‘It’s not just about finding a farmer, but a farmer willing to go on television’

Since joining Farmer Wants a Wife on Seven, Sam Armytage admits there are two things she keeps getting asked every year.

The first is from women wanting her to play matchmaker.

“So many women come up to me, of all ages, and will grab my arm in the supermarket and say, ‘Could you please find me a farmer?'” she explains.

“It’s a real thing. Particularly post-Covid, a lot of people want to move out to the regions. There’s the romance of falling in love with a man who tends to the land. It’s a real thing. So creating a show around that is a no-brainer. And it’s had so much success over the years, so I was actually quite thrilled to be part of it.”

The second is around the show’s cookie-cutter cast or, to put it more bluntly, a lack of diversity. Producers maintain it is the Farmers who choose the women to appear, although casting necessarily begins with the Farmers themselves (last season included a female farmer).

Armytage acknowledges there is room for improvement, but hurdles to overcome.

“That does come up every year. We know it, we see it, obviously, and the thing is we’re completely open to it. I get asked every year, ‘Why isn’t there a gay farmer on there?’ Good question. If you know any, and they want to be on TV, let us know, we would love that!” she reveals.

“There’s certain areas along the east coast with macadamia farmers, or Griffiths has different nationalities who’ve moved to Australia and started farming. I think the producers would love to have more diversity on the show. But the trick is getting them to agree to appear on television. It’s not just about finding a farmer, it’s finding a farmer who’s willing to go on television, which is a big thing to do.

“I mean, I take my hat off to them. It’s huge to do this on camera. So look, we’re unbelievably open to having more diversity on the show. But it’s just tricky. I mean, we put the call out all the time: ‘If you’re interested and you want to do it, we’d love to have you!’ But so far no one has agreed to be on.”

Big Brother‘s ‘Farmer Dave’ Graham came out on national television in 2006, leaving big shows to fill.

“Farmer Dave is the first bloke that you think and it shouldn’t be like that. They’re out there somewhere. We’ve just got to get them to agree to come on television,” says Armytage.

This season has the unusual boast of all 5 farmers finding romance by season’s end. While it isn’t clear how many partnerships have endured since filming ended, it’s still a first feat across the 13 seasons which have screened across Australian television.

Armytage maintains the show’s enduring popularity is due to the show’s authenticity compared to other dating shows.

“When I think of the reality dating shows on television these days it’s a very genuine show. The word ‘wholesome’ keeps coming up around it, which you don’t hear in TV that often these days,” she continues.

“The farmers are genuinely there to find partners and they’re all good blokes, and I enjoyed meeting them all.

“We’re very proud about our agricultural industry in this country as we should be. So I think people really like farmers to do well. They’re the heroes of our story.”

That said, there is still TV conflict to be found.

“Love in the real world has drama. There’s ups and downs, so you have that in the show, over the 15 weeks (of production), but I guess that’s what reality shows do….” she suggests.

“(Executive Producer) Janine Cooper is fantastic. She comes from The Bachelor so you can see how some of the themes and ideas do overlap. But I think they do try to keep Farmer very separate. They lean away from from some of the more dramatic dating shows, where perhaps people’s hearts aren’t in it for the right reasons.”

This season Armytage also takes on the central hosting role with Natalie Gruzlewski reportedly wanting to step back from production.

Having made her own tree-change, after marrying horse breeder Richard Lavender in 2020, Armytage says the show was a TV marriage itself.

“When I left Sunrise, Kerry Stokes called me and said, ‘This is not the end, this is just sort of goodbye for now. We’ll see you soon,’ which was very decent of him. They called me a few months down the track after I’d done a little bit of horse racing for them, which was great fun working with Bruce (McAvaney) and the team,” she recalls.

“Farmer is very on brand for me, I can see where they’re coming from. I used to stick up for the regions all the time on Sunrise. I think country people love that because there’s not that many people in the big smoke on television, you know, sticking up for them. So it was a perfect fit.”

This season Armytage and husband Richard were even able lend a hand when weather conditions impacted some of the locations.

“We still shoot around the Hunter Valley, although the weather the time was just atrocious. We’ve been battling La Nina. Some it we actually had to shoot at our place down near Bowra because we just couldn’t get it was done in the Hunter. The Southern Highlands is not known for having good weather, but we had to shoot some bits in our paddocks, with our horses in the background,” she adds,

“I’m sort of glad I could offer!”

Farmer Wants a Wife airs 7:pm Monday, 7:30pm Tuesday, Wednesday on Seven.