob Harder and Haley Harris have had a difficult marriage from the very beginning on Lifetime’s Married at First Sight Season 12. The newlyweds never seemed to hit it off, and their relationship quickly turned sour as early as their honeymoon.

On a recent episode of Married at First Sight, Jacob and Haley seemed to come to a standstill in their relationship as they discussed their lack of physical affection and chemistry. Married at First Sight fans jumped to Jacob’s defense after the tense exchange.

Jacob and Haley said they ‘weren’t on the same page’

Jacob and Haley performed a kind of postmortem on their strained relationship thus far during their one-month anniversary dinner on a recent episode of Married at First Sight. As they looked through their wedding photos together, the couple was mutually surprised to realize that they looked happy that day.

But Jacob realized that the signs had always been there. After just four days together, he found out that Haley had just been going through the motions in their marriage.

“Looking back at when I kissed her, it was sort of a weird pull-back kiss, where she was actively trying not to kiss me,” Jacob told producers. “We weren’t on the same page, obviously, and I don’t know if there’s any common ground we can reach without instinctually based physical attraction.”

Still, Haley wanted to try to work on things. She argued that both of them hadn’t exactly kept their wedding vows so far.

“All we can do now is try to be positive and move forward for the next month,” she mused.

But Jacob was skeptical, pointing out that he wasn’t so sure anything they could do from here on out would make a difference.

“I don’t know how to approach trying to make a connection with you,” he admitted, adding that it felt “awkward” to try to woo his wife when he knew there was no physical attraction on her side.

The ‘Married at First Sight’ couple seemed to agree their marriage was doomed

As for Haley, she admitted she was frustrated as well. The Married at First Sight star told producers that both she and Jacob were “open” to marriage at first, but they quickly hit a roadblock. Since then, things had only gone downhill.

“Yes, we said we wanted to [make it work],” she argued, “but have either of us really given that full fighting effort? I don’t think we have.”

When it came to physical affection, Haley and Jacob were still not anywhere close to being on the same page. Haley said she needed to have more of a bond because she’d be comfortable with Jacob “touching all over her” – but he pointed out that even a simple hug from him seemed to repulse her.  

“I haven’t been forcing anything, just for the record,” Jacob said, with agreement from Haley. “It’s the disgusted sigh when we hugged for the ‘one hug a day’ thing that really put me off. I’m kinda done with trying that.”

Later, he added, “Don’t worry. In four weeks, you won’t have to see me ever again.”

“So then what are we doing here?” Jacob’s shocked wife retorted.

“I don’t know,” Jacob declared. “I’m kind of done with it.”

‘Married at First Sight’ fans sounded off about Haley and Jacob

Most Married at First Sight fans seemed to be on Jacob’s side when it came to his marital issues with Haley. Some viewers pointed out that Haley had been single for seven years before signing up for Married at First Sight; maybe, they argued, she wasn’t ready to be married.

“Why would she get married if she wouldn’t be open to trying to build a connection?” one YouTube commenter wrote. “Seems like a waste IMO. She had no business being on the show. She shouldn’t have done this. It’s obvious as to why she was single for so long?”

Another fan argued that Haley seemed to want to be the one doing the rejecting, not being rejected.

“She clearly isn’t into him, but doesn’t seem to like being rejected by him,” they commented.

Others thought Jacob did the right thing by standing up for himself in the conversation.

“She’s so defensive,” a commenter remarked. “I’m glad he’s putting his foot down, and choosing himself and his peace of mind.”

“Praying a good woman is sliding in Jacob’s DMs saying ‘hit me up when yo divorce is final,’” yet another fan agreed.

Married at First Sight airs Wednesdays on Lifetime at 8 p.m. EST.