Farmer Wants A Wife fans are hopeful that Farmer Bert will end the show with Caitlin Crank, after seeing their connection continue to blossom since their first meeting. This comes after Sportsbet suggested that the farmer is most likely to leave the show without a relationship.
The blonde beauty currently has the strongest odds among bookmakers as the season approaches the end.
However, rumours continue to circulate that the fourth-generation pineapple, dragon fruit, and pumpkin farmer from Wamuran, Queensland, chooses no one during the finale and leaves the show single.
‘Bert is the next farmer to leave’
An insider has revealed to Yahoo Lifestyle that “Bert is the next farmer to leave” and “not because he finds a match like Farmer Dean did with Teegan”.
Apparently, the drama on Bert’s farm between the ladies was “nothing compared to the conflict behind the scenes with his producers”, a source from the set of the show has revealed.
“He was done being a puppet for the producers on his farm,” they add, saying he decided to leave the show for this reason.
“Farmer Bert was really sweet and it was sad to see him being treated like a prop. These two male producers had come from filming FBoy Island and obviously wanted conflict,” the insider says, adding this was not what Bert signed up for.
“He actually felt uncomfortable with his producers and their suggestions on how to handle the remaining women,” the source said, claiming this was the reason he left. “He no longer felt like he could go on and pretend just for the show.”
Bert ‘was stitched up for good television’
Girls from the other farms pointed out, “What was happening on Farmer Bert’s farm was nothing like what they were experiencing”.
“The whole set-up was off, and it was like they were filming a different show,” they add
The insider says it may have been a “conscious decision from production to blow up his farm and have him leave empty-handed, but it wasn’t fair”.
“If he had our producers I wonder whether the outcome would have been the same?” an insider shares. “He did genuinely sign up with the hopes of finding love.”
“The women that were picked by the casting team were also poorly matched for Farmer Bert. He didn’t form an honest connection with any of them.”
The insider adds that Bert “was stitched up for good television”.
The girls gave the producers ‘what they wanted’
While Farmer Bert wasn’t into the game that production was playing, the girls were apparently “caught up in giving the producers what they wanted and were not allowing themselves to be real”.
“They were quite different off camera to the characters they were leaning into. Watching the show back feels like Karli was naive to the fact she would be played off as a man-eater.”
“Karli was being told everything was fine and Farmer Bert did have feelings for her and that is why she looked so overconfident – taking the producers’ suggestions to grab his hand in front of the other women and make more of a spectacle out of their connection. It was not authentic and everyone knew Karli was just playing along with her instructions.
“While Farmer Bert does not find love there are plenty of others who do and that is where the real magic of this show lies,” they add.
Frontrunner spotted at home
Yahoo Lifestyle has since obtained pictures of Farmer Bert’s frontrunner Caitlin, who was spotted running errands near her home on the Sunshine Coast this week, suggesting the rumours may be true, given she wasn’t with Bert on the farm.