'Sarah and I are still together': Farmer Joe says trolls need to back off

"Sarah and I are still together," he said.

"There's been a bit of a backlash, a lot of media saying that we're not and all the rest of it.

"We've definitely had our ups and downs, we've had trials and tribulations, like anyone else. I think it's been exacerbated by the whole experience which we had to go through."

Joe said Sarah had got a job at Snowy Hydro in the mountains close to Bombala but they were not yet living together.

Tuesday night was the first time they were revealed as a couple but they had to hide the fact for nearly six months after filming for the show finished last December.

Joe said his and Sarah's relationship was a work in progress and he hoped to escape the "noise" to concentrate on it.

"I mean, I hope so. I hope we get that chance. Unfortunately, everybody seems to know better than me," he said.

The normally affable farmer was noticeably upset about the media speculation his relationship with Sarah was already over and the online comments that he should have chosen the other woman in the final two, Keely. A stranger had even sent him a message calling him a "f---ing idiot" for making the choice.

Sarah was not available for media interviews on Wednesday as she was laid low by COVID.

Joe defended Sarah, who copped a spray from some fans for not being more upbeat on the show.

"It's pretty upsetting for us both," he said.

"The way last night went, it made a lot of people feel as though maybe I should have chosen differently. And that's hard as well. Watching it and how it unfolds isn't exactly how it felt throughout the whole experience and time we spent together.

"I feel really sorry for Sarah, she's been copping it a fair bit.

"It's funny, people want you to go on these shows to find love and to find happiness and be in a partnership and when you do, everyone just wants to turn against you and say, 'It's fake' or 'You shouldn't have done that, you should have chosen someone else' and try to ruin it."

Sarah, a livestock administrator from Queensland, had a spark with Joe from the start. Some fans piled on when her anxieties about being in a competition for love started to surface.

"Everyone said Sarah 'looked uphappy' and she 'always looks cranky'. Sarah is one of the funnest [people]," Joe said.

"Yes, she's a bit of an introvert - but she's happy, she's outgoing. She's a really nice person. She loves music and being outdoors and things like that and everyone is saying she looks like she's cranky all the time. It's all perception and it's being truly unfair on her."

Joe said there had been similar online slurs about the relationship between Farmer Todd and Daisy, who were still going strong.

"People are saying, 'How could they fall in love so quick' and people are being so horrible about the fact that they said they loved each other and then people are being really horrible to Sarah and I about not saying it. Well, where's the happy medium for you guys? You can't please everyone," Joe said.

Joe said he feared the backlash would make it more difficult to have a relationship with Sarah.

"Everyone wants us to find love and have a relationship but all this has made it just that much harder for it to even work between us, you know," he said.

He took heart from some sincere advice from someone who had already been through the storm.

"I did talk to a previous contestant on the show, trying to get some advice, not my friend Andrew, but another farmer and he said, 'Everyone thinks your relationship starts when you make your decision, but your relationship doesn't start, it can't start, until after it's finished airing," Joe said.

"Once the airing stops, when the noise dies down, that's when it actually starts. I think that's probably pretty good advice."

Joe also shot down criticism that Sarah did not attend the wedding of his friend Andrew, a former farmer, and his wife Jess.

First, producers of the show said she couldn't attend the wedding, as it would alert people to their relationship before the finale aired. But then Sarah got a new job and couldn't attend anyway

"And the fact is too that Sarah didn't work for four months because of filming and had just started a brand new job and couldn't get the time off either. So, you know the reality is people miss weddings because of things that happen. That doesn't make her a bad person," he said.

Joe said he was disappointed the online speculation had cast a pall on what was otherwise a worthwhile experience. He said he only went on Farmer Wants a Wife hoping to find love

"I've had people who've never met me, my Facebook's on private and things like that and I've had people sending me messages calling me a f---ing idiot and I don't deserve anything, for not choosing someone. And Sarah's been getting them as well. People's mental health is at stake as well, but no one seems to care about that," he said.

"At the end of the day, I know who I am, I know who Sarah is and I don't have any regrets about going on the show.

"My whole point was to put myself out there and I've had anything and everything thrown at me. But, at the end of the day, all I tried to do was go and try somebody I could possibly fall in love with and the show provided me with that opportunity. I don't regret that."

Joe said everyone on the show had good intention.

"All these people did was try to find someone to fall in love with, that's all it is. And whether it works out or doesn't work out, shouldn't really matter to anyone. It's our lives at the end of the day. The only thing we're guilty of is hoping people might be happy for us," he said.