Channel Seven has hit back at frustrations around the current season of Farmer Wants A Wife (FWAW), as backlash mounts over the reportedly unsuccessful romances and rumours of a format shake-up emerge.
The network’s response comes after a source told Sky News earlier this week that FWAW is set to change how the show is produced in order to secure more long-lasting romantic matches, since apparently none of the Farmers in the 2026 season found love during the series.
Channel 7 touts high ratings amid FWAW backlash
While Channel Seven didn’t directly respond to controversy over the failed love stories or the resulting shake-up rumours, the network did sneakily hit back by touting the high ratings for Farmer Wants A Wife‘s 2026 season.
When approached by Yahoo!, Channel Seven side-stepped all the chatter and instead put forward its viewership stats, perhaps to point out how successful the show has been despite all the rumours.
According to those numbers, this season of FWAW has scored the show’s highest ratings in five years, and has averaged over one million viewers per episode.
Channel Seven also made note of the show’s ratings in comparison to its competitors, with Monday night’s episode of FWAW apparently drawing more viewers than both MasterChef and Travel Guides, which air at the same time.
Both of those shows are already popular, so FWAW besting them in viewership is certainly an achievement. Whether or not ratings are enough to recoup fans’ goodwill or quiet the shake-up rumours remains to be seen, but the chatter has only continued since the Sky News insider first made the claims.
‘Failed matches’ could spell major changes for FWAW
While FWAW has delivered plenty of juicy drama this season, the payoff is that many of the Farmers have reportedly left the show single — a far cry from the string of success stories the franchise is known for.
Over its 15 seasons, FWAW has resulted in 13 marriages and 28 children, making it one of reality TV’s most successful matchmaking shows, but this season is shaping up very differently.
While FWAW 2026 is still playing out, Farmer Alex has already made his final choice, and it’s since been revealed that he and winner Eddy have split. This prevailing trend of the current season was echoed when a Sky News source claimed all of the Farmers this season failed to find love.
“The talk of the town is that these ‘farmers’ did not find love this season and that could be for a myriad of reasons,” a source close to Channel Seven told Sky News.
“But a season full of failed matches could affect the brand and Channel Seven [does] not want to run the risk of tanking one of its highest-rating reality shows.”
The insider told the publication that the lack of lasting love connections this season has forced production to revert to older formats of the show that have a stronger success rate.
“The casting of the ‘Farmers’ and the Ladies is being looked back over as the series comes to a close, with a look to improving the stakes on finding these farmers’ wives,” they dished.
Passionate FWAW fans slam this season and call for the show to return to its roots
The talk of changes to FWAW will likely come as welcome news to many fans, who have taken to social media to vent their frustration over the show’s increased focus on drama this season.
“It needs to go back to how it was in the beginning. Real [and] not scripted [because] it’s now unbelievable and just like the others such as MAFS etc,” one person said in a Facebook group, while another said they stopped watching it because “it’s turned into rubbish”.
“They wanna lift their game for sure… this was the worst season of all of them I have watched,” another fan wrote while a fourth celebrated the idea of changes being implemented after FWAW 2026. “That’s a positive, as long as they don’t go too far the other way. Go back to what made it very popular,” they wrote.
One format change that many FWAW fans agreed on was axing intruders on the show.
“Please stop bringing in extra women halfway through, it’s not fair on everyone,” one wrote, while another said: “They can start by not bringing extra Ladies home, and when the Farmers are supposed to send a lady home, they have to!”
Farmer Wants a Wife (FWAW) airs Sundays at 7pm and Mondays at 7:30pm on Channel 7 and 7Plus.
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