FARMER BEN TALKS DOING HIS NUTS EARLY!

It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reloaded podcast.

Last do their line Welcome back to TV Reload. Mine AM's Benjamin Norris and on this podcast I go behind the scenes with the biggest players in television. Each episode you will get a front row seat with content makers like executive producers, writers, editors and casting agents, plus the talent that we see on our screens. TV Reload reloads the shows that you are currently watching and gives you a better insight into our television industry and our streaming services. Today.

Well, basically oscolated from the world.

Five new farmers have been plucked from paddocks around the country.

Yeah, don't even get me sad on my dance like you hope you're.

Going to go to the farm.

But at the same point in time I might not be what he's looking for.

Yeah, that crushed me to know they've come to two minutes of fame.

Basically, it's all too much for one farmer.

The end of the day, productions there to make the best possible TV shall.

Please welcome Farmer Ben.

Like I was falling head over it was for someone so early.

Hi, Farmer Ben, how are you.

I'm well, thank you? How are you?

I'm doing really well? Congratulations on getting this opportunity. How have you gone watching the first week of the series.

Yeah, to be honest, it's been quite cringe.

I'm one of those types of people that don't take many photos of myself and find it hard.

To look at myself in the mirror.

So yeah, when I see myself on national TV, it's quite hard.

And yeah, it is what it is. It's what I signed up for, but it is.

A bit cringe you seeing myself on TV and sort of opening myself up and you haven't.

Even seen yourself trying to dance on the dance floor coming up this week, so that's going to be fun for you.

Yeah, don't even get me sad on my dancers. I don't know where the whispers came from. They heard that I was a good dance of it. I'm far from it.

And it's just like, yeah, they're concrete boots in the dance floor, that's for sure.

The setup is so spectacular. Plus, what I really enjoy about your time on the series is that you look like you really are taking this whole experience of dating these girls seriously.

Yeah.

It was definitely a very serious process for me.

It was the reason I applied, and I was just at that stage in my life where i'd had put dating on the on the back burner, I suppose, And yeah, when there's opportunity arose, I thought, why not give it, give it my best crack and hopefully find a wife.

Out of the out of the process.

Is watching it all happen on television. How different does that feel to how it happened in real life?

Yeah, I think so far it has definitely come across as the way it was.

Though.

I think we all know things do come across a little differently than what you see when you're behind the camera, I suppose. So there's a lot of filming that goes into such a small addit.

That's what I've sort of taken from it at the moment.

But yeah, I was only myself during the show, and yeah, the sincere, genuine person that I know I am, And yeah, I definitely hope that sort of come across so far.

You know, Farmer Will was already on the podcast and he mentioned that you guys have a bit of a bromance. If I'm a betting man, should I put more money on your bromance with Will turning out than the relationship with the girls?

I mean, it'd be a gamble and that's what that's what punting's all about. So to be a big gamble, But Phil, there's fair, fair odds there for you to jump on.

I also asked, will you know when he decided to do this show? I was. I was wondering whether or not he was more worried about hurting the girl's hearts or hurting his own heart. Were you worried about going in there and worried that you'd break your heart or were you more worried about breaking these girls heart?

I think that was a bit of both. I suppose I've obviously been through a heartbreak before and it isn't nice, And yeah, to put the girls in that position as well, knowing you're in full control is difficult as well. And you've probably already seen tears, but there's a lot more tears to come from me. I'm a very sensitive person when it comes to people's feelings, and when I see someone.

Upset, I sort of it just tips me over the edge. I'm hopeless.

I'm yeah, I crying kids movies, sitting down with my daughter, and yeah, I.

Just feel for people and their emotion.

But I sort of had to get myself together and realize this is what I signed up for, and I'm not here to have five wives, I'm here to have one. So it was all part of the process, and yeah, I did that to the best of my ability, but yeah, there were a lot of tears along the way for sure.

Well, the show would be very different if it was moremon once a wife. You know, you did seem to have the most amount of difficulty sending girls home in week one. What was going through your mind? Was there a bit of fomo, like I can't send that girl home because fear of missing out on what they.

Might have been Like, yeah, look, I had my I had my selection before I went into that room. I think having all the girls stood there in front of me, it's a real full on scene, and yeah, I had my choices already selected. But when I went into that room, it was completely different for me, and it sort of made me go back to realize what the girls had sort of put on the line to be there for me and something you probably won't see in the outside world.

So I know, myself.

Putting me in a hotel room for isolation wasn't too much fun, and all the partners everyone had to go through the same process. So I only just thought of that when it came to making that decision, and how much the girls had genuinely given up in their own life to be there for me, And yeah, that crushed me to know.

Yeah, they've come to two minutes of fame basically.

You know what's also really hard is that, you know, you were meeting so many girls at the early stages of getting used to production. Is it hard to get used to the cameras? Do you feel like as the show goes on that you started to forget about them?

Yeah, it was very difficult at the start. I mean, I'm one of those people that has to have at least got a two beer Andrew's belt to sort of start get talking.

But yeah, it is.

It's a very different situation to have so many cameras in your face and because yeah, it is hard to sort of open up and tell someone how you're feeling when there are so many eyes on you and looking in on you.

