Looking for love: Ellen Dunger's unexpected entry to Farmer Wants a Wife

Following the exit of Farmer Dean from the show, an "intruder farm" will be introduced.

The entrance of Farmer Todd and a fresh crop of ladies, including Ellen, will be a surprise to the rest of the competitors.

Ellen said the whole situation was unexpected for everyone, including herself, as they didn't find out until shortly before filming.

"It's pretty exciting and I guess it changes the show up a little bit and makes it a little bit more intriguing. [It will be] interesting to see the reaction from the public," she said.

Unlike many of the ladies on the show, Ellen comes from a agricultural background.

Having grown up in the Blue Mountains she developed a passion for horses, which has continued throughout her life, and is a common interest with Farmer Todd who breeds horses.

She attended an agricultural boarding school in the Riverina, funnily enough alongside one of the other farmers, Dustin, and went onto study at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, before gaining employment as sports reporter for the New England with ACM (the owner of this masthead) nearly eight-years-ago.

"Sports was really what I wanted to do. I guess it's boarding school that sort of made me fall in love with sport," Ellen said.

"I got the job in Armidale and moved up with the intention of staying for a year to boost my career.

"Then I just settled into the laid back lifestyle. I enjoyed the job and just stuck around."

Ellen's decision to apply for Farmer Wants a Wife Australia received encouragement from plenty of people around her.

"I guess you sort of get to a point in your life where you're like everything is sort of the same and nothing's really going to change unless you do something about it," she said.

"It's been a couple of years that people have been encouraging me to do it and I just didn't feel like doing it until now."

It was Ellen's mum who had actually looked through this year's batch of farmers, selecting and applying to Todd on the behalf of Ellen, believing their lives would align pretty well.

For Ellen the whole experience was new and interesting, forcing her to step out of her comfort zone to "shake things up a little bit".

"Usually I'm on the other side of the camera," she said.

"I guess as journalists ... we put other people in the spotlight and all of a sudden, I'm the one having to promote myself.

"What I could bring to a relationship and what I could offer. Put myself out there. It was a very, very different experience. Nothing I've ever experienced before and I don't think a lot of people would."

Though unique, Ellen did find it to be emotionally exhausting putting her life on display, forcing her out of her comfort zone and to be in touch with her emotions.

"Assessing where I'm at emotionally in relationships, and getting really deep into why I'm still single," she said.

"Then also trying to iron out a few other things and highlight a few of the things that really make me tick.

"I've never really had to do that before and it was a very different experience in that respect."

A bubbly and outgoing person, Ellen hopes the show will give viewers the opportunity to see a different side of her.

"I often say I'm basically like a kid at Christmas when I'm at a sports event, but with this I had to really tap into my emotions," she said.

"I've had a lot of battles and with being kind of a public figure in their local community ... I've always kept them well hidden.

"I think by doing Farmer Wants a Wife I really had to ... look at who I am as a person.

"I guess ... in the local community people do see me as just that really outgoing person, but they see me as a representative of the newspaper ... they don't specifically see me as a person. I think this will also show that."

Ellen was able to show the raw side of herself and the qualities that make her the right partner for Farmer Todd.

From her love of horses and not being afraid to get her hands dirty, to living in the country, understanding how farm people operate and generally having "a little bit more blokey" conversations.

However, Ellen said you need more than just that first connection and the initial commonalities for a relationship to work.

"If there's only one thing, you're probably doing it for the wrong reason," she said.

"I had a look and I thought, 'yeah, he's a nice looking bloke. He likes horses and he's in the region' ... not that far away from where I am now.

"The other thing is a sense of humour. I have a good sense of humour. Albeit, I'm not that funny. I think I am, but I'm not that funny.

"I think that initial, on the surface type of stuff, is what draws you in and then I thought that maybe we could click and go from there."

Ellen will appear on Farmer Wants a Wife Australia, from Sunday, May 5 at 7.30pm.