As what was supposed to be his dream September wedding date approached, Farmer Wants A Wife star Andrew Coleman did what he does best – threw himself into farm life.
“In the lead-up, I just made sure that I had a lot of sheep work to do,” the 43-year-old tells Woman’s Day. “There was obviously an element of sadness around it all and to take my mind off it, I tried to put my focus somewhere else. It was a tough day.”
The sheep farmer from Narromine, New South Wales, met Claire Saunders, 37, on the reality show last year. Then in March, the couple announced their engagement. “It’s been a really tough and stressful time,” Andrew confesses, since he and his fiancée called off their wedding.
“But despite the pain, I feel like we had both made the right decision. In moving forward, we can both take away some learnings from our time together.”
Asked what he’s discovered since the split, Andrew replies, “Good communication is of the utmost importance.”
He says it was a lack of it that contributed to the couple’s break-up – especially when Claire blindsided him.
“She had an extended stay in Tasmania and when she arrived back at the farm, she suggested we needed to talk about the wedding,” he shares. “She asked me how I was feeling about it all.
“During that conversation, I had expressed some doubts about getting married. I remember saying I felt like something had changed, but I didn’t know what.”
Andrew says that after that conversation, all seemed fine.
“We then had a pretty good afternoon after that – we sorted some sheep out for a sale,” he tells. “But the next day, I was at a field day and Claire texted me saying she’d cancelled the wedding. She said she’d already informed her family and friends – and that I probably should come home.
“When I got back, Claire felt quite upset, as was I. She told me she had work to go to in Darwin, and I felt quite shocked and confused. When I left that morning, I thought things were OK!”
And while Claire claimed on social media in September that Andrew “stole” her Toyota Prado, Andrew has a different version of events.
“We agreed that she received some compensation and given the length of the drive that she had to do going to Darwin, she could use the Prado I’d recently bought, then travel back to the farm with it, returning sometime in August.
“I checked in with Claire each day while she was travelling to Darwin to say I wanted to work things out, but she said she was going to stay there until the dry season was over and, unfortunately, things continued to deteriorate from there.
“On top of all that, Claire made the cancellation of the wedding public in a social media post and I hadn’t even told the guests.
“They felt shocked. But ultimately, when everything settled down, everyone thought if it wasn’t going to work long term, the right decision had been made.”
Andrew says the pair “clashed” over “financial awareness” and “social media use”.
He explains, “It revealed a few differences there that weren’t really compatible for any long-term relationship. Her communication was very strange at times.”
But Andrew denies Claire’s claims his father’s battle with illness contributed to their split.
“That didn’t play a role, other than to move the wedding up as he was unwell,” he insists.
Despite everything, Andrew says the pair are still in touch.
“They are all very amicable exchanges,” says Andrew, who reveals Claire still has her engagement ring.
However, he doesn’t see them reconciling.
“Claire’s a special woman, but our differences were too great,” he admits.
Andrew insists he has “no regrets” about going on Farmer Wants A Wife.
“It was a leap of faith and it was one of the best things I’ve done in my life,” he says of the TVNZ reality series, adding that he hasn’t given up on love.
“Who knows what the future holds? Just because this one didn’t work out doesn’t mean you give up. I still have my dreams of having a family and settling down.”
And he isn’t ruling out returning to Farmer.
“If I knew the outcome would be that I would meet my ideal partner, I would probably give it another shot!”