The farmers and their ladies are riding off into the sunset, and ‘happily ever after’ is underway as the 2023 season of Farmer Wants A Wife comes to an end.
With the show continuing to grow and every episode this year bringing in an audience of 1m+ in Total TV ratings, Mediaweek caught up with the show’s EP and head of reality at the Seven Network Sylvia D’Souza to reflect on the season that was.
Sylvia D’Souza
“It’s absolutely amazing, I feel pretty good about it all,” D’Souza says when asked how she’s feeling after the season. “I think it’s just great that the audience reacted to the story. It’s genuine, so it feels good. As a producer, you put your heart and soul into the show, so it’s really great that the audience reacted well to it.”
In an increasingly fragmented television landscape where viewers have more options than ever before, Farmer Wants A Wife has grown year on year.
“In a world of cynical reality TV, it’s genuine,” says D’Souza. “You can see that it’s genuine people, the women are fantastic, they really are invested in trying and find love. The farmers are too – they’re gentlemen in how they conduct themselves.
“The drama is the drama of finding love. It’s not that there isn’t a television making process, but I think the audience can see through all other reality shows and find that this is one where the focus is on the love.”
Every episode of Farmer Wants A Wife has cracked the million mark in Total TV, something that D’Souza credits to the fact that the show has such wide appeal.
“Currently, it’s the biggest show on television right now. It’s big everywhere – big for the young, big for the old, big in metro, big in regional, big on broadcast, and big on digital. There are not that many shows that tick all the boxes in terms of the catch up numbers.”
2023 Farmers
Another factor that D’Souza points to as part of the show’s success is the hosting duo of Samantha Armytage and Natalie Gruzlewski.
“The star power of both Sam and Nat works really well. I don’t think there’s enough said about how there are two women who work so well on television together – they’re genuine, warm people, and I don’t think there’s enough good press about it.
“People are so quick to take each other down. This is not one of those situations, and I really like it.”
When asked what comes next for the show, D’Souza says that “you always want to grow, you always want to lift year on year,” but there is one overarching goal she is aiming for.
“I want to beat MAFS! Who doesn’t want to beat it? It’s a juggernaut, but we are unbelievable in where we place. Farmer Wants A Wife is the number one entertainment TV show right now, and it has grown year on year which is not something that you can say for every show. Plus, it’s huge in regional, which is a third of Australia’s population.
“Can we beat MAFS next year? I don’t know, but we are gaining traction.”