Farmer Wants A Wife’s Neil Seaman reveals his ex-wife encouraged him to be on the show

Farmer Wants A Wife’s Neil Seaman has reflected upon his extremely close relationship with his ex-wife.

Speaking to New Idea magazine this week, the sheep farmer, 43, said his former spouse, named Sally Ward, is so supportive that she even encouraged him to accept a role on the Channel Seven show.   

[When I was cast on the show], my three kids and Sally, my ex-wife, were the first people I spoke to,’ he told the publication. 

‘It they weren’t aligned with the idea, and I didn’t have their support, it just wouldn’t have been possible,’ he admitted.  

The proud father also joked to New Idea that when he told his three teenage children about his new TV role, they were more concerned about how it would make them look.  

‘Not surprisingly, with three teenage kids, when the news broke to them, their first thoughts were all about themselves,’ he mused.  

‘And whether or not their Instagram profiles were good enough to be on TV.’ 

On Monday’s episode, viewers were left stunned when Neil evicted fellow NSW sheep farmer Chantelle Guyer. 

It turns out the pair had a little too much in common – and Neil was left feeling like he was ‘talking to a bloke’. 

The 31-year-old Moree farmer was scared Neil had ‘friendzoned’ her – and she was devastatingly right. 

After Neil invited his final four – Chantelle, Karissa, Megan and Justine – to herd sheep on his Crookwell property, Chantelle worried she was too much of a mate to Neil. 

‘I do feel like, we do have something. But maybe he’s going to friendzone me. Perhaps he’s thinking, she’s just that girl who’s got sheep. 

‘She knows a bit about sheep. She’ll be my mate. We’re just mates. I don’t want that to happen. I do have a strong attraction to him. 

‘I know I friendzone a lot of guys out of fear of getting hurt. Maybe he’s going to friendzone me, I don’t know,’ she worried. 

That night at dinner, the farmers were asked to send a woman home if they were not connecting with her. 

Of the farmers, only Neil decided to send someone home – and as she feared, it was Chantelle.  

Struggling to hold back tears, the Merino farmer revealed he was evicting, ‘Someone I would happily drive to help fix a fence and farm some sheep. And someone who has four of the luckiest kids in the world.’ 

Chantelle knew he meant her, and her disappointment was evident as she said: ‘You’re so sweet. Don’t cry or I will cry. I knew’. 

The pair embraced emotionally, with Chantelle swatting away tears.  

Neil explained later:  ‘It hurt to make the call because she is a fantastic girl. But there’s three girls who have had next to no time and have shown more than Chan did in a lot more of the time.’

He added: ‘It got to the point where it was just like two blokes leaning over the fence to have a chat about the sheep.’