Fferm Ffactor
Contents |
Host
Daloni Metcalfe (2009-13)
Ifan Evans (2014-20)
Co-hosts
Judges:
Professor Wynne Jones (2009-14)
Dai Jones (2009-10)
Aled Rees (2011-14)
Richard Tudor (2015-20)
Wyn Morgan (2015-20)
Caryl Gruffydd Roberts (2015-20)
Mari Lovegreen (Her y Ffermwyr Ifanc)
Broadcast
Cwmni Da for S4C, 20 October 2009 to 3 December 2014 (approx. 42 episodes in 6 series)
as Fferm Ffactor: Her y Ffermwyr Ifanc, 31 August 2013
as Fferm Ffactor: Brwydr y Ffermwyr, 14 October 2015 to 3 December 2016 (16 episodes in 2 series)
as Fferm Ffactor: Selebs, 6 February 2018 to 25 April 2020 (9 episodes in 3 series)
Synopsis
A series to find the best farmer in Wales. Ten farmers are each given a key to the main prize, a brand new 4x4. If they don't please the judges, they have to give back their key and leave the competition.
Over the course of the contest, the farmers will be tested on practical and theoretical skills. Expect to see traditional tests, like shearing a sheep and milking a cow. Expect to see gentle inquisitions, tests of memory and general farming knowledge. And, as the business of farming is a business, expect to see tests of marketing and advertising.
There are serious points, there are laughs along the way, there's even a tractor converted into a "confessional cab". Each episode ends with a very staged elimination in a barn.
After six series capturing the ups and downs of rural Wales, the 2015 series had a new format. "Brwydr y Ffermwyr" - Battle of the Farmers - was a knockout team competition, featuring groups of three farmers. The series also had new judges, and the format allowed challenges to be used more than once.
There were further tweaks in 2016, keeping the teams, but moving the broadcast from Wednesday to Saturday nights. The tasks were re-jigged and made more overtly entertaining for the casual viewer. Six teams took part, and there was an emphasis on young farmers. The prize changed from the traditional farm vehicle to a travel prize, visit the Welsh-speaking community in Patagonia.
Shows ended with the team answering farming trivia questions while a member rode a mechanical bull.
The team competition returned in early 2018, now with twelve well-known faces in "Farm Factor Celebrities". Many of the tasks were familiar, not least the return of the mechanical bull.
Champions
2009 Aled Rees
2010 Teifi Jenkins
2011 Malcolm Davies
2012 Dilwyn Owen
2013 Gwenno Pugh
2014 Roy Edwards
Brwydr y Ffermwyr
2015 Tîm Cyn-gystadleuwyr: Rhodri Jones, Rhys Williams, Heilin Thomas (a team of former contestants)
2016 Tîm Gelli Aur: Jack Davies, Carys Jones, Aled Davies
Fferm Ffactor Selebs
2018 Gareth Wyn Jones, Styfan Parri, Siân Lloyd
2019 Aeron Pughe, Elin Fflur, Dilwyn Morgan
2020 TBC
Trivia
Fferm Ffactor tapped into a rural-agricultural experience shared amongst the Welsh-speaking heartland. It proved sufficiently adaptable to be picked up by Irish-language channel TG4. We're not aware that it's been shown in an English-language version.
One-shot spin-off show Her y Ffermwyr Ifanc asked teams of four farming students (couldn't be all male, one of school age) to compete on an obstacle course, based on a regular task in the opening episode. Pulling a tyre or steering a trailer of straw is the sort of thing a farmer might do; rescuing eggs from a hen house while the hen fires a water pistol, less so. It went out in an early Saturday evening slot where we might see Total Wipeout.
Web links
S4C programme page (English version)
See also
Weaver's Week coverage: full review (2013) and brief update (2016)
