Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week airline. Hey guys, welcome
Speaker 1: back to TV Reload. I want to thank you for
Speaker 1: clicking and downloading on today's episode with Samantha Armitage, the
Speaker 1: host of Farmer Wants a Wife for twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: which starts on Sunday night at seven thirty on Channel seven.
Speaker 1: Samantha Armitage is an Australian journalist and television presenter. Sam
Speaker 1: was previously co host of the Seven Networks breakfast television
Speaker 1: program Sunrise from twenty thirteen to twenty twenty one alongside
Speaker 1: David Kosh. Only a few years ago, Samantha was slowly
Speaker 1: integrated into the Much Love reality series, and last year
Speaker 1: her inclusion as a full time host saw the show
Speaker 1: rise sixteen percent in its category. This season, thousands of
Speaker 1: eligible women from all around Australia applied to meet the farmers,
Speaker 1: and after a series of speed dates in the Hunter Valley,
Speaker 1: the farmers will choose their top five ladies to invite
Speaker 1: back to the farm. During the first two episodes, I
Speaker 1: can reveal that the five farmers from twenty twenty four season,
Speaker 1: Bert Dean, Dustin, Joe and Tom must choose five out
Speaker 1: of the eight ladies to return to their farms across Australia.
Speaker 1: This leaves a total of fifteen women who had been
Speaker 1: hoping to find love having to head home before their
Speaker 1: farmer journey can even properly begin. It's actually really brutal,
Speaker 1: but I know you guys are going to love it.
Speaker 1: Samantha reveals her thoughts about the media landscape and if
Speaker 1: she has closed the door on her journalistic career for good.
Speaker 1: We will unpack the new Farmers and find out if
Speaker 1: the Victorian farmer Tom is too young to be looking
Speaker 1: for a wife. You will get some interesting insights into
Speaker 1: Samantha's move out of Sydney and what she thinks of
Speaker 1: the workforce for women in a post COVID world. I'm
Speaker 1: also delighted to hear what Sam thinks of me pitching
Speaker 1: Farmer Day from Big Brother fame and if it's time
Speaker 1: we see a queer farmer on this show. There is
Speaker 1: so much to unpack with Samantha today, so sit back
Speaker 1: and relax as we unpaw the wonderful world of Sarma
Speaker 1: Wants a Wife for twenty twenty four. Hi, Sam, how
Speaker 1: are you?
Speaker 2: I'm good.
Speaker 1: How are you.
Speaker 3: I just think you're getting your dog out of the room.
Speaker 2: I used to have to do that too, he'd start barking.
Speaker 1: Last year, when we were talking, you had Banjo sitting
Speaker 1: with you. So I'm sorry to hear that Banjo is
Speaker 1: no longer with us.
Speaker 3: I know me too. He was a darling, I means
Speaker 3: very very shit.
Speaker 1: Well, Oscar's fourteen, and I tell you the other day
Speaker 1: I was walking him and this lady cart to and
Speaker 1: she said, oh, I used to have a Westy. They
Speaker 1: live until they're about ten and then they just they
Speaker 1: just fade away. How old's your dog? And I was like, fourteen.
Speaker 3: Well, the little dogs can go on and on. The
Speaker 3: bigger dogs that are harder. I know a mate who's
Speaker 3: got a Westy who's sixteen.
Speaker 2: He's sixteen, so I.
Speaker 3: Think they go on forever. So yes, when they're gone,
Speaker 3: you miss them because they are such a part of
Speaker 3: your life. So it's been very sad times for mat.
Speaker 2: Looks quite good to be busy now.
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. You know what a great way to
Speaker 1: start a podcast. Let's just make you cry like that's great.
Speaker 1: I'm the best podcast ever. Anyway. Well, welcome back to
Speaker 1: another season of Farmer Wants a Wife. You know, you
Speaker 1: would have to be so happy with the rating spike
Speaker 1: that happened with the show once you joined. I mean
Speaker 1: it's the highest It was the highest rated entertainment show
Speaker 1: on the network last year.
