‘I used to love reality TV – and then I watched Farmer Wants A Wife’

I used to be a love quest reality TV show addict.

I have seen nearly every season of the Aussie versions of Farmer Wants a Wife, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and MAFS. I have streamed many of the US versions as well.

I consider myself to be a reasonably intelligent person. A feminist with many varied and gritty interests but reality TV for me was just pure escapism. Easy watching. Junk food for the brain. But something has changed within me.

Farmer Wants a Wife coming back onto our screens and into our hearts after four years off gave me a sense of hope. I used to love the simplicity of it.

Scrutinising the farmers’ houses. Their daggy linen and filthy bathrooms. The women that went on there were mostly salt of the earth, they genuinely seemed up for a tree change and looking for love. It had an innocence, a lack of contrived fame seeking-ness about it.