Two-time GLORY heavyweight contender Benjamin ‘Mr Gentleman’ Adegbuyi trades the bright lights and ropes of the kickboxing ring for the soil and smells of the traditional rustic farmyard.
Adegbuyi, 31, is a competitor in Romanian reality television season ‘Celebrity Farm’ and is one of twelve Romanian pop-culture figures who were airlifted from their homeland and dropped into a farm deep in the outback on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
The show follows an increasingly popular reality format: take some celebrities, put them somewhere inhospitable, make them undergo trials and then sit back and film their struggles and misfortunes.
Season one of ‘Ferma Vedetelor’ was a runaway success for the PRO-TV network in 2015 and peaked in fine form when one contestant very nearly cut his own hand off during a wood-chopping contest in the blood-soaked final episode.
Filming of the new season is due to begin shortly and the participants are presently filming promotional videos in Bucharest before being shipped out to their new temporary home, where they will be deprived of their phones and internet connection.
And so without further ado, here is Adegbuyi dressed in the traditional attire of a Cypriot farmer to start your week off.
Approximately 29% of Romania’s population is engaged in the farming and agricultural industry in some way, one of the highest rates in Europe, with large wheat farms proliferating. Dairy, pork, poultry and apple farming also feature.
Central and southern Romania also features extensive vineyards and Romanian wine is considered one of Europe’s under-sung products, being of generally high quality but not widely known outside its local markets (Disclosure: Adegbuyi once brought me a bottle of high-quality Romanian red wine when we met at an event; it sits on my shelf waiting for a special occasion).
If he wants to do some homework prior to heading over to Cyprus, we’ve found a Romanian version of Farming Simulator, an unexpectedly popular game which has somehow sold over four million copies.
Yeah, us neither.