‘Farming for Love’ Is Reviving the Messy Gay Dating Show
Farming for Love wasn’t always a bastion of homo-insanity. Its origins were fairly straight-laced, dating back to the 2001 U.K. reality dating show Farmer Wants a Wife. That iteration didn’t stick, but its straw-sucking, cowgirl-wooing international counterparts have lingered for years. There’s even an American reboot, which just wrapped its second season on FOX. It’s Yellowstone, if Kevin Costner was looking for his forever girl. Betraying its roots, the Canadian edition added a new twist: dumping in a wagonload of gay men.
The CTV hit introduced Farmer Kirkland for its second season, a strapping rodeo champion in search of a loyal second set of hands (and abs) to help tend to the ranch. There’s a lot to love about Kirkland: the wells of his dark eyes, the thick brown beard, the fact that he can up and straddle a horse like it’s nothing. Just look at his sweat-glistened face, appropriately soundtracked by Tinashe’s “Nasty.” Kirkland is also proudly Indigenous and identifies as Two-Spirit, giving the reality show a surprising amount of depth. Notably lacking in that depth, then, is his gaggle of twink suitors.
The boys have all the trademarks of a standard issue Bachelor cast: They giggle on majestic private dates, they moan with pouty eyes at the prospect of lost love, and they bicker about just who’s smacked lips with Kirkland. (Spoiler alert: Kirkland isn’t holding back with his bestowal of kisses.) All of this is done in sleeveless knit vests and polos two sizes too small. It’s part Love Island, part Brokeback Mountain, but with drama you’ll only see in the bathroom line at a Charli XCX concert.