Two Washington women are among the 32 “daters” looking to meet the man of their dreams on Fox’s “Farmer Wants a Wife” (9 p.m. March 20), hosted by Kimberly Williams-Paisley.
Grace Clark, a 23-year-old nanny from Ellensburg, Kittitas County, competes for a spot on the Florence, Ala., farm of Jay Woods, a 25-year-old whose football career was ended by an injury.
Bailee Wallace, 24, works as a barista in Castle Rock, Cowlitz County, and competes for the affection of Colton Hendricks, a recently divorced 27-year-old Mena, Ark., cattle rancher with a 2-year-old son.
A more rural take on “The Bachelor,” “Farmer Wants a Wife” first aired in the U.S. for one season on The CW in 2008. After that, the show was dormant domestically until Fox revived it in 2023. Versions of “Farmer Wants a Wife” air in 34 countries worldwide and have resulted in 226 marriages. Two of the farmers last season on the Fox show remain in relationships with women they met on the program.
This third Fox season, filmed in September-October 2024, begins with a speed dating event near Birmingham, which is where Clark and Wallace first meet this season’s four farmers and the other contestant daters.
Ellensburg’s Clark says she applied to be on “Farmer Wants a Wife” and it’s the only reality show she’s ever sent in an application to be on.
“My mom and I have watched the show prior, and I applied with zero expectations,” Clark says. “I like the genuine authenticity of this show. It’s more my personality and more my speed. And it’s definitely a smaller scale — ‘The Bachelor’ is huge and that is not what I was wanting to do.”
Clark, who says she wants to be a stay-at-home mom or operate her own outdoor preschool, grew up in Skagit Valley, graduating from Burlington-Edison High School in 2019. She moved to Ellensburg to attend Central Washington University, graduating with a communications degree in 2023. A nanny job ended around the time Clark applied to be on “Farmer Wants a Wife.”
“There were doors that had closed in my life pretty abruptly and that door (to the show) swung wide open when my other doors were closed,” Clark says. “I did have a lot of prayer going into it and sitting with God during the entire casting process. I just knew that Jesus had to be 100% in the decision for me to do it in order to go through with it.”
Clark says her biggest struggle is with interviews and wanting to put her best foot forward “without coming across too nervous.
“People are either going to accept me for who I am or they’re not, and that’s OK either way,” Clark says.
Despite the show’s format — one farmer picking among eight women — Clark says she didn’t feel any competition with the other daters.
“It wasn’t a super-stressful environment,” she says. “There was a lot of compassion. All the girls were great, and meeting Jay, honestly, I kind of blacked out from nerves. I don’t remember what we talked about really. I remember leaving the conversation and thinking that it went really well.”
Castle Rock’s Wallace also watches “Farmer Wants a Wife” with her family, who encouraged her to apply to be on the show.
“Everything about the show is my lifestyle now,” says Wallace, who grew up in Castle Rock on a hobby farm with horses, ducks, geese, dogs and, at one point, a pig. “I haven’t been in a relationship for around three years so I thought I might as well give it a chance.”
After graduating from Three Rivers Christian School in Longview and attending Lower Columbia College for a year, Wallace moved to Knoxville, Tenn., where she also worked as a barista, before moving back to her hometown.
Wallace says the women on “Farmer Wants a Wife” get to watch video previews of each of the farmers and choose which one they’re most interested in. Wallace chose to be considered for Colton’s farm because “he’s definitely funny and outgoing. He seemed charismatic, like a leader and just a fun person to be around.”
There are eight women for each farmer at the beginning of the season premiere. By the end of the first episode, each farmer chooses five women to continue on the series with an invitation to his farm.
“It was very hard for me just because I don’t normally compete for any men in my regular life,” Wallace says. “I’m used to guys liking me back and not knowing that they’re talking to anybody else. It was definitely a crazy experience to see behind the scenes of what it could be like if guys are talking to other girls in real life.”
Ultimately, Clark says she’s glad she went on “Farmer Wants a Wife,” no matter the outcome of any potential relationship with Farmer Jay.
“I had a great experience with the people,” she says. “But reality TV is kind of scary for somebody who is an extroverted introvert like me.”
Wallace says the women on this season of “Farmer Wants a Wife” formed a group chat after filming wrapped and they plan to meet up in Nashville, Tenn., to watch the premiere episode together at a bar.
“I’m definitely very glad that I got to do this show,” Wallace says. “It was the experience of a lifetime. I don’t think anything could top that and I can do ‘Two Truths and a Lie’ forever now.”