The Farmer Wants a Wife wants five farmers who, well, want wives.
Or husbands.
For the 2025 show.
Eureka Productions, the company behind the hit Channel 7 show, called North West Farmer this week because it knows Mallee farmers have that certain bucolic je ne sais quoi which makes people swoon.
Such as fourth-generation cropper Will Simpson, whose family calls a big slice of country between Culgoa and Berriwillock home and who, after his involvement in the 2022 show, returned home with partner Jess Cova in tow.
Before becoming a reality TV heartthrob, Will worked in the welfare industry for a year, moved to Darwin, worked in construction for seven months, travelled Australia for another three months and then headed home in 2018.
“Permanently,” he laughs.
As well as farming between Berriwillock and Culgoa, the Simpsons have a second base 15km west towards Willangie, and across it all the family runs all the usual Mallee suspects: wheat, barley, lentils, canola, vetch hay and occasionally oats.
“We also run Merino ewes and cross them with Border Leicester rams to produce first-cross lambs – a process that has been a part of our farming enterprise for more than 40 years,” Will says.
The couple were part of the the most successful dating show in Australia, which has spawned 10 marriages, two current engagements, one new wedding in the past few months – and 26 Aussie farm kids (plus one more newborn for a total of 27).
The show’s casting producer, Kathryn Eadington, says the farmers can come from any state – they simply have to be aged between 22 and 65.
And forget the stereotype – à la Will Simpson.
Kathryn says the show is casting around for male farmers, female farmers, LGBTQ farmers, even farmers who don’t own farms.
If you are a farm or station manager, if you are a farmhand, you still qualify.
“What we are wanting are genuine farmers looking to start their love story and, of course, the ultimate outcome: a wife or husband,” Kathryn says.
“To nominate a single farmer or, as we call it in the industry, dob in a farmer, you can email us at farmerwantsawife@eurekaproductions.com.au
“Applications need to be submitted ASAP as entries close at the end of May.”
