The echoing quiet to be found on the farms of regional New South Wales could take some getting used to.
But for TV host Samantha Armytage, it’s the sound of coming home – a place she’s longed to be for years.
”It’s just so lovely here,” Samantha, 46, tells TV WEEK from her Southern Highlands estate.
”And I have to let you know I’m very capable on the farm – I’m no princess! I get my hands dirty.”
Samantha lives on the property with her husband Richard Lavender, a retired horse breeder, whom she married in 2020.
Weekends are a ”nice balance” of taking their golden Labrador Banjo for walks, feeding the horses and tending to the paddocks – ”there’s been a lot of rain here,” she says – while occasionally venturing to Sydney for social outings.
Samantha is the host of the 2023 season of Farmer Wants a Wife.
(IMAGE: Channel Seven)Having grown up on a sheep property in Adaminaby, near the NSW Snowy Mountains, she knew that one day she’d eventually return to her roots.
And Samantha has never felt better.
”It’s in my blood,” she says of rural life.
”I’m back to where I began. This is sort of Act Two of my life.”
For more than two decades, she was in a busy Sydney television newsroom, surrounded by colleagues whose job was to move faster than the news cycle. For the most part, Samantha enjoyed it.
She thrived in the environment and, in 2013, was appointed co-host of Channel Seven breakfast show Sunrise alongside David ”Kochie” Koch.
But being front and centre isn’t always easy, and Samantha found herself the target of online trolls and the tabloids. The media scrutinised her every move and she found herself in tricky situations.
”There were times in my career when I put up with a lot of crap,” she says.
”I did push back on some of it, but not all of it. You have to let a lot of it go, otherwise you’ll never get anything done. [Laughs]. I suppose you have to wear it like a badge of honour that people are interested in you – that’s flattering. But when it all got too much, I had to step away.”
”I had to make big changes for my own happiness and sanity,” says Sam of her decision to quit Sunrise.
(IMAGE: Seven)In 2021, after eight years on air, Samantha quit. But stepping out from the spotlight came with a nagging question: ”What’s next?”
”It was a huge risk, absolutely – and I did worry about that,” she says of her decision to leave.
”But I knew at that time that I had to make big changes for my own happiness and sanity.
”I also have several regrets about [moments] when I didn’t stick up for myself. I’ve had time away now from that spotlight and I regret not standing up for myself more.”
Not one to look back and wonder, Samantha is forging ahead. But for all the turbulent times in her career, which she says was ”more so the media” than the public, she always appreciated the viewers.
Her departure was a matter of self-preservation, but her courage and resilience struck a chord with people at home.
Receiving support on the street or a simple, ”We enjoyed watching you every morning” was a highlight of her time as Sunrise co-host.
”I’m proud of myself that I made that jump into the complete unknown, because I didn’t know what would come after that,” Samantha says.
”I was newly married, so I had Rich to help me through, and I knew I wanted to be back in the country, so I jumped off the cliff.”
Sam is stepping up to co host the new season of Farmer Wants a Wife.
(IMAGE: Channel Seven)As fate would have it, she’s landed right in her farmhouse as she helms the new season of reality favourite Farmer Wants a Wife.
Unlike previous seasons where she’s been invited to be a guest host, Samantha will now be up front, with co-star Natalie Gruzlewski blending in with other segments.
”I did have a think about it [stepping up as host], but it’s a good fit for me,” she says.
”Nat is still on the show and is going to take viewers on a journey through the successful partnerships of the past seasons. It’s a happy family; we’re all working together.”
Samantha may be happily married now, but in another life, would she have considered applying to FWAW?
”I’ve asked myself whether I’d be brave enough to put myself out there like that,” she says.
”But I’ve never made a big deal of any boyfriends on social media. I kept it all under wraps u—-ntil I was certain about someone, like Richard. I’m not sure I would have had the confidence in my twenties.”
Happy with her husband Richard.
(IMAGE: Instagram)It would seem time has granted her that confidence, as Samantha also teases that another podcast in the works and declares she has a ”never say never” approach.
For now, she’s happy to stay away from the newsroom, but remains grateful for the full-circle moment she’s found herself in.
”My life is good,” she says.
”And I’m so proud of myself for changing things around so I could be happy. You have to choose to be happy. I’ve set myself on a new path – and look what’s happened.
It’s a good place to be.”