This week, we saw you take leash back to be the first person to go back to the farm. Is that going to make it much harder to look at the other girls like, you know, having someone come back and have that intimate experience, and for you, you're sort of a self confessed person who falls pretty hard, you know, is that going to make it harder for the other girls to get a guernsey?

I don't think so.

I think if I didn't have feelings for all five girls coming back to the farmer, I wouldn't have brought all five girls.

From the initial impression. Do you change your mind a lot? Or do you feel in the back of your mind that you kind of always knew from the start who you wanted.

I think it all just comes down to timing, really, and how much sort of time you can put into each of the partners that have come. I think Tom is everything, and I suppose more Tom you can spend with someone in such short period is so important into making a decision in the long run.

How do you think the other girls deal with, you know, the competition's side of things. You know, how do you think the girls are going I.

Can't really talk on how that would be for the girls. I can only imagine what it would be like. I don't know how it'd sort of be able to handle it myself if I was in that position. So yeah, it's obviously hard and finding out certain things that happen on dates and things like that, it must get hard

Do you think that Leish will cope with having to share you now with the other girls?

I think yeah.

I think Leish was very understandable of the process and how it worked. And yeah, the fact that she did get the first twenty four hour date, she was aware that they're probably wasn't going to be that much time with me in the next coming weeks. So yeah, she's a very mature head and understood the process, and yeah, probably understood that we weren't going to get that sort of one on one time for a little while.

Yet. Well, I think every bloke in Australia is wanting to ask you this question, and that is what's the most awkward part in dating five women at once.

I kept forgetting Madison was she was gluten free. She was dairy free everything like that. So I'd come out and make the girls a coffee of the morning and always forget of Madison's allergies, and I'd serve her up a cappuccino and she'd be like, got has that got ot milk? My sorry, I'll keep.

Forgetting about that.

So yeah, I've sort of never dated someone with allergies like that before, So that was that was a bit bit hard to get used to. But I think there was there was a few situations there where some girls would come visit over night time after the cameras had stopped rolling, and yeah, they'd get caught sort of coming back from going to visit you and.

Things like that. So yeah, things to get very awkward in that regard, which.

Is the reason why you had to start poisoning them, you know, early on, just to just to narrow it down a little bit. What sort of confidence did you have that you would actually walk away from this competition with a wife.

I suppose I didn't really know what I was going in for.

I obviously hoped and had confidence there that I would find someone. I know, Yeah, signing up for farm more ONTs a wife. It is proven to be the most genuine show. So I was very confident in going into the process and finding that life at the end.

And I mean you're a father as well. Just factoring in your daughter have an effect on the type of girl that you're trying to choose.

Yeah, hugely. I've got to pick someone that's that's not only great for me, but great for my daughter as well. And she does. I've always said she doesn't need a mother.

She's got She's got a beautiful mother that that's yeah.

Doing that job just fine.

But I just I just need money my life to be that sort of mother motherlike role model on my side of the family for my daughter.

Yeah. So I just love that they're coming up on the show. Is this mini B and S Ball, which I've got friends that are in the country, so I know a lot about a B and S Ball. I've heard a lot about them, But I want to know, do you think the people's true colors come out when you mix dancing and a few drinks at a B and S Ball? Is that one of the reasons why they're creating that for the show?

Yeah, the country ball we had, I think, Yeah, sometimes in some cases people's true colors come out once you've had probably a few beers or a few ones, So yeah, it was interesting. There were some, as Benjamin would say, some very groovy dances happening on the dance floor that night. But things get heated, and yeah, I suppose the truth some truths come out once, once someone's had a few drinks under their belt.

Is it dangerous to put all of you guys together? I mean, what's the chances of you falling in love with save Benjamin's you know potentials? Like were the producers worried that you might run off with someone else's cattle?

I don't, I don't, I don't think so.

I think US farmers had such a great relationship, and yeah, it's a bit. It's a respect factor, I suppose, and we all had so much respect for one another that that wouldn't have even been an option for any of US farmers. Whether it was an option for the other partners, I'm not too sure, but.

Yeah, nothing like that carried out.

And yeah, back to that whole respect thing, I think US farmers just had so much respect for one another that would never do that sort of thing.

You can really see that there is a camaraderie amongst the Farmers this year. I mean straight away from episode one, you can see the connection between you all, which I think is an extra element to this series. That you guys aren't throwing drinks at each other or you know, there's nothing too dramatic about it. You're just common people sharing common life experience, all looking for love.

Yeah, it was great, Like we're all sort of around that same age bracket. There wasn't anyone that was a lot older or a lot younger than us, so we could sort of, yeah, gel with one another, talk about very similar interest and yeah, all in all, we just had such a great relationship and we were there to help each other along the way.

Through the process we're all going through together.

What do you think's really works with this format? You know, for you is there anything that the producers could do differently, you know, rolling into the twenty twenty three series.

Yeah, Like I've mentioned it before, but it would have would have been nice to be able to talk to a previous farmer from a previous year and sort of have their knowledge on how things work. Obviously US farms going very blind into knowing how production works. So I think just having someone there along the way helping us that's been in that situation before that they can get along with all the farmers and relate to them when they do have questions to ask on how production works,

Of get the best of both worlds for both parties.

