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These articles were excerpted from Tapestry, a weekly newsletter that examines the arts and entertainment world in Charlotte and North Carolina.

Gastonia cowboy is looking for love — and celebrating his heritage — on reality TV series

Gwendolyn Glenn
/
WFAE
Ryan Black, a 32-year-old Shelby native, owns a large horse ranch in Gastonia and stars on the FOX TV series "Farmer Wants A Wife."

Ryan Black's 40-plus-acre horse farm in Gastonia, Blackstone Ranch, was the setting this fall for a reality television show on the FOX network, “Farmer Wants A Wife.” Black, 32, is one of four bachelor farm owners who went on an 11-episode journey to not only find the woman of their dreams, but someone who could handle farm life.

Gwendolyn Glenn
/
WFAE
Black with one of his horses on the Gastonia ranch.

Black bought his sprawling horse farm three years ago. It has 18 stalls and several fenced-in corrals and pastures for the more than 20 full-sized and about 10 mini-horses on the ranch. His two-story home is attached to the barn.

He has two full-time ranch hands to help him with the breeding, training, and boarding operations. Black, who is African American and refers to himself as a Black cowboy, is a third-generation horse rancher.

Gwendolyn Glenn
/
WFAE
A paddock on Black's ranch.

Black has gained a bit of notoriety since his debut this year on the reality show. He says he has never been married and was open to love when FOX producers came across him on social media and asked him to be on the show.

"I’m glad that I haven’t been (married before) even though there were times in some past relationships where I thought I would be, but looking back at my life, it would have probably ended in divorce," Black said.

Black wouldn't say if he actually proposed to any of the eight women in his initial group.

"Just keep watching and stay with me on this journey," Black said.

Gwendolyn Glenn
/
WFAE
The entrance to Black's ranch.

Black talked to WFAE's All Things Considered host Gwendolyn Glenn about growing up on a horse farm and his experiences on "Farmer Wants A Wife," which airs Wednesdays on FOX at 9 p.m.

Listen to Black and Glenn's whole conversation below.

Farmer and rancher seeks love
Gastonia farmer Ryan Black, a self-described Black cowboy, talks with WFAE's All Things Considered host Gwendolyn Glenn about his quest for love on reality TV — and his heritage.
What's it really like looking for love on reality TV?
Ryan Black, a cowboy from Gastonia, joins WFAE All Things Considered host Gwendolyn Glenn to talk about his time on the FOX show "Farmer Wants a Wife" — and what it's like trying to stir up romance while surrounded by cameras.

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Gwendolyn is an award-winning journalist who has covered a broad range of stories on the local and national levels. Her experience includes producing on-air reports for National Public Radio and she worked full-time as a producer for NPR’s All Things Considered news program for five years. She worked for several years as an on-air contract reporter for CNN in Atlanta and worked in print as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun Media Group, The Washington Post and covered Congress and various federal agencies for the Daily Environment Report and Real Estate Finance Today. Glenn has won awards for her reports from the Maryland-DC-Delaware Press Association, SNA and the first-place radio award from the National Association of Black Journalists.