Speaker 3: Yes, it was huge. I didn't see that coming. So
Speaker 3: I was very very pleased with that, as you would
Speaker 3: be when you when you join a show and it
Speaker 3: does well. It was up sixteen percent last year on
Speaker 3: the previous year, so that's just unheard of in free
Speaker 3: towear TV in this day may so I was very
Speaker 3: pleased with that. The beauty of the show is the people,
Speaker 3: and the farmers are so so genuine and so lovely,
Speaker 3: and we had such a great group last year and
Speaker 3: they all found love. I mean, it was just you
Speaker 3: couldn't you couldn't write the script on that. And this year,
Speaker 3: I'm pleased to say, is it's just as good. We're
Speaker 3: found some really lovely farmers and some really impressive ladies,
Speaker 3: and I think we've got the recipe for another great season.
Speaker 1: Well, last year, as you said, all the farmers found love.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if you saw this, but
Speaker 1: even Brenton and Rachel have been hanging out, and he
Speaker 1: was the only farmer that you know that separated over
Speaker 1: the last twelve months. And now he's recoupling with one
Speaker 1: of the girls that he was on the show with.
Speaker 1: So we're back to one hundred percent success, right. I know.
Speaker 3: It's an amazing how life turns up. I did read
Speaker 3: that too, and I thought, oh, good on him. You
Speaker 3: know that, isn't that wonderful? And actually, during the show
Speaker 3: last year when it was on air, because I let Richard,
Speaker 3: my husband, just watch it as a normal viewer, I'd
Speaker 3: never tell him what's what's happening. All the ways to
Speaker 3: the show. He wanted Brendan to pick Rachel, and then
Speaker 3: when Brendan didn't, he was disappointed. And now they're together.
Speaker 1: Is he allowed to say? Is Richard allowed to say
Speaker 1: anything to you while watching the show? Because I was
Speaker 1: chatting to Sonya Krueger recently and I asked her about
Speaker 1: Craig watching the show with her and she was like, oh, no,
Speaker 1: we've got a rule. He's not allowed to say anything.
Speaker 3: Oh no, commentates the whole time he and he gets
Speaker 3: really into it. It's really because I you know, because
Speaker 3: I've been there on set, so I know what's happened?
Speaker 3: And I know, you know, all the personality type, but
Speaker 3: he gets really invested in it, and he's constantly saying
Speaker 3: to me, I think you know, so and so is
Speaker 3: going to get together. And I'm like, oh, do you
Speaker 3: really think that? Okay, will you just have to watch
Speaker 3: next week?
Speaker 1: How is your poker face? Are you able? No?
Speaker 3: My poker face is excellent. I'm very good at not blubbing.
Speaker 3: And he enjoys it, so that's nice. But I mean, look,
Speaker 3: it's just such a great show. The brand is incredibly strong.
Speaker 3: I literally have people walking up to me in the
Speaker 3: streets saying when Farmer on, I can't wait. I want
Speaker 3: my son to go on it. You know, it's so popular,
Speaker 3: and its amaze me how quickly viewers have sort of,
Speaker 3: you know, put me together with the show. Normally, as
Speaker 3: on air personality, you take a few years to become
Speaker 3: part of a show and the branding situations behind the scenes,
Speaker 3: but this is instant. It's been incredible.
Speaker 1: Well, I think that you're the most overqualified host of
Speaker 1: a reality show that we've ever seen in this country,
Speaker 1: and I love that you're a journalist in this role.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you, though, do you actually use
Speaker 1: your journalistic background. Do you put it to work whilst filming?
Speaker 1: Do you find yourself asking leading questions?
