EXCLUSIVE: The fan favourite contestant has officially broken her silence following her shock exit.

Farmer Wants A Wife’s Claire has finally explained why she quit the show. Photos: Channel 7

From the moment she announced she was leaving Farmer Wants A Wife, viewers have speculated that Claire might be returning to the reality show to continue her relationship with Farmer Thomas. The pair grew close after spending 24 hours together on Thomas’ farm before the other ladies arrived, and her sudden departure left him devastated as she was his clear frontrunner.

The 31-year-old FIFO mine site admin has since spoken out about her experience on the reality show and confirmed that producers asked her to come back after she quit. In an exclusive tell-all interview with Yahoo Lifestyle, Claire reveals why she left, if she regrets her decision, and what her relationship with Thomas is like now.

Claire was one of Farmer Thomas’ frontrunners before she left. Photo: Channel 7

Why did she quit the show?

Regardless of her feelings towards Thomas, Claire reveals that she felt “so uncomfortable” during filming because she was worried about how she looked.

“Last year was a really tough year for me. I actually lost a massive patch of hair on my head. I had all this testing done, and it came back that apparently it was stress,” she details. “So not only was my face fat because I had to go on steroids, I was half bald as well.”

She explains that the reason for her exit was a combination of feeling self-conscious about her appearance, overwhelmed by the fact that she was clearly one of Thomas’ favourites, and unsure whether he was actually the one for her.

“For me to pack up and move my life to a farm, there’s a lot riding on it. I have a really good job, so for me to move and for it not to work out, it would be quite detrimental to me,” she says. “So I feel like there was just a lot of head noise being like, is Thomas 100 per cent the right person for me?

“I’m not the sort of person who would waste his time and then get to the end and be like, ‘I’ve had my 10 seconds of fame, alright, we’re done now’, because deep down, he is a very genuine and sincere person. So I would hate to get in the way of him forming connections with other people.”

Did producers try and convince her to stay?

Claire confesses that producers were surprised when she told them she wanted to leave the show and tried their best to convince her to stay.

“They were like, ‘Are you sure? What about another date? Do you need to talk to a psych or whatever?’. And I was like, ‘Nah’,” she recalls.

“And then when we got to the rodeo, I was kind of like, ‘Oh s**t, am I making the wrong decision here?’. But they were kind of like, ‘No, car’s already here, we’ve already booked your tickets back, you gotta go’.”

Was she asked to come back on the show?

It wasn’t long after she left that Claire was contacted by one of the show’s executive producers asking her to come back. However, she says she didn’t want to return because of her hair.

“I’d had a full Britney [Spears] moment and I’d already cut my hair into a bob, so I was like, ‘No, can’t come back’,” she shares. “Also, I was thinking like, if I did come back, the backlash would’ve probably been like, ‘Who does she think she is? She can’t get a second chance’.

“If it hadn’t been for the bob, I probably would have gone back. Imagine that! Could you imagine the look on Clarette’s face when I walked back in?”

Claire admits producers asked her to come back following her departure. Photos: Channel 7

Does she regret leaving?

While she doesn’t necessarily regret her decision to end her Farmer Wants A Wife experience early, Claire admits she might not have given Thomas “much of a chance”.

“I really struggle to talk about my feelings and things like that, so I was like, maybe he’s the same?” she remarks. “And also, being in front of a camera, it’s so nerve-wracking and so out of your comfort zone. So I was like, maybe it would have been a better idea to just go back and get to know him – but then the bob put me off.

“Being in front of the camera, I was so self-conscious just with my hair and my fat face that I was like, no, I can’t do it anymore. So I’m glad I left when I did, because I would have still been cringing.”

Has she spoken to Thomas since filming?

Claire reveals that she and Thomas continued messaging each other after she quit the show, which became a major storyline when the other ladies found out. She also says she knows who Farmer Thomas chooses, but refuses to answer when asked how she feels about his ‘winner’.

As for whether she’s been messaging Thomas recently, Claire jokes: “No, I think he’s been banned from texting.”