Between Farmer Dustin’s falling-down bachelor pad and Farmer Dean never coming home from work, these very young men’s relationships were doomed to fail.
We’re calling it: the best predictor of a successful reality show relationship is age.
Tonight’s reunion episode of Farmer Wants a Wifeproved it.
Some of the farmers were simply too young.
They didn’t have the experience to ride out the little irritations that can kill a relationship, and they didn’t know how to accommodate for another person in their lives, (AHEM Farmer Dustin and that horrible shack you live in!).
Tonight we saw Farmer Dustin, 26, and Sophie, 28, in the hot seat being interviewed by Sam, and got a sneak peak into Dustin’s new house.
The couple was in a good spot, but then Dustin moved out of his parents’ house to a “cottage” on the property. I’d say it’s more a shack, and not like a cool, fancy beach shack, but a proper shack with the roof caving in, kitchen falling apart, no proper furniture.
If I was a real estate agent advertising this place, I’d call it a “knock-down, rebuild”, or a “builder’s special”.
Sam called it “a bit of a wreck”.
If Dustin expects Sophie to give up her life and join his, he needs to grow up, stop storing his clothes piled on a wire rack and build a proper home where their relationship has a chance.
Farmer Dean and Teegan break up
And then there was Farmer Dean, 25, and Teegan, 23, who to everyone’s surprise had broken up.
They seemed so sure of their relationship, so keen to make it work. Dean even left the show early.
But Teegan didn’t get a job and spent her days waiting for Dean to get home.
She was lonely without her family and friends, and unsurprisingly, she broke it off and went home.
We put it down to Teegan’s immaturity that she would give up her life to pair up with a farmer not realising how lonely and tough life on a farm could be, and not realising that she needed some way to give life purpose and independence.
What couples did well on Farmer Wants a Wife?
Maybe the magic of a solid Farmer Wants a Wife relationship is the same as any other relationship: that one person isn’t giving up their life, their family, their everything for the other person.
Let’s test the theory.
Teegan gave up everything to move to Dean’s farm. Teegan didn’t have a job, her family and friends were far away, she sat alone, in her own words, “doing nothing” at home while Dean was at work.
She gave up everything to be with him. He gave up nothing except a bit of wardrobe space to have her there. The equilibrium of their relationship was out of whack and they broke up.
Then there was Dustin, Sophie and the health-and-safety-inspection-failing house.
Sophie didn’t want to move, understandably.
They were still together, but it will take Sophie a lot to want to move there, and Dustin is still joking that a falling-in ceiling “looks fine to me”.
Grow up, baby-man.
Todd, 33, and Daisy, 28 on the other hand were going strong, clearly in love and even talking seriously about marriage.
And what does this couple have that the others don’t? They’re a little more mature, and although Daisy gave up her life in Townsville, she went and got herself a job in a gym near the farm.
“We’re like any other couple, we go to work, we come home, we spend time together,” Daisy said.
And that boring but comforting summary folks, is the foundation of a solid relationship that we hope will stand the test of time.