Speaker 3: Well, I think that's part of it. I mean, I'm
Speaker 3: not trying to do gotcha questions with the farmers because
Speaker 3: they're really you know, they're not politicians. I'm very kind
Speaker 3: to them, and also they're so nervous that my job
Speaker 3: with them is to put them at ease, help Australia
Speaker 3: get to know them and help them come out of
Speaker 3: their shells and then create a match. But obviously, you
Speaker 3: know the skills you have as journalists for interviewing people
Speaker 3: and asking questions of people and storytelling, you know, at
Speaker 3: the heart of this show. I know it's a reality
Speaker 3: dating show, but really it's about telling stories. And you know,
Speaker 3: that's what I do for a living. It's what I've
Speaker 3: always done for a living. So it's a great opportunity
Speaker 3: for me to use some of my skills. And you know,
Speaker 3: the producers are constantly saying to me on set, I
Speaker 3: can't believe you speak farmers, and I'm like, well, I
Speaker 3: did grow up in the land, and my father was
Speaker 3: a farmer and my brother's a farmer, and now I'm
Speaker 3: married to a retired farmer. So you know, I know
Speaker 3: farmers and I know country people because I am one.
Speaker 3: So the producers was surprised.
Speaker 1: There's something about you, Sam, like I just want to
Speaker 1: tell you my story, do you know what I mean? Like,
Speaker 1: there's something about your manner and the way that you
Speaker 1: talk to people that is quite authentic that makes people
Speaker 1: feel at ease. And I don't know, I just want
Speaker 1: to tell you my most embarrassing stories.
Speaker 3: Oh well, that's great, then tell me anytime.
Speaker 2: Look I do.
Speaker 3: It's funny as I get older, the older I get,
Speaker 3: the more I enjoyed listening, you know, the less I
Speaker 3: enjoy talking. So it's probably a good show for me
Speaker 3: to be on at this point because there's not a
Speaker 3: lot of listening going on in the media these days.
Speaker 3: It's just a big talk fitt, isn't it. So I quite.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think that's the whole point of the show.
Speaker 3: You've got to encourage the farmers and the ladies. You know,
Speaker 3: you want to tell their stories. You want to set
Speaker 3: this up for the audience at home, but you also
Speaker 3: to listen to them, and you have to know when
Speaker 3: to not talk, let things breathe a bit. So that
Speaker 3: you really get to know people and you can get to,
Speaker 3: you know, get stuff out of them so that the
Speaker 3: show is genuine because it's coming from their heart. And
Speaker 3: I think we manage that pretty well well.
Speaker 1: I think when it comes to my favorite journalist, actually
Speaker 1: when it comes to my favorite actors, when it comes
Speaker 1: to people in general, I like people who are curious,
Speaker 1: and people who are curious they want to ask a
Speaker 1: good question, but they want to listen to a good answer.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what makes good journalism. That's what
Speaker 1: makes me be drawn to people you know, and you know.
Speaker 3: Ben, I've been a journal for twenty five years. I'm
Speaker 3: ashamed to admit. That shows you how old I am.
Speaker 3: And it's fascinating. Everybody has a story. It doesn't matter
Speaker 3: whether you're on Sunrise interviewing you know, celebrities from Los
Speaker 3: Angeles or you're just dinner party at Wagga. Everybody has
Speaker 3: some kind of story and all you have to do
Speaker 3: is ask or just stick quietly for long enough where
Speaker 3: they feel comfortable to tell you. And it should be fascinated.
Speaker 3: But unfortunately, the way society is, it's just everything's so
Speaker 3: loud and noisy, and me, me, me, that you know,
Speaker 3: I think that is one of my strongest feels is
Speaker 3: that I can listen. But as you can tell from
Speaker 3: this podcast, I can also talk.
Speaker 1: Quite well, so can I. That's why we need a
Speaker 1: talking stick every year. Like, you know, I listened back
Speaker 1: to our chat last year and it was a good
Speaker 1: yarn like but I mean, I was going to ask
Speaker 1: you today because we were talking about this last year.
Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety eight, you joined your first newsroom, and
Speaker 1: you've been away from that for a little bit. You've
Speaker 1: sort of been away from that environment. Is there an
Speaker 1: ech that you want to scratch to go back to
Speaker 1: that and or have you closed the door on that
Speaker 1: part of your resume.
