When it comes to new pairings on season 1 of The Ultimatum, it’s safe to say Rae Williams and Jake Cunningham had the strongest connection.
“Jake and I, you know, we had a strict rule as far as physical things went,” Rae told Us Weekly exclusively ahead of the Wednesday, April 6, premiere of the new Netflix show. “I kissed him a lot. I was one who initiated kissing with him, but we didn’t take it past kissing. And that was really important to both of us.”
Rae, for her part, joined the reality series with Zay Wilson, issuing an Ultimatum for him to propose. Jake’s partner, April Marie, meanwhile, was also ready to get engaged, but he wasn’t. As part of the show, the couples found new partners for three-week trial marriages before reuniting with their OG significant other to make a decision about their future. According to Rae, she and Jake “definitely both felt guilty” about their chemistry on the series.
“The whole time that you’re going on these romantic dates and you’re connecting and you’re living with this person living your day-to-day life with them — in the back of your mind is always the jealousy that you have toward your original partner and what they’re experiencing,” she told Us. “And then just the guilt for, like, sometimes [I’d] get really happy and I’d be like, ‘Oh, I’m so happy right now. I love hanging out with this guy. I can’t wait to go home and cook dinner with him and watch a movie and do whatever.’ And then I was like, ‘I should not feel like this.’”
Jake, for his part, confirmed to Us that the twosome didn’t cross the lines set by April and Zay.
“I didn’t wanna do the show, so going on and having to do that experiment and me still sticking to her guidelines that she wanted — like, she’s the one that wanted to do it. She’s the one that wanted to experiment around and see all this. So honestly me and Rae were very respectful doing the whole situation,” he told Us. “No matter how it looks, we did not have sex. The only thing we did was kiss. I slept in a separate bed for the first five days on the show.”
He added: “So honestly, I was very respectful. … April was doing a lot more than I was. So at that time, I felt OK about what I was doing.”
Jake also told Us that he didn’t agree to shoot the series until the “last minute,” implying that April wanted to go on the show for notoriety.
“I think it was more for the fame. … She loves social media. I like to keep my life private. That’s a big reason why I didn’t want to do it,” he said. “I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but I did have an engagement planned out for her before we [did the show]. I wasn’t gonna tell her because it was supposed to be a surprise.”
Season 1 of The Ultimatum is streaming on Netflix. Fans will have to tune into the finale and reunion to see where Jake and April and Rae and Zay stand now.
