Dating locals ’a bit tricky’ for new Farmer hopeful

When there’s only a handful of people in your country town and you’re single, dating can be a bit of a minefield. There aren’t many places to hide if things go wrong — just ask Alex Taylor, one of the new hopefuls on the new season of Farmer Wants A Wife.

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When there’s only a handful of people in your country town and you’re single, dating can be a bit of a minefield.

That was the reality faced by young farmer Alex in Cunnamulla, a small town 780km west of Brisbane that proudly promises “the handshake’s stronger and the smiles last longer”, and a reality that led him to throw his Akubra into the ring when applications opened for the return of Seven’s Farmer Wants A Wife.

The 28-year-old sheep and cattle farmer says the potential for things to go awry should a relationship break down in his town of 1500 meant it really wasn’t worth the effort.

Alex Taylor is looking for love on the new season of Seven’s The Farmer Wants A Wife.

“Everyone knows your business and if you’re dating someone and it doesn’t work out you’ve got a few upset relatives you have to deal with or you’ve got to face them every day at the supermarket or the pub — it does make things a little bit tricky,” Alex laughs. “It’s not like bigger centres where if it doesn’t work out with someone there’s a high chance you’ll never see them again... which is nice.”

The pool of potential partners was limited to seasonal workers, but even those possibilities dried up as the devastating drought in much of Queensland and NSW meant fewer outsiders were heading bush for work.

“You’re generally hanging out for either teachers coming out, doctors or nurses coming out, or the odd jillaroo working on a station or backpackers,” he explains. “That’s the crux of your dating and when it’s not raining, there’s just not the job opportunities around, there are not as many children (for teachers), there’s not as much work on the farms (for the jillaroos), people aren’t employing backpackers and a lot of the nurses and doctors that come out are on contract from Charleville and they only come out for two weeks at a time.”

After two years living in London, using the city as a base to explore Europe, Alex returned home at the beginning of last year and settled into a gruelling work routine that saw him working two weeks in the mines followed by a week on the farm.

Farmers Alex, Neil, Sam, Nick and Harry.

The drought meant there wasn’t enough work on the farm and he had to turn to the fly-in, fly-out world to make a living. Constantly being in work mode further hindered his chances of finding his perfect match.

“I wasn’t meeting anyone, I wasn’t getting the opportunity to meet anyone and all my mates were getting married and coupled up,” Alex says.

That’s when he stumbled across a Facebook post calling on unlucky-in-love farmers. He’d seen the those other dating shows that dominate free-to-air television, but once he’d put his hand up, producers of Farmer Wants A Wife reassured him this show was very different to those.

“They want the best for us and they want us to come off good on TV and they don’t want all that fighting and drama that you see on other shows,” he says. “So there was a little bit of a safety net coming into it. I’m not here to cause fights, I’m here to try to fall in love.”

Alex says it’s a bit dangerous trying to date locals in his small town.

Heading into its 10th season in Australia, the series boasts nine marriages and 20 babies. Five farmers are chosen and thousands of single women can view their profiles and apply to meet them. The farmers choose eight from that pool and embark on a series of dates with each.

Asked what would happen if he found the perfect woman through the show but she wasn’t all that keen to transition to farm life, Alex doesn’t rule out the possibility of moving to the city, but isn’t that convincing.

“Farming is a big part of me and it’s what I’ve grown up with and you want someone to share that same similar passion so I don’t know if I’d ever end up with someone who didn’t quite have the same ideas as me,” he says.

Farmer Wants A Wife, Channel 7, starts July 26, 7pm, continues Monday 7.30pm.