The Women of "Farmer Wants a Wife" Season 3 Stood on Business, and That's Why It's the Best Season of the Show Yet
Michael Becker/FOX TheFarmer Wants a Wifeseason 3 finale aired on May 22 Throughout the season, certain ladies stood out and created jaw-dropping moments that made for entertaining reality TV The full season is available to stream on Hulu I've been out of the reality TV dating show viewership circle for a while. In fact, outside ofLove Is Blind(collective sigh), I was almost totally not caught up on who was trying to find love via televised competition. That is, until I got intoFarmer Wants a Wifethis past holiday season. A seemingly niche show, that seems to be enjoyed by a very select few — I amliterallythe only person I know who watches it — the Fox show follows four farmers from across the country in their pursuit of finding a mate who will not only be their romantic match, but someone who can adjust well to remote living and the farm life. We're talking shoveling animal poop, picking up hay bales, grooming horses, feeding chickens — the whole nine (barn)yards. And as with any of these shows, it's normal for the ladies to make themselves amiable and genial to show their suitor that they're the perfect fit. We've seen women laugh at jokes that weren't necessarily funny, pretend to enjoy activities they really aren't into and even fight on television, all in the name of love. Farmer Wants a Wifeseason 3 consisted of four women who did things a bit differently. First, there was Samantha, the saleswoman from Dallas who had Farmer John smitten because she "seemed like a challenge." And while her approach was a bit off-putting at first, I wound up respecting the fact that she stood by her boundaries and standards. FOX Her attitude, in the beginning, made me (and I'm sure a lot of viewers) wonder if she was aware that she was on a dating competition show. But as her time on the show continued, I realized that this isn't just a proving ground for the competitors. It's equally important for the farmers to also be put through the wringer, making sure they're a good fit for the women they're meant to be falling in love with. As much as the women have to meet their suitors' standards, so too should the guys. Of course, for viewers, Samantha's crowning moment came when Farmer John — who issoMatthew McConaughey-coded, by the way — attempted to kiss her and she shut him down. First of all, the scene itself was weird. She talked about how she doesn't ever want to feel like she's in competition with any other woman ... and yet, she voluntarily came on a reality TV dating show. After he tried to kiss her mid-conversation, Samantha explained that she couldn't kiss him on camera because, "I'm going to marry someone someday. It might be you, it might not be you, and I don't want something of me kissing another man on television. If it's you, then we don't have anything to worry about." And while John respected her decision, he certainly seemed taken aback. He has since explained his side of the story the moment,explaining to Kristin Cavallari on herLet's Be Honestpodcastthat he felt "tricked" by producers. My favorite Samantha moment, however, came when she met John's friends in episode 3. While the average reality show might tell the friends how much she wants to be a part of farm life, Samantha was almosttoohonest with John's friends about the fact that she isn't exactly a farm girlie, and would need to be equally "at the wheel" in their partnership — another surprise to his pals. John's friends (and some of the viewing audience) certainly appeared to be put off by her refusal to laugh and go along with the conversation. But I respected it. What she was saying was that she wanted a partner who would meet her halfway. The farm is great and it holds a lot of significance for John and his family, as we would see in later episodes, but if he truly was looking for love, he should also be looking at ways to meet her halfway, making her move from Dallas to St. Louis worthwhile. The compromise shouldn't just be coming from her end. She would later self-eliminate because she couldn't see herself giving up the driver's seat. The next episode that stood out was episode 6, in which the farmers and the contestants were thrown a wrench. At the top of the episode, everyone found out that the farmers' mothers had picked an additional girl for them to go on a date with. If the farmers felt there was a spark, they could bring the girl back home to meet the other contestants. (For context, Farmer Jay still had four girls left, John had three girls, Colton had four and Matt — who had all his ladies complaining about his indecisiveness — still had four. The idea of adding another girl to the mix raised havoc among the original contestants.) Things got especially tense on Jay's farm when it was revealed that he was one of the two farmers who chose to bring their mothers' choice back home. Julia, who had been a question mark in Jay's head given that she was a city girl who didn't seem too enthused about farm life, doubled down on her disdain for farm life after he brought back his mom's pick, Rissa, Julia found herself eliminated. "Honestly, this experience taught me that I know what I like, I know what I want, I know the lifestyle I'm used to and farm life is absolutely not for me," Julia said in her exit interview. It was a purely satisfying moment for her, and while I could have lived without her calling him boring, because that was unnecessarily petty, it made for good TV. Next up was T'yana who had said from the beginning of the episode that if Jay brought back another girl, she'd be out the door. The Ohio native stood on business. She didn't have anything negative to say, just that Jay hadn't shown any interest in getting to know her outside of him mediating a spat she had with the other ladies the episode prior. "I don't know if there's a reason for me to be here anymore," she told him. "I just kind of felt like I was on the back burner and I feel like my person that's for me isn't gonna make me feel that way." FOX He agreed, and she went home as well. The final jaw-dropping moment came inthe finale, when an irritated Jordyn told Matt he'd let her on, a common theme throughout the season as most of his contestants felt he couldn't decide between them. In fact, the vibes were so off between Jordyn and Matt, that in the penultimate episode, she revealed that she felt as though she and Matt were just friends. He then went on an entire spiel about how their connection was certainly more than that, and that she had been worried about nothing. They kissed and she walked away feeling like he was going to choose her. To say that her last-minute elimination blindsided her is an understatement. "I gave you such an easy out the other night on our date," she said. "[I told you] it felt like we were in the friend zone and you literally just said everything you thought I wanted to hear. It's just such a shame to me because we could have left this process as really good friends but now I'm just left with a bad taste in my mouth because you led me on." FOX Matt then tried to appease her once again, saying that he meant everything he said to her, but that the process was just a hard and complicated one. Jordyn, understandably, did not let him off the hook, pointing out the fact that this is what he signed up for after all. Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Of course, when it comes to reality TV, we may never know what is or isn't real, which moments were fabricated by the production team and what bits were pieced together in the edit room. However, the fact that this season ofFarmer Wants a Wifehad some girls who simply didn't comply made for entertaining TV. It's not to say that the ladies who didn't stand up to the farmers weren't being themselves, but it's always fun to see the men on these shows get challenged back. Time and time again, we've seen women do and say wild things and get into fights, just so they can be the chosen one. So seeing Samantha, Julia, T'yana and Jordyn really stick it to their suitors made season 3 ofFarmer Wants a Wifea must-see. Read the original article onPeople
The Women of "Farmer Wants a Wife" Season 3 Stood on Business, and That's Why It's the Best Season of the Show Yet Michael...