Speaker 3: No, I haven't closed the door on it. But the
Speaker 3: itch is not itchy at the moment, and I.
Speaker 1: Think, excuse that's crazy anyway.
Speaker 3: I know I'm gross.
Speaker 1: I led you there, Sam, I led you there, So
Speaker 1: it's my fault me there.
Speaker 3: I'll blame you. No, Look I do. I look at
Speaker 3: the new cycle at the moment, and I'm not that interested.
Speaker 3: To be honest, I am incredibly choosy about what I
Speaker 3: read and what I listened to. And you know, I've
Speaker 3: seen it from the inside, so.
Speaker 2: I understand how this all works.
Speaker 3: I see the amount of bias in the news these days.
Speaker 3: I see the amount of noise. I know the characters,
Speaker 3: and I'm not that interested. So I'm not sorry that
Speaker 3: I'm not part of that at the moment. But also
Speaker 3: I subscribe that, you know, if you're not in any arena,
Speaker 3: you know, getting your ass kicked, then you don't have
Speaker 3: a crack at the people who are. So I'm not.
Speaker 3: You know, I take my hat off to anyone who wants.
Speaker 2: To go in there each day and do it.
Speaker 3: I just don't at the moment because the new cycle,
Speaker 3: you know, I think about the last couple of years,
Speaker 3: you know, talking about.
Speaker 2: COVID, it's a long day. Yeah, oh it's a lot.
Speaker 3: And then you know, now talking about Trump every day,
Speaker 3: and you know, we just move in these circles and rubbish,
Speaker 3: and I think I'm really glad to not be in that.
Speaker 1: At the same time, I feel like there could be
Speaker 1: a really good companion piece because I can imagine you
Speaker 1: going out there because things have changed since COVID, and
Speaker 1: I think that there's more people living in regional areas.
Speaker 1: I'd love to see you go out there and talk
Speaker 1: to the women that are now out there working in
Speaker 1: regional areas, that are making a living out there. I'd
Speaker 1: love I mean, that's you know, I guess it's one thing.
Speaker 1: That's that's one job, and then I guess if you
Speaker 1: put your hand up for that, then they're probably doing
Speaker 1: a lot more. But I'd love to see you go
Speaker 1: out there and talk to people in Australia that had
Speaker 1: been affected by COVID and had a lifestyle change.
Speaker 3: Yes, well, it's interesting because I'm seeing it firsthand because
Speaker 3: I'm you know, I live while I live in the
Speaker 3: Southern Highland, so we're not exactly that isolated, but I'm
Speaker 3: certainly out of Sydney and my father's Wogga and my
Speaker 3: brothers at Yas, you know where. I know the regions,
Speaker 3: and we spend a lot of time driving around the regions,
Speaker 3: going to parties in the you know, I see I
Speaker 3: talk to a lot of country people, and I see
Speaker 3: the houses being built on the suburbs, you know, the
Speaker 3: outer suburbs of Wogga.
Speaker 2: Expanding into the paddocks.
Speaker 3: There is such a movement, such a migration to the
Speaker 3: regional areas at the moment that it's quite extraordinary to
Speaker 3: see that and then I guess, sighing into the show
Speaker 3: into Farma, what I'm seeing in my real life and
Speaker 3: is being reflected in the show quite nicely, is that
Speaker 3: women who in my day, and certainly in my mother's day,
Speaker 3: I found old saying that, but women who had to
Speaker 3: go to the city for their careers. They didn't wanted
Speaker 3: to be a farmer's life and stay at home and
Speaker 3: have children and maybe be a school teacher. They wanted
Speaker 3: to keep their careers going and.
Speaker 2: Have good lifestyles.
