From one reality TV obsession to the next… the new season of Farmer Wants a Wife is heating up
The 2024 season has only just kicked off and already contestants are ejecting themselves out of the running in the competition for our five Farmers: Bert, Dustin, Joe, Tom and the recently departed Dean.
Unlike Married At First Sight, Farmer Wants a Wife is a typically wholesome show with not quite as many twists and turns (or cheating scandals), but there’s still plenty of drama to whet our appetites.
We’ve rounded up all the goss from the 2024 season so far. Can I get a yee-haw?
Farmer Bert is secretly dating someone… from the show.
Rumours are circulating that Farmer Bert Harris is set to leave Farmer Wants A Wife, but now, there are further reports claiming he’s dating one contestant who’s no longer on the show.
According to Yahoo Lifestyle, Bert will be “the next farmer to leave” and “not because he finds a match like Farmer Dean did with Teegan.”
The publication spoke to a number of sources who claim that Bert “was done being a puppet for the producers on his farm,” who in true reality TV fashion, urged him and the women he chose to create nonexistent drama.
“Farmer Bert was really sweet and it was sad to see him being treated like a prop. These two male producers had come from filming FBoy Island and obviously wanted conflict,” said the source.
“He actually felt uncomfortable with his producers and their suggestions on how to handle the remaining women,” the insider revealed, claiming this was the reason he left. “He no longer felt like he could go on and pretend just for the show.”
However, it’s not all doom and gloom, as it’s believed that he’s secretly dating Lauren McNeil, a former Farmer Wants A Wife contestant who chose to leave the show because she didn’t want to compete for Bert’s attention.
The source continued to say that when he leaves, the network will say it’s because of his “inability to give the show his full attention,” but really, he just wanted out.
“Channel Seven viewers are set to riot as they will see through his decision to leave the show,” they said.
“It was clear he did not want to stay on a show that was about staging manufactured drama. He was continually put in situations he felt were not authentic and butted heads with producers who were not listening to his real opinions.
“The show was filmed late last year and while viewers will have their own ideas on who he might have genuinely liked they will be surprised to know he has been romancing one girl who had already left.”
Bert and Lauren are allegedly set to go public with their relationship in late May after the show finishes airing.
Farmer Joe dumped two girlfriends to appear on the show.
Oh boy, things aren’t looking too good for Farmer Joe.
The Farmer Wants A Wife star has been exposed for not just dumping one, but two women to appear on the dating show.
This is getting MAFS-level messy.
Kat and Maddy, who both claim to have dated the farmer before his TV stint, appeared on the podcast So Dramatic! to share their side of the story.
It all started when the girls spotted Joe on the FWAW Instagram account as one of the official farmers for 2024, and after putting the pieces together, they quickly realised that they had both been dating him at the same time.
Kat began dating Joe towards the end of April last year, before he broke things off around July 18. Meanwhile, Maddy matched with him on Tinder on June 12, 2023.
The two dated for a short period before Joe called it quits on July 24, admitting that he wanted to join the reality show. However, the lineup of 2024 farmers was announced the next day on July 25… so, what’s really happening here?
And if you thought it couldn’t get any worse, you were sorely mistaken, because upon doing some digging, Kat and Maddy discovered that Joe was dating seven other women while he was seeing them.
Kat claimed that Joe kept his options open, so if one girl was busy, he’d meet the next that was on his “list”. Gross.
Farmer Dean and Teegan broke up before the reunion.
Farmer Dean elected to leave the show early after finding his lady in Teegan, but did they actually go the distance? Well, yes and no.
According to the So Dramatic! podcast, the couple are together now but they did briefly split after filming wrapped.
“Once production on Dean’s farm ended, everyone left, and Teegan stayed on the farm for a few more weeks,” an insider told the podcast.
“They did long distance for a bit, and she moved up to Kandanga shortly after that to give things a proper shot.”
But the source added that Teegan ended things with Dean before Christmas which meant that when they attended the reunion in January, they weren’t together anymore.
“They went to the reunion together but weren’t actually together. It was super awkward,” they claimed.
Thankfully, they have since rekindled their relationship.
“Not long after the reunion, they reconnected and started doing long-distance again and are still taking things slow,” another source added.
“Dean and Teegan are still very much together. They’re tackling a long-distance relationship at the moment.”
A Farmer is being accused of being a ‘fake farmer’
Listen, it’s not totally farfetched for dating shows to experience cheating scandals, but this? This is new.
