A banker, a fitness instructor, an eyelash technician and a child care worker are among the eight women competing for the heart of Crookwell grazier Neil Seaman in the rebooted reality show Farmer Wants a Wife, which starts on Prime7 on Sunday.
But 43-year-old Neil, a father-of-three who lives in Goulburn where his kids go to school and farms merino sheep at Laggan, north of Crookwell, was not giving anything away on Friday about whether he did actually find love on the show.
"I can't tell you that!" he said.
"They were all lovely girls. The entire experience was positive, I can definitely say that. Even just meeting the boys and [host] Nat, it was a really fun experience. And, look, all the girls are amazing, they were really good fun."
Farmers from Queensland, NSW and Tasmania are attempting to find love on the show, which has, in past seasons, resulted in nine marriages and 20 babies.
This season was filmed between mid-January and mid-February, with the reunion taking part in early March, meaning the show escaped by the skin of its teeth COVID-19 restrictions and the need for social distancing.
I'm not a big fan of the whole online dating thing. I find it really hard to take it seriously.
Farmer Neil
"If you throw in making a TV show with drought, floods, COVID, fire, the whole lot, 2020 has been an absolute - I can't even use the word I'm thinking," Neil said. "But at the same time, you sort of wouldn't change it. You look back and realise you were able to adapt things out of all these happenings."
Neil says it hasn't been easy finding love, as he works on the farm and cares for his three children, aged 18, 16 and 14.
"I suppose the big thing is, there's just no time," he said.
"When you multiply being a single dad with being a busy farmer, you just don't give yourself any time to say, 'Okay, I'm going to dedicate the next however many minutes, hours, days to finding a partner'. Then you've got to throw in the fact it's a small community. I'm not a big fan of the whole online dating thing. I find it really hard to take it seriously.
"So, you kind of resign yourself to nothing. When an opportunity like this came up, you kind of had to grab it."
I lived in Canberra when I first left school. Would you believe my first job out of school was a janitor at the art gallery? I used to mop the floor under Blue Poles every morning
Farmer Neil from Crookwell
His children were on board with him going on the show.
"All their main concern is when they are on. How much screen time they get. They're not worried about dear old dad," he said, with a laugh.
Neil has strong connections to Canberra - including a rather unusual job in the national capital when he first left school.
"I lived in Canberra when I first left school. Would you believe my first job out of school was a janitor at the art gallery? I used to mop the floor under Blue Poles every morning," he laughed.
Neil also played a lot of rugby union in Canberra, with the Crookwell Dogs.
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"I actually had a night out at the RUC a couple of weeks ago," he said.
In the end, Farmer Neil prides himself on being capable, romantic (he can recite Dirty Dancing from start to finish) and honest. Does he consider himself a good catch?
"I think so. I'm just a busy catch. I just don't have enough time to look," he said.
"I'm sure if I'm lucky and I can find the right person, I will give them enough time as possible. But it's just a case of finding them."
As to the future, it remains to be seen.
"One of the things that I'll forever take out of it are the amazing friendships me and the boys had. Harry and Alex and Sam and Nick, they're friends for life, regardless of anything," he said.
"When you go through something like this together, it's not something you can kind of run into a guy at the pub and talk about. But, you know, there's five of us who went through it together and that'll always be there."
- Farmer Wants a Wife starts on Prime7 on Sunday at 7pm.
