Claire and John on ‘Farmer Wants a Wife’. Credit :

FOX

• After Farmer John Sansone chose Claire in the season 3 finale of Farmer Wants a Wife, the pair tells PEOPLE they are taking their relationship “day by day” in the real world
• When Claire reflected on decision day, she admits she was “pleasantly surprised” when John chose her because she “had no idea” what would happen
• They also share that their “strongest” quality as a couple has been their communication as they navigate their differences

Farmer John Sansone doesn’t want a wife… just yet.

In the season 3 finale of Farmer Wants a Wife, fans saw Claire accept John’s proposal — to continue their relationship. As they get to know each other off camera (which they say has consisted of “a lot of nights in” and “a lot of movies”), the pair tells PEOPLE that they have no plans of rushing into an engagement.

“That’s a massive thing of pressure that we were dealing with throughout the whole show, and we wanted to just take this time after the show to go through this without any pressure whatsoever,” John, 25, explains. “That’s just what we’re doing. We’re just going day by day, seeing how it goes. I think that’s the best way to do it because if we start putting all this pressure and timelines and stuff on our relationship, it’s just bound for trouble.”

John and Claire on ‘Farmer Wants a Wife’. FOX

Acknowledging that she and John have their differences, Claire, a 24-year-old pharmaceutical sales representative from Chicago, says it hasn’t posed a threat to their dynamic in the real world.

“I think we did a good job of being really true to ourselves on the show, and we have done our best not to change that,” she shares. “I don’t think we’ve changed drastically at all. So we just celebrate our differences and learn from each other. It really hasn’t been an issue for us.”

John agrees, saying, “One of the strongest things that we have together is our ability to communicate.”

“I think that’s what’s kept us going so strong and also helped us to navigate our differences so well because we’re able to just have normal, cool-headed conversations and learn from each other,” he continues.

Looking back, Claire admits it took her a while to break out of her shell with John, but everything shifted when she sat him down and asked if he was going to take her on a one-on-one date.

“I think that there were a lot of points in the show where we had to put ourselves out there that we weren’t used to or ask uncomfortable questions,” she recalls. “But I really liked John in those moments because he was really light-hearted and kept things fun when he knew I was anxious. So I think those times really just helped us bond in general.”

“I guess I wish I would’ve been a little less nervous and shy in the beginning because I kind of wasn’t myself then,” she adds. “But it’s hard to look back and say that you would do anything differently because I’m happy with the outcome.”

John and Claire on ‘Farmer Wants a Wife’. FOX

Still, on the last day, Claire says she wasn’t sure that she would be John’s ultimate pick, so she prepared herself for any outcome.

“I was going to put on my best smile because I love Lily so much,” she notes of the runner-up, who she still considers a close friend. “I knew if he picked Lily it would be a great choice. But no, I had no idea. [I was] pleasantly surprised.”

When it came down to his final two, John says he made his decision based on his gut feeling.

“I don’t think there was a specific moment in general, but towards the end, Claire and Lily and I were able to spend a lot more time together offscreen,” he reveals. “Because we all had this kind of understanding with the wranglers at the time that we weren’t going to talk about anything important and vital for the show, so we were very just casual in how we would hang out. We’d go on sunset drives in the Polaris and stuff, and go down to the creek. I ended up finding myself more just drawn to Claire and just being able to get along with her in a very casual sense.”

“So I feel like it built some sort of a friendship, which I think is a great foundation for a relationship,” he concludes.

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Farmer Wants a Wife is now streaming on Hulu.