Dom 'Furious' George - is the search for Prince Farming a publicity stunt?

Marcella Bakker is looking for love in the farming community.

It had all the elements of a ripping good yarn; eligible young bachelorette looking for love down on the farm - ideal for our purposes.

As a dutiful producer I began to try and get in touch. First, the initial Facebook post on NZ Farming, then a call to the page administrator who turned out to be very helpful, a personal friend of the subject in question that happened to have her number. A verbal agreement to give their page a plug and the number was secured.

All that was left was to reel in the subject and we were away. "Hello, yes, we're from The Country, a radio show - you probably know us as the Farming Show but that was then and this is now and we're now The Country - not like the whole country, but a show called the ... oh, forget that. Anyway, how are you?"

There's an audible groan/sigh then some awkward silence. "I saw a story about your Facebook post, a farm-girl, looking for love - hard to believe really, given the photos you posted of yourself, not wearing a lot, looking very, um... I was starting to feel like an awkward blend of Colin Craig and Jamie Mackay.

"It's hard to imagine someone like you struggling to find a male companion... half the lads in the office here were about to get in touch with you right away, until I told them to look in the mirror. They understood.

Anyway, the story has popped up in New York and London and I was wondering whether or not you'd like to appear on our show, the Cou... the Farming Show, given you work on a farm and want to find a significant other to do body-building with - so how about it?"

"Um" she said, "I'm, like, really busy..." "Yeah", I shot back, "it won't take long - just a few quick questions - after all you've clearly stated you're single and looking for a nice farming guy, and given that's our major demographic I'm confident it would be mutually advantageous if you gave us a few minutes of your time so you can solicit a few more admirers and deepen the gene pool, so to speak".

"Yeah, I'm really busy at the moment and not really looking to do radio". Another sigh; this time from me, "It'll only take few minutes". "I've got TV3 here at the moment, and they're going to be here for a couple of hours... so... I can't, really..."

Then the penny dropped; any publicity is good publicity as long as its television publicity. I understood perfectly and the resulting piece of TV later that night confirmed as much; the whole thing had been one giant publicity stunt. And it's worked a charm, too.

Unsurprisingly, the interest has come from far and wide, with literally hundreds of suitors lining up to try and charm the pants off... poor choice of words there, but potentially accurate... I digress.

From Asia to Scotland, from pilots to farmers, it seems the quest for the farm-girl's affections is turning into quite the spectacle.

Of course, she now has to trawl through the legions of eligible bachelors to try and find that love she so desperately seeks.

It reeks of reality television and, in fact, I'd bet anything she'll end up on My Celebrity House Chef X-factor Dancing Wives at some point in the future. And why not?

Good luck to her I say; if nothing else she's enhancing the image of New Zealand farming around the world! Now, is there room for one more entry?