Speaker 3: And that can happen now, you know, with Zoom, I
Speaker 3: mean yes, as you say, COVID has dramatically changed the
Speaker 3: way we work. So you've got this situation where all
Speaker 3: these incredibly dynamic, powerful, strong, career driven women and now
Speaker 3: pick those careers up, to pick those jobs up and
Speaker 3: take them to country areas. Maria farmers have a family
Speaker 3: with a great lifestyle with space for the kids to
Speaker 3: run around, and you know, not be you know, agitated
Speaker 3: by the city living and still keep their jobs, you know,
Speaker 3: still have their own lives and their own independence, and
Speaker 3: still use their brains. So it's wonderful. It's a great
Speaker 3: migration that I'm seeing in my real life. And then
Speaker 3: I'm seeing it on the show. I think it's wonderful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, do you know what I also think is that
Speaker 1: we don't necessarily know how easy it is for everyone.
Speaker 1: But back when Farmer once a Wife first started, it
Speaker 1: was kind of a daunting prospect to these women. You know,
Speaker 1: do you want to marry a farmer live out there?
Speaker 1: And there'd be no internet, there'd be none of that.
Speaker 1: They were sort of isolated themselves. Where these days that's
Speaker 1: sort of broken down a bit. And as you mentioned, like,
Speaker 1: women are far more dynamic these days and are able
Speaker 1: to have their cake and eat it too, And who
Speaker 1: doesn't want to move out to the country and raise
Speaker 1: their children? I mean, sounds far too appealing to me.
Speaker 3: I know it is. It's a great I mean, it
Speaker 3: was my childhood, so I know what it's like to
Speaker 3: be a kid in the country, and it's great and
Speaker 3: it sets you up to be you know, in my case,
Speaker 3: my family's case, I think are really well rounded and
Speaker 3: you know, your values. I can't generally, I suppose I
Speaker 3: shouldn't generalize here that. You know, country values are a traditionally.
Speaker 2: Very good value.
Speaker 3: You know, you hard work, Honestly, there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 3: So I love that there's this migration going on, and
Speaker 3: I love that I'm seeing it in real life as well.
Speaker 3: And there's also this situation I know, I went to
Speaker 3: it for many years where you know, you're in the city,
Speaker 3: you're dating blokes in the city. You get to a
Speaker 3: point where you're bit disillusioned with the blokes in the
Speaker 3: city and you think, you know, there's a romanticism to
Speaker 3: marrying a farmer, and the show sort of captures that.
Speaker 3: But it's a real thing. So, you know, as far
Speaker 3: as reality shows go, to me, it's the most authentic
Speaker 3: sort of reflection of the real world.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's really interesting because I think back,
Speaker 1: because I'm forty four, and I think back to when
Speaker 1: I would be looking for, you know, to find someone,
Speaker 1: and I used to go to the pubs and the
Speaker 1: clubs and things like that. I felt like we had
Speaker 1: to work a little bit harder. Do you think that
Speaker 1: the way in which there's apps and dating apps these days,
Speaker 1: do you reckon that's affected the way that some of
Speaker 1: these men might socialize because they're limiting it that sort
Speaker 1: of face to FaceTime that we were having before.
Speaker 3: Oh god, well, I can't speak Sam.
Speaker 1: We've been off the market for a while. We don't know.
Speaker 1: I have to watch VI Cares.
Speaker 3: God, yeah, thank god, I've been off the market.
Speaker 2: But I do look.
Speaker 3: I look at Richard's daughters, who are in their twenties,
Speaker 3: and it's just a whole different world now. I think
Speaker 3: my day it was no one. You know, I've never
Speaker 3: done it. I never could because I was hosting a
Speaker 3: big show and it was not I just never did it.
Speaker 3: I didn't want to do it, and I wouldn't have
Speaker 3: done it.
Speaker 1: But now you apps, did you imagine the headlines from that?
Speaker 1: Good lord, Oh my god, can you imagine?
Speaker 3: But now young people are you know, it's perfectly acceptable.
Speaker 3: This is how they meet online and they get to
Speaker 3: know each other online really quickly. And I don't know
Speaker 3: for good off the bad. Society will work that out
Speaker 3: in the next couple of decades. But so who am
Speaker 3: I to say? But it's a very different world now. Gosh,
Speaker 3: you don't know me to tell you that.
