Channel Seven reportedly “scoped” out multiple fake farms for Farmer Wants a Wife 2022 after contestants’ real farms were deemed unsuitable.
This year’s crop of five farmers has been set on finding honest love, but how honest can it be if the suitors aren’t even getting the true lay of their land?
As reported in episode 216 of the So Dramatic! podcast, several of this year’s farmers filmed their love story on “stunt” properties.
One source even dished to host Megan Pustetto that Farmer Paige Marsh isn’t the owner of a farm at all!
“She works for an agriculture business and “borrowed” a farm for the show,” they said. “It’s all another lie.”
When questioned about this, a spokesperson from Seven said that the 27-year-old is a “first-generation farmer and doesn’t own a farm, hence the series filmed on an alternate farm”.
Farmer Harry Floyd Also Filmed on a Fake Farm
This also seemed to be the case for Farmer Harry Floyd, with another insider dishing to So Dramatic! that he was “faking his farm the whole time”.
“I work with the best friend of Farmer Harry’s mother,” they confessed. “I work in Kyabram [Victoria], where he is from, and his family aren’t saying anything.”
The Herald Sun later backed up, who said a viewer from the area also tipped them off.
They pointed out that the mountainous backdrop we saw on “Harry’s farm” didn’t match up to the actual landscape of the Victorian town.
The network later told the Daily Mail that the fake farm overhaul came at the cost of COVID-19 restrictions during filming.
A representative also told the outlet: “The location of the farm didn’t impact the series as Harry’s ladies were able to experience life on a dairy farm with Harry, including the early morning starts.”
The publication also revealed that Victorian Farmer Will Simpson filmed his love story in NSW — 1,000kms away from his native Berriwillock.
Channel Seven Approached Several NSW Farmers About Using Their Properties for Filming
Given the farmers and their suitors met up weekly during the series, it also makes sense that production would want to limit travel (and expenses) by keeping the cast within one state.
However, they were reportedly so desperate to keep the show as close to home as possible they approached a whole lotta NSW locals about borrowing their properties.
According to the Daily Mail, Seven offered residents of Gloucester a “hefty sum” for their ranches.
“A family friend was asked about renting their farm to film FWAW,” one source confessed. “They kept upping the money. It was a hefty sum, but they didn’t realise he’s a former CEO of a Fortune 500 company!”
Without naming the CEO, the insider said he turned down the offer as it “goes against” what he “stands for”.
“[The show] wanted to bring in animals, but that goes against what his farm does and everything he stands for. They were expecting just to pay him, and he’d be out of the place.”
A Potential Farmer Wants a Wife 2022 Farmer Revealed She Was Asked to Film On an Alternate Farm
Chatting to So Dramatic!, one Queensland woman said she was in the running to be a female farmer this year.
However, she was “super turned off” by the potential of having to fake her lifestyle on somebody else’s property.
“Luckily, I didn’t get through. [I was] super turned off by the fact they said I would need to be in Sydney for filming and pretend a banana farm down there was my farm.”
According to the agriculturalist, she didn’t have a Zoom meeting with producers until “two weeks out from filming”.
“It was during a Zoom call they told me they had already scoped a banana farm in Sydney for me to film on,” she said. “We are an organic farm and super passionate about the environment, so it was a hard no to film on another farm that wasn’t on the same wavelength.
“Also, how awkward pretending that’s your farm… Awkward as hell telling our story on another family farm.”
Of course, this year’s Farmer instalment isn’t the first we’ve heard of fake farms or fake farmers.
Throwback to 2021, when Sam Messina — A.K.A Farmer Sham — found himself in hot water for dubbing himself a “farmer” when he was allegedly a tradesperson from Sydney.
He reportedly used his brother’s property in Canowindra, NSW, for the show.
Want even more goss? Listen to episode 216 of the So Dramatic! podcast with Megan Pustetto below!
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