“Staged and manipulated”: Farmer Wants A Wife’s Liz Jelley slams the show in a shock tell-all

Hailed as television’s “genuine” dating show, Farmer Wants A Wife, promised to bring real love back to our screens in 2020.

And while we did see one success story from this season in Justine and Neil, there’s been a lot of disappointment amongst fans, regarding the “MAFS” style spin the revived series was given.

Now, Liz Jelley, who was the last woman standing on farmer Nick’s property has spoken out, slamming the show and its producers.

“They treated us like absolute sh^t,” the 34-year-old marriage celebrant told Kidspot in a new interview of the show’s production.

“The whole thing was so staged and manipulated. It was a horrendous experience.”

Fans will recall Nick asked Liz to be “his lady” and remain on the farm with him.

But, not long after the couple split with Liz revealing Nick became distant and uncommunicative shortly after cameras stopped rolling.

Liz reveals that despite breaking it off with Nick, the couple chose to remain friends and were both intending to appear at the finale together.

“The night before the reunion, I received a text message from a staff member saying I was no longer coming and that was the end of it. And then obviously they teased him up to say that it was all his doing,” she explained.

“Nick actually wanted us to get back together, but I said no. I told him I preferred to go there as mates.”

Liz went on to reveal that in the lead up to the breakup, both she and Nick were “manipulated” against one another.

“Unbeknownst to me, a staff member has gone to him and said under no circumstances are you to contact Liz.”

“And then when I went down to Tasmania to break it off with him, they were egging me on and asked if he had contacted me. When I said ‘No’ they said ‘Oh, that’s disgusting’.

“Then they went to him and told him and said: ‘Oh she is absolutely dragging you through the mud, you should hear what she is saying about you. She’s mad, she hates you…'”

“The whole thing was completely set up by them and the two of us completely ate it up.”

Fans of the show had expressed their concerns and comparisons to controversial dating series Married At First Sight during the season, a sentiment Liz also shared.

“Most of the producers were off MAFS,” she revealed. “I signed up for the old Farmer Wants A Wife – I didn’t sign up for this bullsh*t that I got.”

Emphasising that she never went on the show to become an influencer or gain fame, Liz revealed she immediately faced “red flags” over farmer Nick’s intentions.

“Nick should never have been on the show,” she said.

“On our first date, he had a complete mental flip at the show because they wouldn’t show his wine bottle labels. His exact words were: ‘Well, why am I here?’ and that was right in front of me! Obviously he realised what he had said and was like ‘Well, not me though… I’m here for the wives’.”

Now To Love have reached out to Channel 7 for comment.