'Farming for Love' Season 2 on CTV is like a steamy second date, host Sabrina Jalees teases
"These are young, hot entrepreneurs, and farming is a piece of their life," Jalees said
The famed reality TV dating show Farming for Love is back for Season 2, with a new batch of single Canadian farmers ready to find love. As host Sabrina Jalees teases ahead of the premiere (May 29 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, CTV.ca and the CTV app), things are heating up this season.
"Our airtime went down to 10 p.m, and that's for a reason," Jalees told Yahoo Canada. "There's a lot more steam coming off of Season 2."
"I like to think of Season 2 as the second date with Farming for Love. First date, everyone's buttoned up, everyone's wearing their perfume, they've got their gelled hair. Second date you're ready to open mouth kiss, and that's what we're ready to do with Canada."
As we saw in Season 1 of Farming for Love in Canada, single farmers meet a crop of daters who will experience life in the country, hoping to fall in love. This season, all the farmers are from British Columbia.
For Jalees, one exciting change from the first season of the show is the inclusion of a gay farmer, Farmer Kirkland, who is also a former rodeo champion.
"Seeing a gay storyline mixed into a show that's just about love, it's not about gay love," Jalees highlighted. "Oftentimes it's got to be this specific queer angle and it just felt so rewarding to be a part of a show that is about people finding love, where there happens to be a gay farmer on it."
"I think it's going to be pretty meaningful to people watching."
The host of the show also stressed that while many might think of people who wear overalls with a toothpick hanging out of their mouth when they envision a farmer, that's not the cast on this show.
"These are young, hot entrepreneurs, and farming is a piece of their life, but they have other hobbies, Jalees said. "They're just, to be honest, sexy people."
'I'm really, really invested'
In terms of the hosting duty for Season 2, Jalees was taking part in the show as her wife was pregnant, which she believes gave her a different "energy."
"I feel like I'm getting pregnant wife energy. Maybe I'm glowing. Maybe I'm feeling the pressure of about to be a parent of two, but that was the new context for this season," she said. "And it was also exciting to be hosting the show, having already banked some success from Season 1."
"Farmer Doug and Meghan are happily together, ... so to have taken part in that season and know that the proof is in the pudding, and we've got the pudding made, it's even more fun to make Season 2's pudding."
But Jalees added that she does find it hard to not involve herself in situations she's not supposed to, as the host.
"I'm really, really invested and it is really hard not to jump in and give people hugs," Jalees said. "But contractually I can't."
"My very first hosting show, I hosted this show to YTV called In Real Life, and in the very first elimination ceremony, it was almost like Amazing Race but for kids, the kid who got kicked out started crying and I like bear hugged him. Completely blocked the shot of his face and basically walked him off camera. The producers were like, 'You ruined the show honey.' And so I'll never forget that."
What 'Farming for Love' has that 'The Golden Bachelor' missed
The Farming for Love franchise internationally has resulted in 200 weddings and more than 500 kids, so unlike most reality TV dating shows, this format has seemingly been able to find far more success.
Looking at the elements that make Farming for Love work, Jalees says success is baked into the premise of the show, including the casting.
"When you think about a farmer, before you think about those cartoonish features of the overalls and all that, when you think about their life, they are in the practice of devoting themselves to long term growth," Jalees said. "So right there is a good sign, a green flag for a relationship, and then the second thing is, the premise of the show is, are you interested in moving to someone's farm and taking up that lifestyle?"
"Whereas I watched The Golden Bachelor, I loved seeing them play pickleball and smooch, and seeing people my parents' age get nervous about flirting, but those people are divorced now. I think a lot of these dating shows, there's a flaw in the premise because neither person has committed to a true lifestyle change. They're committed to this fairytale idea of falling in love. But right off the bat everybody that signs up for this show says, I know what this future will look like. They even know what the farmer they're going to meet is going to look like and the farmers get to choose from a huge list of daters that have applied for them. ... I think that's where a lot of the other dating shows sort of go sideways."
Farming for Love Season 2 cast
Farmer Erin
Location: Creston, B.C.
Age: 34
Farm type: Soil-to-shelf dairy farm
Farmer Erin is a second-generation dairy farmer and after her parents’ recent retirement, she took over the family business. She is one of the only solo women in the province who runs her own soil-to-shelf dairy farm. Erin is looking for, "a loving partner to share her life with on the farm."
Farmer Kirkland
Location: Rosedale, B.C.
Age: 35
Farm type: Cattle farm and horse boarding
Farmer Kirkland is a former rodeo champion who's back at his family farm after trying "to find himself" in the "big city." He now a second-generation farmer who loves minding horses and cattle near his home community of Cheam First Nation. Kirkland is looking for a man "ready to settle down, saddle up, and ride into the sunset."
Farmer Josh
Location: Chilliwack, B.C.
Age: 27
Farm type: Dairy
Farmer Josh is described as "a quintessential hockey-playing, cowboy-hat-wearing Canadian farmer" who runs his family's dairy farm. He's been married and divorced, but hasn't "given up" on love, with the hope of raising kids with his future wife.
Farmer Mischa
Location: Lillooet, B.C.
Age: 32
Farm type: Apiary and orchards
Farmer Mischa is a fourth-generation beekeeper and orchardist who was a skate shop owner in the city, but has a returned to the country life he loves. Mischa is looking for a woman who wants to live in a small town, start a family, and "build a bee empire."