Farmer Joe has been forced to respond to the wild allegation that he’s a fake farmer and lied about his profession to snag a spot on the show.
The rumour started gaining traction after a viewer left a comment on a post made by the Farmer Wants A Wife Instagram page.
“This Joe Blow isn’t even a farmer… he’s a FIFO worker living on his parents’ farm,” they wrote.
To clear up the speculation, the 30-year-old spoke to Yahoo! Lifestyle, saying the allegations are untrue.
“I think it’s pretty unfair,” he said.
“I grew up here in Bombala, NSW. I’m a part-owner alongside my mum and dad, which is not uncommon for any sort of younger person.
“I’ve had comments [that say] I don’t have a farm… So, I’m just like, well I don’t know where we filmed it all, all the cattle work and things like that.”
Joe continued to say that the rumours he’s merely a FIFO worker who is utilising his parents’ farm for the show are false.
“I did a lot of FIFO when I was in my early 20s, which led to the money to be able to buy part of the farm from my parents,” he continued.
“I’ve used my skills that I’ve learned along the way to be able to do these things, but my address, and my home is here on the farm.”
A pregnancy scandal is set to hit the series.
According to New Idea, a source connected to Farmer Wants a Wife revealed that after one of the couples became intimate during production, one of the women was left concerned she’d fallen pregnant.
The magazine didn’t name which couple was involved, and didn’t know whether the woman had actually gotten pregnant, as the couple has since gone silent.
“It would be a huge twist if they are though,” the source said. “These sorts of things typically happen after the show ends, but not during production!”
It’s not the first time this has happened in FWAW history. In 2021, Hayley Love fell pregnant with Farmer Will Dwyer’s baby, despite competing for Farmer Matt Trewin in the series.
A detail suggests one Farmer leaves with nobody.
As Farmer Dean has already ejected himself from the show after finding his lady, Teegan, this means only four farmers remain.
Bert, Dustin, Tom and Joe are all set to pick their forever love, but according to Yahoo Lifestyle, some Sportsbet odds may have spilled the fate of one Farmer.
While most of the odds have one woman selected as their favourite, Farmer Bert’s profile looks a little different. The option with the highest probability is Bert leaving solo, with him picking Caitlin in second position, and Karli trailing behind.
This is, of course, pure speculation, but Sportsbet does have a tendency to pick the correct winners, so worth keeping an eye on.
A Farmer has spoken out about getting cut from the show.
The premiere introduced five Farmers, but apparently there were initially eight men being considered, which means three got the flick.
One of these dumped bachelors was South Australian cattle and crop farmer Zac Taylor. He spoke about being ditched from the line-up during a chat with Greater SA last month, reflecting that “some things just aren’t meant to be”.
The 28-year-old is still holding out hope he’ll find his match some other way. “I’m very focused and driven. I’m a bit of a workaholic. And at times I have the mentality of a 12-year-old,” he added.
You sound like a real catch, Zac.
The Dail Mail reported that the two other axed Farmers were Nick, a 22-year-old from South Australia, and a 33-year-old cattle rancher named Todd from Baan Baa in New South Wales.
A text message claimed one contestant was already in a relationship.
On an earlier episode of Farmer Wants a Wife, drama erupted when Farmer Dean received a mysterious message about Teegan, one of his leading ladies.
What did the message say? “It says, ‘I hope you see this in time, but Teegan has a boyfriend, she might be leading you on, she’s in love with someone at home,'” Dean read.
Teegan ran off in tears, prompting her competitor Tiffany to air her suspicions. “I don’t think I would have run off crying,” she said. “I mean, you don’t have a reaction like that unless it could be true?”
But after Dean caught up with Teegan, she assured him it was “not true”. In a confessional, she added, “knowing that someone’s trying to jeopardise my experience… My biggest fear now is that Dean will always doubt me and not trust me, but I’m here and I’m absolutely going to fight for Dean.”
Dean didn’t seem that fazed and continued to console Teegan — which just irritated another contender, Hayley. “It’s just brought them closer together!” she grimaced, before electing to leave Dean’s farm.
Dean eventually chose to exit the show early after deciding Teegan was his pick.
Stay tuned for more Farmer goss as the billy tea continues to spill in the coming weeks…
Feature image: Channel 7.
This article was originally published on April 22, 2024 and has since been updated with new information.