Speaker 1: No. But also, Tom is twenty two, right, and here's
Speaker 1: from Victoria, And I think twenty two is too young.
Speaker 1: Do you think twenty two is too young to be
Speaker 1: looking for a wife when you're out there in the
Speaker 1: regional environments.
Speaker 3: Well, look, of course it's the course. You know, he's
Speaker 3: a very he's quite a serious young man and he's
Speaker 3: quite well. I wouldn't have picked him at twenty two.
Speaker 3: I think he's quite mature, and he's quiet, and he's
Speaker 3: quite introspective. He's a nice young bloke, Tom and you know,
Speaker 3: he wanted to apply he I think particularly, Look, I
Speaker 3: don't know, this is just country people and this is
Speaker 3: just human nature. But I think what you've seen your
Speaker 3: parents do in their marriage, I think what you've seen
Speaker 3: your grandparents do in their marriage.
Speaker 2: Affects you quite heavily.
Speaker 3: And I think he had a very happy family situation
Speaker 3: that he was coming from. That he wanted what the
Speaker 3: generations before him had and I sort of admire that,
Speaker 3: you know, I mean.
Speaker 2: I've got I couldn't have got married at twenty two.
Speaker 1: I'd like to all my young female friends to keep
Speaker 1: their rings off their fingers until they're thirty. I might
Speaker 1: go and travel and finish your career. You all finish
Speaker 1: your education, I think is important. And I'm like, so
Speaker 1: I said that to my sister, and she she didn't
Speaker 1: end up in a serious relationship until she was thirty,
Speaker 1: but she'd traveled the world, she'd got a degree. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I just think that I tell everyone under
Speaker 1: the age of thirty, but who am I some person city, Well,
Speaker 1: this is the peaks to.
Speaker 3: Their own and I'm very the older I get, the more,
Speaker 3: you know, I just think, you know, live and let
Speaker 3: live and Tom and last season we had Matt who
Speaker 3: was twenty three. He was pretty young too, but he
Speaker 3: was really serious and he's done. Like I think, these
Speaker 3: blokes know when they're ready, and if they're ready at
Speaker 3: twenty two and twenty three, then good luck to them.
Speaker 3: I mean, my father was kind of think. I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm not are, but my father was twenty four when
Speaker 3: he got married. Mum was twenty one and in those days,
Speaker 3: no I thought twice about that. Admittedly that was seventies,
Speaker 3: but who knows. Who knows when you when you're ready,
Speaker 3: you're ready. And it's quite nice for us on the
Speaker 3: show to have that mix of ages because the the
Speaker 3: older farmers are you know, well into their thirties.
Speaker 2: So that's good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think a good mix is always right,
Speaker 1: you know. What I was also thinking is that whenever
Speaker 1: I watched the show, people talk about the diversity and
Speaker 1: people always ask me. They're like, are they are there
Speaker 1: any gay farmers? Like, are we going to see any
Speaker 1: gay farmers on this show? I'd love to see that.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, well, if there are, and there would
Speaker 1: be that apply and they'd be on the sho show.
Speaker 1: But I was just talking to my friend farmer Dave
Speaker 1: the other day, who was on Big Brother Wise and
Speaker 1: he's now single. Do you reckon that farmer Dave?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: If I ring him and pitch this idea to him,
Speaker 1: Derek and he'd be good on the show.
Speaker 3: Yes, of course if we wanted to come on. Yes. Look,
Speaker 3: this issue comes up every year with diversity, with culturally
Speaker 3: diverse farmers or gay farmers, and we are we are
Speaker 3: not shutting that down. Well, the producers are very open
Speaker 3: to anyone who wants to apply. The problem is it's
Speaker 3: really hard to find people who want to go on
Speaker 3: television and look for love from diverse backgrounds. They do
Speaker 3: try every year, and every year it comes up, but
Speaker 3: they have to want to be on television. So that's
Speaker 3: the key.
