News
16 April, 2024
Farmer pines for love
Wamuran-based pineapple and dragon fruit farmer Bert Harris is gradually getting used to his newfound reality TV status, as he appears in this year’s series of Farmer Wants A Wife.
Bert and four other farmers hit the screens on Sunday and Monday nights for the first two episodes of this year’s TV series, hosted by Samantha Armytage.
The farmers had speed dates with their respective eight contestants, before inviting five of them to the farm in search of a life-long relationship.
During Tuesday’s episode, each farmer chose one of their contestants to spend 24 hours at the farm before the others arrived.
After Bert picked Caity for this, they shared a kiss.
Filming for the TV series took place from late last year to early this year, while Bert has had to remain tight-lipped since then about how things panned out.
Whether or not he found a new partner and possible future wife remains to be seen, but he said he definitely enjoyed his experience.
“It was a good time, and I can look back for the rest of my life and say I did it,” he said.
“I also gained some lifelong friends, with the other farmers.”
Having grown up in Wamuran, Bert also lived in numerous places including Thursday Island and Cairns.
With Bert’s dad, uncle and grandparents having been involved in farming – with the extended family having farms in Kallangur and Moggill as well as Wamuran – Bert took over the running of the Wamuran farm about six years ago.
In the meantime, Bert was in a long-distance relationship which ended amid the COVID pandemic, while he had never even watched Farmer Wants A Wife.
“For years I had friends pushing me towards it,” he said.
“I said ‘no, I’m not ready’. I didn’t have the time, quite frankly.”
“(More recently) I spoke to dad, and he said ‘you’ve got a bit more time, with the farm set up, and you’ve got nothing to lose.
“Go for it, and hopefully you’ll find the person you’re looking for’.”
When promoting began for the series, which has just started screening, Bert said he finally felt ready to give it a go.
Bert said it was very nerve-racking at first to have cameras in front of him.
“It’s always going to be intimidating going on a date with someone new, let alone having a couple of cameras in your face at the same time.”
Bert said the whole experience was a big learning curve for everyone involved.
“They say it’s like dating on steroids,” he said.
“You might have to talk about your feelings a bit sooner (than usual).
“It’s definitely difficult but I did learn a lot about myself.”
As for watching himself on TV, Bert quipped that he didn’t look forward to it and that he “might have to fast-forward the bits that include me”.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how the others go,” he said.
“We’ll see what happens.”