It's what I always wonder about this show is, you know, with so many producers, cameraman, you know, runners, there's so many people working on this show to make it happen. Are they like thousands of cupids around you, trying to push you into finding love? Or do they try and hold back so that the experience is being captured naturally? What sort of role do they play? Are they saying, hey, I reckon that, you know, Leish is the better one

Yeah, most of the input obviously comes from from the producers themselves.

Yeah, the cameramen and soundos.

Sort of stay out of that, otherwise they get themselves in trouble with it with the producers.

But I'm just imagining them the two thumbs up, you know, just in the background going yeah, I reckon, Yeah, a good one.

I had a great relationship with my with my cameraman sounders, and yeah, the things you'd hear that had come back to is would be quite funny. But no, they never push that, never pushed me to make decisions that I didn't want to do. So yeah, it was a lot better knowing that I wasn't forced to have to do something that I didn't want to do.

Yeah, fair enough. What sort of impression do you think that Australia will have of you when this series is over? Sort of looking forward and knowing what you know, what do you think Australia is going to think of farmer Ben?

Yeah? Look, I just hope I come across as a very genuine, down to worth person like I know I am, and my family know me as as well. So yeah, it'd be great to, yeah, be sort of looked at in that regard. But yeah, obviously to know that I did go on the show for a reason to find a wife, and you'll just have to yeah, wait and see if I've done that.

Have we got any early report cards from your family and friends on how you're going so far.

We're sort of keeping it pretty hush hush about it.

Obviously I am comfortable watching it, but it is a bit cringe at the moment for me, so we just yeah, we're keeping pretty low low wraps on it at the moment, but yeah, once we sort of get further down the.

Track, I'm sure it'll yes start being the talk of the town for sure.

You know a question that I have to ask you from Sunday Nights episode is something that you a phrase that you say a couple of times? What does done my nuts mean?

Done my nuts? I do remember saying that.

It comes up three times. You tell three different people that you've done your nuts. You tell her, you tell Leish, you tell one of the other, you tell everyone. You're like, you know, guys, I've done my nuts, And I'm like is it? I just was like, is it? I don't know what You're going to need to explain this a little bit better for me.

I think it was. Yeah, it was definitely in regards to Leish and yeah.

Have you got a bag of nuts? Or is that what's going on here?

I don't know where I was going with it, but I've used a phrase before. But I think it was just a connection I had with Leish early on. Yeah, I sort of tell the farmers told her I've done me nuts, like it's like I've I've fallen head over. It was for someone so early, but yeah, I think that's what I meant by that.

Yeah, by that phrase, I'm pretty sure.

Why do you think that Farmer Wants a Wife is still so popular in Australia.

I think, yeah, it is a very just genuine TV program.

There's obviously a bit of drama that comes with it, but it's nothing like other dating programs with the drama.

It's very genuine.

And the girls are there for the right reasons and the farmers are as well. We're not there it's for media attention after the program or anything. So it's yeah, it's a win win because both parties are there for the exact same thing, and that's to find love. And I think that's yeah what makes the show so special and so watchable for the audience as well.

I still think that Farmer Will has a job as like the weatherman regional weather man. Even at the very least Batman has a face for breakfast television. People want to up and look at that man, so I think that he could end up with a job in the media.

Once OUs Farmer's got released. I was dreading rocking up first day. I mean, my sister had a massive crush on this farmer Will before I'd met him, so I was a bit starstruck when I first.

Met the bloke as well.

But I'd have to second look at him all the time and make sure he wasn't wearing a face of makeup. He's just I don't know what it is. It's yeah, there's no other farm probably no man in Australia that looks the way he does, so lucky him.

I suppose.

But yeah, whenever us farmers got put together, I'd try and hide at the back for sure.

And yeah, let Wills face sell the show for sure.

Yeah he's a good looking rooster.

He certainly is well.

I can tell you that at this point of the series, we're starting to remember the girl's names. We're no longer saying coral dress is a bit needy, you know, We're starting to actually know who they all are before you go. Something I ask everyone is what is something from behind the scenes, something that we did see or that we won't see. Kind of a behind the scenes secret on

Yeah, behind the scenes that there was. There was a lot of fun we had.

We had days off on the farm, so it'd be a chance for us, for myself and the girls that were on the farm to sort of let our let our hair down and have a bit of fun with one another while the cameras weren't rolling, and it was probably the best days.

We were able to sort of open up.

And and act like normal people with the cameras away. So there were many cocktails and things drunk, yeah, alongside the pool and yeah, just days like that you won't see on camera, but they were definitely the most yeah, important days, I suppose, because we could just let our hair down and have fun with one another with a few cocktails in here.

And you've also got a pool at your place, which is great because farmer Will has to keep taking his to the dam, so like at least you've got easy access of getting them in the water.

Yeah. Yeah.

Then I have to say thank you so much for taking the time to have a chat. It was fantastic to unpack Farmer wants a wife with you. Good luck with the show and I hope you'll find love.

Yeah, not a problem. Thank you very much