Speaker 1: You're going to fill out the application for him. They'll
Speaker 1: just have the producers turn up at his house because
Speaker 1: you know Dave would love to be on TV.
Speaker 3: Well, I think they're casting for the next season right
Speaker 3: now and we're onto it.
Speaker 1: But we're onto it. Before I let you go, I
Speaker 1: need to talk to you about your my favorite celebrity
Speaker 1: clickbait story, because I don't think I've ever read clickbait
Speaker 1: story that's ever true, and we need to bust one.
Speaker 1: Because I was in the supermarket i Reckon a month
Speaker 1: ago when I saw your face on the front of
Speaker 1: the whole magazine. It said that you're moving to America.
Speaker 1: And then I read the article because obviously I'm that person.
Speaker 1: You can't just look at the picture. I've got to
Speaker 1: read the story, and it was like, you know you're
Speaker 1: going to leave farmer wants a wife because you're going
Speaker 1: to now be an American. Well, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: it's a terrible time to go to America with Trump
Speaker 1: over there and all the rest of it. What do
Speaker 1: you make of that story.
Speaker 3: I saw you? I do I do know. I did
Speaker 3: see it. I normally don't see thos magazines. Thank God,
Speaker 3: I have better things to do with my part. My
Speaker 3: person sat, but I did. I sat down in the hairdresser,
Speaker 3: actually my hair dress the habit sitting there for me,
Speaker 3: and I said, what is this because it was a
Speaker 3: terrible old photo because of course that's what they used
Speaker 3: on the property from twelve months ago when I was
Speaker 3: walking through the rain into Carlin Jackie Oh to do
Speaker 3: an interview with them. So it was a very old photo.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: And I think it said I was fleeing to America,
Speaker 3: but I was actually walking into a radio station last March.
Speaker 3: Don't see you go. There's your first clue. But I
Speaker 3: know I'm not going to America. I am quite happily
Speaker 3: ensconced in the Southern Highlands. And you know, it's quite funny,
Speaker 3: you know, it amuses me now when I was doing
Speaker 3: Sunrise and it was all a little bit more hectic, but.
Speaker 1: You're tired of doing those hours. I had a breakfast
Speaker 1: radio where I was getting up at three, you know,
Speaker 1: to be in the station at three thirty, and people
Speaker 1: would write stuff about me at the time and it
Speaker 1: was never true, and then I would be very sensitive.
Speaker 1: And I think that there's something about getting up at
Speaker 1: that time and being tired and being more susceptible to
Speaker 1: being upset about it. Where now if someone writes that stuff,
Speaker 1: I just I think it's a good laugh. I just
Speaker 1: laugh at it.
Speaker 3: Well, this is what this is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is my point.
Speaker 3: I used to get upset by, well, not not really
Speaker 3: miss silly, but some of it. I'd get upset by
Speaker 3: and I'd say, this is not true.
Speaker 2: Where is it you.
Speaker 1: We've got to get on the now, well your family.
Speaker 3: I can detach from it now. I actually did read
Speaker 3: that article two and it's actually hilarious because when you're
Speaker 3: reading about yourself like that and go where and let
Speaker 3: me tell as soon as a magazine like that is,
Speaker 3: I saw what's close to demansa is saying, you know
Speaker 3: that they've just made it up.
Speaker 1: I've got a little faith.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of funny unless it's topometry and then
Speaker 3: you take action.
Speaker 1: You know. The other thing that was people keep saying
Speaker 1: because I was googling this morning, this is obviously my
Speaker 1: journalistic degree. Found everything from Google. No, that's not necessarily true.
Speaker 1: But they were talking about Natalie Groowski and they said
Speaker 1: that you're in a fight with her. Now i'd spoken
Speaker 1: to her. No, there's no fight. But do you think
Speaker 1: it's very boring when we pit women against each other
Speaker 1: like that for no reason in the media landscape? Do
Speaker 1: you think that's very lazy journalism.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's very lazy. How silly to be carrying on
Speaker 3: like that. In twenty twenty four, No, Natalie growslik Iss
Speaker 3: divine and we get on very well. And she's an
Speaker 3: absolute sweetheart. So don't listen twenty.
