I am a fan of good television and count shows like the Sopranos and The Wire amongst my favorites. For that reason my latest TV obsession makes no sense at all. A few weeks ago I was channel surfing and stumbled upon Feirm Factor - a reality show on TG4 to find Ireland’s top farmer.
Hosted by the fantastic Maura Derrane, the show pits 15 of Ireland’s most talented farmers against one another to see who has the farm factor. In short, it’s like the X-Factor meets One Man and a Dog, mashing the well worn formats of reality TV into a farm yard setting. The prize for the winning farmer is a Range Rover.
Each week contestants have to complete a number of trials – sometimes so bizarre that they are compulsive viewing. The tasks could be anything from loading hay into a trailer, to how to handle and measure a horse. To date, my personal favorite was “the safety challenge” where the contestants had to identify as many prearranged hazards as possible in a hay shed. And here is the classy bit. Each contestant had a book of post-it notes and they had to lay one on each hazard. It’s low rent and I love it.
The celebrity judge on the show is none other, than former Fine Gael Leader, Minister for Finance and Irish Farmers Association Economist (little known fact) Alan Dukes. What can you say about Mr Dukes. On Feirm Factor he’s not his normal serious self, and is a tough but fair judge.
Dukes is ably assisted by Seán O’Lionaird – the farming judge on the show. Sean is a wily old fox from west Kerry, who has assumed a Yoda like role since the start of the show. He is the oracle for every aspect of quality farming from dosing animals to digging a potato trench, or constructing a dry stone wall.
The show is down to just four contestants now, two men and two women. The strongest remaining contenders are 25-year old Caroline O’Neill from Ballinadee in County Cork and 26-year old Noel Clancy from Thurles in Tipperary. My money is on Caroline.
I’m not sure why I’m finding it so addictive, but it something to do with the innocence of the contestants and the absurdity of the show. If you’re free on Thursday night at 9.30pm, give it a look.
Tags: Farming, Feirm Factor, Gaeilge, TG4
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