Whether it’s Farmer Wants A Wife, The Bachelor or MasterChef (I’m looking at you, Sue Bazely), there’s always at least one contestant each season who is given such little screen time that fans on social media comment “Who?” whenever they’re shown.
This is exactly what happened to 29-year-old sports journalist Ellen, who had a very brief appearance on this year’s season of Farmer Wants A Wife as one of Farmer Todd’s dates and has now slammed the Channel Seven reality show for her edit – or lack thereof.
Following Sunday night’s season finale, Ellen opened up about her “whirlwind” experience on social media and described it as one of the hardest things she’s ever done.
“Having people grill you to tears day-in, day-out for more than half an hour at a time on why your previous relationships have failed, whether you think you deserve love etc. is not easy,” she shared. “Overall, do I regret doing it? No. But that also doesn’t mean I’m entirely overjoyed with it.”
Ellen went on to say that while the experience undoubtedly tested her emotions, she’s proud of how resilient she is and how much she learned about herself.
“I got a good friend in @daisy_lamb_ who did, and still does, check in on me which speaks louder than any edit,” she continued. “So thanks to everyone for sending messages and writing comments. And thank you to those who sent emails off complaining about my obvious omission from the edit. That means so much as well.”
Daisy, who received a much more prominent edit and ended up finding love with Farmer Todd, left a comment on Ellen’s post describing her as “one of the funniest, most down to earth amazing people” she’s ever met.
She also took a not-so-subtle swipe at the producers who chose to edit Ellen out of the season, writing: “A big F**K YES to the cowboy boot earrings (epic) and a big F**K YOU to production who did you so dirty (still pisses me off).”
What else has Ellen said?
Ellen has been very vocal about her lack of screen time throughout the series, even describing herself as “the ‘mute’ on Todd’s farm” in a rogue Facebook post.
Earlier this month she posted a video of herself on the show alongside The Who’s song ‘Who Are You’, poking fun at the numerous social media comments asking, “Who’s Ellen?” whenever she received a rare mention from Todd. She also used the hashtags ‘muted’ and ‘silenced’ on Instagram and wrote an eyebrow-raising caption that hinted at certain scenes being edited out.
“I wonder if my little adventure I took Todd on will be shown on @farmeraustralia tonight… Watch and find out… Doubt it but,” she said.
Post-show, Ellen has shared a video announcing that she’s “found love” with her new racing horse.
“Got this little mare a few months after Farmer Wants A Wife finished filming. I definitely found love!” she wrote.
“She’s divine. Loves her work and is just a darling around the stables. She’s started her three-quarter pace work now. Hopefully now only a month off racing. She’s got the same sire as Prince Of Penzance (won the Melbourne Cup with Michelle Payne).”