# Ljubav je na selu

Ljubav je na selu (English: Love is at the Countryside) is a Croatian reality television series based on the British television series Farmer Wants a Wife. The series follows farmers from rural parts of Croatia looking for romantic partners.
The series premiered on 4 September 2008 on RTL. It is one of the longest-running Croatian reality series, having entered its seventeenth season in May 2024.

## Format

For every new season, RTL broadcasts an episode where a group of farmers introduce themselves and their farms to the viewers. The farmers are usually male, but so far three female farmers haven been featured throughout the series as well. After the episode airs, the viewers can apply to meet the farmer of their liking by contacting RTL via e-mail or phone. The viewers are required to write a letter where they introduce themselves to the farmer.
A few months later, after the application period expires, the farmers who received the most letters from the viewers qualify for participating in the series. The farmers get to meet the candidates that expressed interest in them in front of the cameras and invite a few of them (usually three to four) to their farms, where most of the series takes place. As the season progresses, farmers eliminate candidates one by one, until selecting a single candidate whom they take on a romantic journey.

## Hosts

The series employs a host who guides the farmers and their candidates through the series. The hosts brings the letters to the farmers and occasionally visits their farms through the season to check on the progress of their relationships with the candidates.
Croatian actress and former television host Lorena Nosić hosted the first two seasons of the show, until Marijana Batinić took over and hosted the show from season 3 to 12. In March 2021, RTL announced that Anita Martinović is taking the role of the host starting from the show's 13th season.
Hosts on Ljubav je na selu :
| Host | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season |
| Host | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| Lorena Nosić | Main | Main | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Marijana Batinić | | | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main | | | | | |
| Anita Martinović | | | | | | | | | | | | | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |

## Broadcast and release

The series is a part of RTL's staple programming, having been on air uninterruptedly since 2008. Excluding the network's news programming, it is RTL's second longest-running original series, following culinary series Večera za 5 (Croatian iteration of Come Dine with Me), which has been on air since 2007.
For the first six seasons, the series employed a weekly format with one episode a week being aired. Since the show's seventh season, which premiered in 2016, the series airs several episodes a week. As of September 2023, with the premiere of the show's 16th season, RTL's streaming service Voyo releases each episode 24 hours before their television broadcast. As of 2019, the series also airs in Slovenia on Pop TV.

## Series overview

| Season | Farmers introduction | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Season | Farmers introduction | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 4 September 2008 (2008-9-4) | 12 | 12 | 15 January 2009 (2009-1-15) | 14 April 2009 (2009-4-14) |
| 2 | 10 September 2009 (2009-9-10) | 14 | 14 | 3 April 2010 (2010-4-3) | 22 June 2010 (2010-6-22) |
| 3 | 29 May 2011 (2011-5-29) | 14 | 14 | 22 January 2012 (2012-1-22) | 28 April 2012 (2012-4-28) |
| 4 | 8 July 2012 (2012-7-8) | 14 | 14 | 10 February 2013 (2013-2-10) | 3 May 2013 (2013-5-3) |
| 5 | 20 July 2014 (2014-7-20) | 12 | 12 | 2 October 2014 (2014-10-2) | 14 December 2014 (2014-12-14) |
| 6 | 5 June 2015 (2015-6-5) | 14 | 14 | 27 February 2016 (2016-2-27) | 23 March 2016 (2016-3-23) |
| 7 | 3 June 2016 (2016-6-3) | 22 | 22 | 3 October 2016 (2016-10-3) | 29 November 2016 (2016-11-29) |
| 8 | 15 May 2017 (2017-5-15) | 25 | 25 | 10 September 2017 (2017-9-10) | 1 November 2017 (2017-11-1) |
| 9 | 4 January 2018 (2018-1-4) | 28 | 28 | 1 April 2018 (2018-4-1) | 31 May 2018 (2018-5-31) |
| 10 | 11 June 2018 (2018-6-11) | 25 | 25 | 3 February 2019 (2019-2-3) | 13 March 2019 (2019-3-13) |
| 11 | 14 March 2019 (2019-3-14) | 25 | 25 | 8 September 2019 (2019-9-8) | 17 October 2019 (2019-10-17) |
| 12 | 1 May 2019 (2019-5-1) | 25 | 25 | 9 February 2020 (2020-2-9) | 18 March 2020 (2020-3-18) |
| 13 | 28 June 2020 (2020-6-28) | 25 | 25 | 11 April 2021 (2021-4-11) | 31 May 2021 (2021-5-31) |
| 14 | 1 June 2021 (2021-6-1) | 25 | 25 | 8 May 2022 (2022-5-8) | 9 June 2022 (2022-6-9) |
| 15 | 10 June 2022 (2022-6-10) | 25 | 25 | 14 March 2023 (2023-3-14) | 14 April 2023 (2023-4-14) |
| 16 | 17 June 2023 (2023-6-17) | 42 | 42 | 6 September 2023 (2023-9-6) | 8 December 2023 (2023-12-8) |
| 17 | 22 May 2024 (2024-5-22) | 45 | 45 | 9 September 2024 (2024-9-9) | 20 December 2024 (2024-12-20) |

