{"id":77629,"date":"2023-09-07T11:31:55","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T11:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/posterboyedit.com\/?p=77629"},"modified":"2023-09-07T11:31:55","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T11:31:55","slug":"love-islands-will-young-hints-proposal-is-creeping-up-as-he-talks-farm-life-with-jessie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/posterboyedit.com\/tv-and-movies\/love-islands-will-young-hints-proposal-is-creeping-up-as-he-talks-farm-life-with-jessie\/","title":{"rendered":"Love Islands Will Young hints proposal is \u2018creeping up\u2019 as he talks farm life with Jessie"},"content":{"rendered":"
Having spent 56 days in the Love Island villa, Will Young\u2019s departure from the show in March looked very different to that of his co-stars. As they soaked up the post-show parties and glamour, Will was back in his wellies on the family farm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d entered during pre-lambing season, which is very intense, so there was no easing back into farm life when I came back,\u201d he laughs. \u201cAs soon as I landed, I went straight back into 15\/16-hour days to help with lambing. I think it was my dad getting his revenge for leaving him to look after 300 lambs.\u201d<\/p>\n
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After appearing on the winter edition of the reality series, Will, aka Farmer Will, has hardly been out of the spotlight. In addition to finding love with Jessie Wynter, the 24-year-old has reached 1.9 million followers on TikTok, 727,000 on Instagram and he\u2019s set to attract even more interest with the release of his upcoming book.<\/p>\n
Despite his new-found fame, Will says that his family farm is where his heart lies. \u201cI love the farm. It\u2019s weird having my dad as my boss, but I wouldn\u2019t want to have it any other way,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Even now, Will continues to work at least three or four days a week on his family farm alongside dad Andrew and older brother Thomas, calling it \u201cthe best of both worlds\u201d.<\/p>\n
As a sixth generation farmer, Will\u2019s farm was founded in 1870 and the Youngs are the only family to have ever called it their home. While he admits that farming life can be \u201cdifficult\u201d, he knew he\u2019d always return to his roots, regardless of what other people thought.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don\u2019t think my dad truly believed that I\u2019d come back to the farm. For him to see all the opportunities and fame that came with the show, he assumed that I\u2019d leave for that new life,\u201d Will tells us. \u201cBut the farm has always been a part of my life, so I wasn\u2019t going to give it up. Without it I wouldn\u2019t have gone viral on TikTok and without that I doubt I\u2019d have gotten on Love Island. It all comes back to the farm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, Will\u2019s heart also belongs to girlfriend Jessie, who lives on the farm with him \u2013 although the pair are reportedly saving to buy a house of their own. Will has also recently hinted he is \u201ccreeping up\u201d to proposing to Jessie after admitting that he can envisage spending the rest of his life with her.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old Australian isn\u2019t afraid of getting stuck in, either, and the pair often post adorable pictures with the animals on Instagram and videos on TikTok \u2013 including posing with their two baby goats, which Will bought her instead of a dog!<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted someone I could bring back to the farm and I don\u2019t think I could\u2019ve found anyone better than Jessie as she was brought up in the Australian countryside and loves being on the farm,\u201d he says. \u201cMy mum didn\u2019t set foot on the farm in the first 10 years of her relationship with my dad, so seeing Jessie want to help out was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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With life as a farmer seeing him juggle tasks such as rescuing sheep from lakes, giving vet students a helping hand and filming educational content for his TikTok, Will\u2019s had to make some important decisions regarding the direction of his career in the public eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had to turn down jobs because of the farm as that\u2019s my No1 priority,\u201d he explains. \u201cIf a job comes up that I can\u2019t t in alongside my schedule or doesn\u2019t align with the farm, then I\u2019ll turn it down.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, his appearance on Love Island once hung in the balance. \u201cBefore I got the phone call that said I was going to fly out to South Africa [for the show], I hadn\u2019t taken the prospect of going on seriously,\u201d says Will. \u201cThe first thing I did was have a sit-down conversation with my dad. It wasn\u2019t like I could leave my job and call it quits \u2013 I needed a replacement. If I couldn\u2019t find someone to take my place, I wouldn\u2019t have gone on it. The farm was more important than Love Island.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Will calls being a farmer a \u201clifestyle\u201d rather than a career, and he\u2019s keen to raise awareness of mental health in the farming industry \u2013 especially as 88% of farmers aged under 40 recently reported poor mental health as being the biggest hidden issue facing farming today.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a farmer, you\u2019re very isolated and it can get quite sad because you can go hours without any human interaction,\u201d he says. \u201cI find that speaking to the animals can help as it gets my emotions off of my chest and animals are always going to be judgement free. Music is a big thing for me too and listening to ABBA helps improve my mood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite his life as a so-called \u201cfarm-fluencer\u201d, to his family, Farmer Will is just the same old Will who spent his childhood playing hide and seek. \u201cMy family don\u2019t treat me any differently for going on the show and my dad isn\u2019t afraid of teaching me some important life lessons,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOne Christmas Eve, I went on a night out and came back really early in the morning. I overslept and my dad threw a bucket of water over my head to wake me up. He wasn\u2019t best pleased,\u201d Will adds. \u201cNow he charges me a week\u2019s wage if I don\u2019t turn up. At the end of the day, these animals need us. It\u2019s not like I can miss a day and expect nothing to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Will\u2019s book For The Love Of Farming set to hit shelves soon, the future looks just as bright. \u201cI\u2019d love to stay in the UK, but Jessie comes from Australia. If one day we end up living over there, I\u2019d start up a farm. If we had kids, it\u2019d be a dream to get them involved with it to continue the legacy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs for the farm\u2019s future, I\u2019d like to get more people interacting with farming and I\u2019m keen on setting up a glamping site here. I do a lot of filming on the farm for social media, so a TV show would be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
For The Love Of Farming: Farmer Will\u2019s GuideTo Life In The Fields (White Lion Publishing, \u00a318.99) is out on 19 October<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n