Farmer Wants a Wife reject says she was ‘too fat for TV’

It's only week one of the new season of Farmer Wants A Wife, but already the show is facing backlash with fans slamming the show for its lack of diversity and now claims a woman was sent home after barely 48 hours because she was "too fat for TV".

This is what Amber Gwynne, 36, believes happened to her after she appeared on the show in the hopes of finding everlasting love.

Speaking exclusively with Yahoo Lifestyle, the size 16 nurse and model scout said she decided to sign up for Farmer Wants A Wife after the breakdown of her seven-year relationship. But it seems it wasn't meant to be.

She explained that two days into filming - and after just five minutes with farmer Nick - Amber was eliminated from the show.

Since episode one of the dating show aired on Sunday night she’s been inundated with messages from people struggling to make sense of why.

“When I sat with him, he (farmer Nick) told me I had nice eyes. I told him he also had nice eyes. That’d suggest there was a level of attraction there so why would he send me home so early? Unless the decision was made for him by the show? I should have gone on The Biggest Loser instead because that’s what I’ve ended up as here," she said.

It has been several months since filming of Farmer Wants A Wife ended and Amber is more convinced now her premature exit had nothing to do with how farmer Nick felt about her and everything to do with her size.

She believes she was too big for the Australian reality show, adding it's just not right.

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Amber said that there needs to be a big change in Australian reality TV and that it needs to represent actual reality – a modern Australia with all its different shapes, sizes and colours.

While still upset about the whole Farmer Wants a Wife experience, Amber’s focus for now is on the big picture. For the past five years she has been building a following through an Instagram page devoted to plus-size images of herself and other women, which she says promote ‘equality and diversity in every form’.

She’s managed to attract 200,000 people through her Instagram account Non Airbrushed Me, who, like her, believe ’big is beautiful’ and that Australian television needs more diversity to reflect a country that is truly multicultural and where one size does not necessarily fit all.

One only had to look at Bachelor in Paradise, she said, to see how over-represented "white Australia" was on television. She explained that there was only two non-white cast members on that show with neither having significant roles.

“That’s not the Australia I live in. Reality television should represent reality. Australia is a wonderfully cosmopolitan country and that should be reflected on our screens,” Amber said.

“My experience has really opened my eyes even more to this whole issue. I’d love to see all Australians represented – people with disabilities, people from all ethnic groups, trans people.”

Amber says apart from the disappointment of not being given a shot at love there was also the regret of not having the opportunity to show Australia over a prolonged period that curvy girls were also sexy girls and deserved their place on television.

“That’s disappointing, but I hope this can be the start of a conversation for change.”

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