EastEnders star Jake Wood is outraged to discover a ‘cretin’ Instagram impostor was messaging his fans
EastEnders star Jake Wood was outraged to discover a ‘cretin’ had been impersonating him on Instagram.
The actor, 48, made the discovery on Wednesday and urged his fans to report and block the impostor.
Fake Jake tried to fool fans by using the same picture and bio as the soap legend’s real account.
The real deal: EastEnders star Jake Wood was outraged to discover a ‘cretin’ had been impersonating him on Instagram
The incensed star wrote: ‘It has come to my attention that this cretin @mr_jakewood is messaging a lot of my followers pretending to be me. Please report & block. Thanks (sic).’
Jake’s real account is verified and the popular actor, who played Max Branning on the BBC One soap, has 135,000 followers.
The copycat account, which had just one follower, was quickly taken down.
Fans were quick to rally behind Jake’s call to action.
One wrote: ‘There’s only one Jake Wood’ and another commented ‘surely if you had any common sense you would know that it isn’t you.’
Fake Jake: The actor, 48, who played Max Branning on the BBC One soap, encouraged his followers to block and report the unverified account
Others confirmed their disappointment upon discovering messages claiming to be from Jake weren’t actually from him.
The situation came after the generous celebrity started posting direct messages his followers had sent him on his main Instagram grid, and then replying to their questions.
A follower told the star: ‘If you reply to this I’ll get a tattoo that says stressed to the max [sic]’ to which Jake replied: ‘Cool. Photo please.’
Another EastEnders die-hard addressed their note directly to Max Branning, and wrote: ‘Hi Max just want to say if you killed Ian it’s not your fault he was being really rude.’
The actor responded ‘seems reasonable’ while Adam Woodyatt, who plays Ian Beale, added ‘that’s fair.’
Committed: The real Jake had been replying personally to fans on his Instagram, including one person who swore they’d get a ‘stressed to the max’ tattoo if the EastEnders veteran responded
Last month, Jake left EastEnders after more than a decade, and admitted his time on the soap was a transformative experience.
He said at the time: ‘It’s a strange day for me, this – it’s my last on set. It’s my last day filming EastEnders after 15 years playing Max Branning. I’ll miss the place.
‘It’s the people really, for me. I met some amazing people, made some amazing friends and had an incredible, life-changing experience.
‘Thank you to everyone for all your messages of support and love. I’ve really appreciated all of that. Who knows what the future brings, but today we say goodbye to Max Branning.
‘It’s a bit of a sad day but I wanted to share this with you.’
Life-changing: Jake recently bid a fond farewell to the soap after 15 years in Albert Square
End of the road: Jake called the departure a ‘sad day’ and thanked his fans and co-stars for the love and support he received along the way