The small South Jersey riverfront community of Sweetwater, in Mullica Township, will be spotlighted on “Farmer Wants a Wife.”
On Thursday’s episode of the Fox reality dating show, which airs at 9 p.m. and streams the next day on Hulu, contestant Sydney Errera will take her farmer-beau, Mitchell Kolinsky, on a hometown date to meet her family. As of the 11th episode of Season 2, Errera is just one of two bachelorettes left vying for Kolinsky’s heart.
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According to Errera, while poor weather barred them from exploring much of Sweetwater while filming in November, Kolinsky had the chance to meet some important people — and animals — during his visit.
“He got to meet my sheep, which was like the highlight of my whole trip,” Errera said Thursday. “He got to meet my parents, both my sisters and my two sheep, and it was pretty special.”
Errera, a 22-year-old construction worker who graduated from Cedar Creek High School, said she plans to watch the hometown date episode at Sweetwater Marina and Riverdeck — a bar on the Mullica River where Errera and her sisters worked for years — with her parents, who are “petrified” to watch their TV debut.
“It’s been funny because they’ve been watching me, and they’re just making fun of me about things I say, and we’re just all laughing,” Errera said. “And now it’s their time to be on the TV, so I’m very excited.”
Provided Image/FOX
Farmer Mitchell Kolinsky meets Sydney Errera’s family in Sweetwater, NJ, on ‘Farmer Wants a Wife.’
On this season of “Farmer Wants a Wife,” hosted by country singer Jennifer Nettles, four farmers, including Kolinsky, have attempted to find wives among 32 bachelorettes. In the first episode, the farmers were matched with several women and tasked with deciding who they wanted to invite to their respective farms.
Errera was paired with Kolinsky, a 27-year-old first-generation farmer who lives in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. The pair hit it off from their first conversation, when she told him she’s looking for someone to hunt and fish with. Errera was one of five women invited back to Kolinsky’s farm, where she thrived taking part in the lifestyle there and the tough daily farm work.
“We worked on the farm, every day, even when we weren’t filming,” Errera said in February. “We woke up, we did the chores. It was real. It was awesome. I had a great time.”
Kolinsky took notice of Errera’s prowess at farm life, which not every woman shared.
“Sydney suits this farm lifestyle the most,” he said during last week’s episode. “It comes natural for her.”
They continued connecting and stealing smooches as the season went on, despite bumps in the road here and there — like when the farmers each invited a new woman onto the farm midway through the season, which Errera described as a “shock.” Regardless, Kolinsky and Errera shared a romantic one-on-one date, during which they went fishing and Kolinsky wrote her a song on guitar. Errera also had the opportunity to meet Kolinsky’s family.
Now, Kolinsky still has a tough final decision to make between Errera and another contestant, Kait Smith, who Kolinsky’s mother said was her favorite of the remaining contestants. No matter how it works out between herself and Kolinsky, Errera is grateful for the experience of it all and the love she’s received as the show has been airing.
“A lot of people have been supportive of me and happy for me,” Errera said. “And I think it’s mainly because of the way I’ve been portraying myself. I’ve got a lot of feedback that I’ve just been acting like myself, which is nice to hear. So it’s been great, honestly. I’m really happy I did this.”