On the Fox reality dating show “Farmer Wants a Wife,” South Jersey’s Sydney Errera found herself a boyfriend and a new farm in Tennessee to one day call home.
After inviting several contestants to spend time living on his farm in the Nashville suburb of Mount Juliet, Mitchell Kolinsky — one of four farmer-bachelors looking for love on “Farmer Wants a Wife” Season 2 — professed his feelings for Errera and selected her as his hopeful future wife. In the season finale reunion episode on Thursday, it was revealed that the couple is still together months after filming ended.
“We’ve been dating probably for six or seven months,” Errera said Tuesday.
Errera said they’ve been keeping their relationship “low key” to some extent as the show has been airing, to keep the ending of the season under wraps from eagle-eyed viewers, but she notes that they haven’t exactly been in hiding. Kolinsky was even Errera’s date to her older sister’s wedding in December.
“We’ve been going everywhere,” Errera said. “I don’t know why some people didn’t know we were together. I felt like it was so obvious. But yeah, I knew that he was going to pick me early on.”
Errera is a 22-year-old construction worker from Sweetwater, Mullica Township. In the season premiere, she was paired with Kolinsky, a 27-year-old first-generation farmer. They hit it off from their first conversation, when they bonded over their love for hunting, fishing and the outdoors. Their relationship continued to grow throughout the season as Errera thrived while living and working on Kolinsky’s farm. The couple also went on a romantic fishing trip for their first one-on-one date, and Kolinsky traveled to Sweetwater to meet her family.
Looking back on the moment that Kolinsky revealed she was the one, which aired in the “Final Decisions” episode on May 9, Errera recalls being confident that she would be chosen.
“I’d be the only person that he’d be affectionate to when the cameras were off, pretty much,” Errera said.
Regardless of that connection, Errera still found herself feeling nervous when the day arrived to find out whether she’d be picked.
“I almost passed out,” Errera said of that day. “I was having such a bad day and I just had a panic attack and I was freaking out for no reason. I was crying and when I got up there, I couldn’t sit still.”
Kolinsky, who had just sent home the runner-up contestant Kait Smith, noticed those nerves and grasped Errera’s hands as he revealed his feelings for her.
“We share something that is so important to me, and that’s the love for the outdoors,” Kolinsky said during the episode. “I have not found a girl in my whole life that’s able to share that same common interest with me and make me feel like I can actually be myself. … I want you to join this life of adventure with me, and farming’s just the beginning.”
Errera said going on the show and finding an authentic connection taught her to be true to herself.
“I learned to really just be yourself,” Errera said. “Because at the end of the day, someone could like you, but if it’s not for who you are, what’s it matter?”
In the reunion episode, Kolinsky told host Jennifer Nettles that “love’s blooming” between himself and Errera. They also played a video montage showing their time together after the show, which included hanging out on Kolinsky’s farm, hunting and simply enjoying the outdoors. Errera posted a similar highlight reel Tuesday.
“I thought we had a lot in common,” Errera said of her relationship with Kolinsky. “But I didn’t think that we would continue dating after (the show), because I was like, there’s no way we will actually like each other for this long. And then toward the end of the show, he met my parents and we had a lot of time off camera together.”
In contrast with its title, “Farmer Wants a Wife” does not necessarily push an engagement at the end of the show — unlike ABC’s “The Bachelor.” Errera and Kolinsky left the show in a relationship and hope to continue progressing toward a marriage one day.
“(We’ll) definitely move in with each other within the next year,” Errera said. “And then, I don’t know. Who knows? Maybe he’ll propose to me.”
For now, Errera said she’s been spending a lot of time in Tennessee with Kolinsky and will potentially move there with Smith, Kolinsky’s runner-up and Errera’s bestie from the show.
Errera’s family also got a taste of Tennessee when they accompanied Errera to Nashville for the finale. When she does make the move south to be near her farmer-beau, there are two family members who will be joining her: her beloved pet sheep, Teddy and Tucker
“If I go to Tennessee, I’m definitely gonna take my sheep and they’re gonna live on Mitchell’s farm,” Errera said. “They would totally love that.”