Speaker 2: Of the nonsense.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm going to take that from you. Well, the
Speaker 1: last question I ask is the same thing I ask everyone.
Speaker 1: I think this is episode three hundred and ninety nine,
Speaker 1: So thank you. Close to four hundred episodes mental and
Speaker 1: I know you did podcasting, so you know that that's
Speaker 1: a lot of episodes. It is, well that, yeah, but
Speaker 1: what is something from behind the scenes that this year
Speaker 1: is farmer? Something that you can tell us kind of
Speaker 1: like a funny story or funny anecdote from your time
Speaker 1: filming the series.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, No, you're putting me on the well.
Speaker 1: I think last year, what did we talking about. We
Speaker 1: mentioned the the the B and S ball where there
Speaker 1: was moscitoes or something I can't remember, and all of
Speaker 1: them was Alado.
Speaker 2: It was the leech crew got leeches on their legs
Speaker 2: out of the grass.
Speaker 3: Let me think, Oh my goodness, you put me on
Speaker 3: the spot now and I can't think of any gothip
Speaker 3: for you mean, one night we shot the Country Ball.
Speaker 3: We filmed the Country Ball. It's in just me in
Speaker 3: the Hunter Valley, and we had a fire pit. You know,
Speaker 3: everyone loves to sit around the fire in the country.
Speaker 3: But then we're kind of film and the crew were
Speaker 3: trying to throw water on the fire pit. When you
Speaker 3: throw water on a fire, it just creates smoke. I
Speaker 3: don't know, yeah, I know, in the fire, but so
Speaker 3: we just had billows of smoke going up in the
Speaker 3: in front of the cameras, so we couldn't film. And
Speaker 3: it was like three am and ridiculously cold and wet,
Speaker 3: and we had smoke bellowing through and everyone just wanted
Speaker 3: to be finished and go to bed. So me and
Speaker 3: the farmers actually came over with their bare hands and
Speaker 3: started pulling the like the metal five. I've always stopped
Speaker 3: passing the metal, so they would try to just pull
Speaker 3: it out from under, like turn it upside downside so
Speaker 3: the fire would go out, which I thought was very
Speaker 3: very country boy thing to do. I was like, do
Speaker 3: not touch that five pit with their hands. It was
Speaker 3: very much and brave, but also a bit stupid.
Speaker 1: So we know the crew aren't from the country because
Speaker 1: they're the ones throwing the water on the fire like that.
Speaker 1: They don't know, that's that's not what you do.
Speaker 3: The farmers were like, don't look, these bloody city crew
Speaker 3: work it out. But I mean that's all part. Look,
Speaker 3: it's all fun. It's all it's well, no, it's not
Speaker 3: usually fun at trying it, but it was all in
Speaker 3: hindsight it was funny. So that, yeah, that's a bit
Speaker 3: of fun.
Speaker 1: Well, I just want to say thank you for being
Speaker 1: so generous. I love do you know. I get so
Speaker 1: excited to talk to you because it's just so easy
Speaker 1: and you have always such a good storyteller and you
Speaker 1: have a lot to say and I think it's real value.
Speaker 1: So I really look forward to chatting to you. I
Speaker 1: really do well.
Speaker 3: As suppose you to talk to you, and I thank
Speaker 3: you for having me on your podcast, so we great
Speaker 3: to chat to you.
Speaker 1: Well enjoy chatting to the media with this season. I'm
Speaker 1: going to live vicariously through you as we watch it
Speaker 1: with the rest of Australia.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: It's a good season.
Speaker 3: I think you'll enjoy it. So so stay cute.
Speaker 1: That's a good teast. Sam, look after yourself.
Speaker 3: You too, thank you,