It was the big moment when farmer Jarrad was supposed to make his final decision… but it turned into the big moment when Yvonne made her final decision. In Sunday night’s episode of Farmer Wants A Wife, Yvonne stopped Jarrad just as he was beginning his speech, told him, “I’m so sorry, you are not my farmer,” and walked away.
Jarrad went on to choose Brodie.
Yvonne, a 31-year-old case manager, tells TV WEEK she made the decision to end things with 41-year-old almond farmer Jarrad after the home visit.
“I had the chance towards the end to really slow down and look at things properly, at what I’d seen and heard, both in front of the cameras and away from them,” she says. “I’ve fallen for potential before, for the version of someone I could picture down the track rather than the person actually standing in front of me. This time, I took the rose-coloured glasses off and made myself really look. And when I did, something didn’t sit right with my values.”
Yvonne says when she walked away from Jarrad she felt terrified “and then, almost immediately, proud”.
“What I will say is that I did fall for him. I could see a whole life on that farm. But for the first time, I chose clarity over comfort.
“Walking away was one of the hardest things I’ve done, and also the proudest. I felt like I had finally put myself first. And after that day, when it was revealed Jarrad had chosen Brodie, I felt genuinely happy for them.”
So is there anything Yvonne wishes she’d done differently?
“Not really, no,” she says. “Some people may have misunderstood parts of me, but a lot didn’t make it to air: conversations about my own past, poetry I’d written for Jarrad, quieter moments with the ladies on the farm, the more empathetic, mothering side of who I am. What people did see was someone who had genuine fun in the process of finding love.”
Yvonne has stayed in touch with some of the people she met on Farmer Wants A Wife – but not Jarrad.
“Jarrad and I have gone our separate ways since I said goodbye. I have stayed very close with all the girls from the show, which has been amazing.”
Currently finishing her Masters, Yvonne is spending her spare time birdwatching and painting. She’s not dating right now.
“I’m enjoying being focused on myself again, but I’m definitely more open to it when the right person comes along.”
Catch Farmer Wants A Wife on 7plus.
