Well, it seems that this farmer has officially found his wife! Brad Jones and Clare Hockings first met and fell in love on the 13th season of Farmer Wants A Wife in 2023. Now, two years later, the happy couple have announced that they’re officially engaged!

The betrothed pair announced the exciting news in a chat with New Idea, revealing that the proposal didn’t quite go to plan. While 33-year-old Brad wanted to get down on one knee on Clare’s 30th birthday somewhere on their farm in Cootamundra, NSW, he says, wild weather got in the way.

“It was the worst day ever as far as weather, it was raining sideways, and it happened to be Clare’s birthday, so I really wanted to do it on that day,” he said.

“That went out the window when it kept raining most of the day! So I literally did it in our house.”
Brad and Clare have helped to cement Father Wants A Wife’s legacy as the most successful Aussie reality dating show. (Credit: Instagram / Clare Hockings)
In an effort to keep Clare on his toes, Brad says he pretended to have hurt his knee so his pre-proposal pose didn’t seem to suspicious when she walked into the room.

“I’ve got bad knees, I’ve had three knee reconstructions, so what I’ve done is pretend I’ve injured my knee and carried on a bit,” Brad shared.

“I came inside from getting Clare’s present out of the car and came back up the stairs into the house, and made a bit of a scene. I fell down holding my knee and saying ‘oh, I’ve buggered my knee!’

“Then Clare came round and said, ‘What’s wrong?’, and I said, ‘Oh, I’m no good!’, and she went to help me up, and that’s when I got on one knee and pulled the ring out!”

While Clare admitted she was surprised by the ruse, she says the fake-knee injury freaked out their 21-month-old son, Roy, the most.

“He was very concerned; he thought something had happened to Da,” Clare explained.
They’re such a cute couple. (Credit: Instagram / Brad Jones)
Of course, Clare — who is expecting her second child with Brad — said yes and is now rocking a gorgeous diamond ring with a pink-stoned, white gold band.

“It’s beautiful,” she exclaimed to the publication, noting how impressed she was with his “picking-out” skills.

While most couples would get cracking on wedding planning, the pair say they’re a bit preoccupied with the imminent arrival of baby number two.

“We haven’t had a moment to think about a wedding yet, with baby number two due in the next few weeks,” Clare told Yahoo! Lifestyle.

“The idea of planning a wedding is quite overwhelming, too, so I think we’ll just enjoy being engaged for a while.”
Brad, Clare, and their little boy, Roy. (Credit: Instagram / Clare Hockings)
Once they do get around to it sometime next year, Brad and Clare say there’s no place they’d rather do it than on the farm. s

“It will definitely be a farm wedding, we knew that before we got engaged,” Clare told New Idea. Despite originally thinking she’d have an intimate ceremony, they quickly realised that the guest list is already much bigger than anticipated.

“As much as we’d like it to stay small, I can’t see that happening,” Clare admitted with a laugh.

“Brad would love a big wedding, he’d have thousands if it were up to him.”

Congratulations to the happy couple!