From the quiet life on the farm to national TV star, Bert Harris is suddenly having to adapt to a whole lot of attention.
The 30-year-old pineapple farmer, from Wamuran in Queensland, has become an instant fan favourite ahead of the 2024 season of Farmer Wants a Wife, which premieres on Sunday on Channel 7 and 7plus.
Bert says all the fuss, particularly from female fans across the country, has been “surreal”.
The farmer says that until the beginning of his Farmer journey — and the televising of promos for the reality dating show — he had led “quite a normal life” on his property.
“I certainly don’t go out on the town or anything like that, I prefer to just stay home,” he tells 7NEWS.com.au.
“I have some friends who live quite close by, so we always just stay local and have a couple beers in the backyard, barbecue and stuff like that.
“Now, when you flip the telly on, and your face is right there, you go, ‘That’s right, I did do that’.”
The farmer was encouraged to apply for Farmer Wants a Wife 2024 by friends who had been pushing him to do so for years.
He said that previously he had been “time poor” or simply did not have the energy for the show.
“I kind of just brushed it away, and last year … I thought, ‘Yeah, why not go for it’,” Bert says.
“Obviously there’s a pretty decent success story (with relationships) from the show, so (I thought) why not give it a crack.
“You go through the motions and then the next minute there’s a bunch of cameras and girls at your house.
“So it all happens pretty quickly.”
In the days before his Farmer journey began, Bert spent time having peace and quiet on his boat.
Filming of the first two episodes, which took a week, then kicked off at the NSW Hunter Valley.
During this week, Bert met his eight ladies before having a 15-minute speed date with each.
“My speed dates were pretty interesting,” he says.
“I probably went in a little bit underprepared, and I’m probably not the most confident bloke on a first date at the best of times.
“So eight speed dates back-to-back is… you know.
“It’s a long day and then you’re trying to remember everything that happened on each date.
“But it just goes by so quickly.”