This Sask. farmer is still looking for love after appearing on a Finnish dating show
Matthew Almusa has become a bit of a celebrity in Finland after appearing in a dating show for farmers.
The show, ‘Maajussille morsian maailmalla’ or its direct translation “Farmer Wants a Wife Worldwide”, focused on him and three other farmers looking for love.
The show required he film in Finland for three weeks. He also participated in shoots for the show in Regina and near his home in Margo, Sask.
A follow up episode was shot in Regina at the beginning of the year.
Almusa was not looking to be on a reality TV show when the opportunity presented itself.
Almusa said his cousin was researching the family’s genealogy and connected with a relative in Finland over Facebook. The relative was looking for single farmers to audition for the show
“Do you know anybody that has Finnish ancestry, is single and is in the farming industry?,” Almusa said the relative asked.
He chatted with the relative before being passed along to the show’s producers.
“I might as well take the chance and who knows who you can meet and what connections you can get, and I have friends now from across the world, lots of them in Finland, but even the other guys who were on the show, there’s one from Lebanon and one from Turkey."
The show can be viewed in Canada, but it has a large following in Finland.
"As the other guy in the show said, that we're ‘FIF’, famous in Finland," said Almusa.
He said he was able to return to his normal life when he got home, but in Finland his face appeared in tabloids and fans send him messages on Instagram.
"I still keep on thinking of myself as this little farm boy from Margo and sometimes you just have to sit and think about it and think ‘wow I actually was on this TV show," he said.
Being a celebrity and having people want to take pictures with him was one of the highlights of the experience for Almusa, but he was grateful to get to visit another part of the world in the process.
"I definitely think that this experience has brought me closer to Finland and the love of Finland, I mean we always were proud fins but you didn't really know all the things of Finland until you actually go there,"Almusa said.
He still keeps in touch with the people he met on the show, and said he remains friends with the women who vied for his heart.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.