### Farmers

| Season | Farmers |
| 1 | Mato Smolčić, Tomislav Copić, Ivan Đurašević, Franjo Kolarić, Petar Benčić, Marinko Sarić, Denis Tikel, Andrija Vitković |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| 4 | |
| 5 | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Domagoj Škobić, Anto Vardić, Ivan Marenić, Boris Kovačić, Vatroslav Tijan, Miljenko Mišić, Josip Ćiritović, Dario Gašparić, Hrvoje Gregurić, Ivan Kosar, Mladen Vidulin |
| 10 | Dragan Ljiljak, Ljubo Bebić, Ivica Mušćet, Željko Bilić, Boris Kolesarić, Marko Skelin, Pavo Štivić, Jovan Karapandža, Miljenko Vrančić, Josip Krizmanić, Kristijan Vrban |
| 11 | Daniel Granja, Darinka Ljubica Goravica Green, Domino Santro, Srećko Ponjavic, Jack Vukoja |
| 12 | Dušan Golubovac, Hakija Špago, Ivan Putnik, Ivica Jurjević, Josip Tratnjak, Josip Vodička, Mihael Derdić, Miro Vojvodić, Stjepan Basarić, Stjepan Skočak, Valter Krastić |
| 13 | Danijel Karabaić, Dragan Kežić, Ivica Džaja, Jure Salopek, Jurica Živoder, Marijan Ceravac, Marko Punčec, Neven Landek, Rasema Vladetić, Zoran Mudri, Zoran Stričević |
| 14 | Nenad Lekšić, Ante Brčić, Zdravko Tomešić, Tomislav Skejić, Ivo Lepeš, Darko Rožić, Damir Toplek, Branko Stanša, Krunoslav Pavlaković, Josip Ranogajec, Milan Milinković |
| 15 | Ivan Damijanić, Dragoljub Kostić, Zvonko Šantalab, Hrvoje Špoljarec, Nikola Macut, Milan Ercegović, Ljubo Šerman, Jerko Odžak, Siniša Marković, Đuro Osman, Ive Pavlović |
| 16 | Branko Jurković, Ante Munitić, Ivan Detković, Jožef Mastnak, Mijo Bošnjak, Miroslav Dekalić, Radoslav Biskupović, Stjepan Runtas, Tihomir Petrović, Vinko Gržan |
| 17 | Darko Školnik, Ilija Strinčić, Ivica Turas, Ivo Obreza, Manuel Mandić, Mate Begović, Sandi Hribernik, Toni Patrčević, Vjekoslav Šajnić, Željko Stipetić, Zlatko Jakupović |

## Legacy
### Success and impact

The show's main goal, which is to help farmers find love, was achieved numerous times with several romantic relationships of past participants continuing off-screen. By 2021, seventeen couples that meet on-screen got married after the show; eighteen children were born out of these marriages.
Some participants of the show through the years gained attention from the Croatian public and media, becoming instant celebrities. Most notable examples include Nevenka Bekavac, a season 5 participant, whose bold personality attracted several Croatian outlets to write about her personal life after the series. In 2020, Bahra Zahirović was quickly dubbed "the star of season 12" by numerous media due to her unique personality. As reported by 24sata, her unique expressions became known as "Bahrizmi" (Bahrisms).

### Controversies

As season 13 started airing in April 2021, one of the farmers was met with a negative reaction from the public due to his tattoo that contained Schutzstaffel's motto. RTL issued a public statement saying that all of the farmer's scenes will be completely removed for the rest of the season's broadcast. Another farmer was disqualified shortly after he was introduced as one of season 14 farmers in June 2021. The disqualification occurred after RTL discovered that he omitted the fact that he has a child and lied about his mother abandoning him at the age of 13.
A season 15 episode aired in April 2023 featured a farmer eliminating one of the female candidates by violently throwing cake into her face. Given the negative tensions between the farmer and the candidate, the fans deemed it violence against women and reprimanded RTL for airing such content. RTL issued a public statement expressing that the farmer's act of throwing cake was internet as a joke. The scene was removed from the re-run of the episode the following day and from the episode's release on RTL's streaming service (then RTL Play).