Beloved television host Scott “Scotty” Cam is something of an expert on fatherhood. With three children of his own, he also takes on an unofficial “dad” role each year to teams on the hit renovation reality show The Block Australia.
Dubbed “Block Daddy” by a contestant in the first episode of the recent season, Scotty’s been a shoulder to cry on and a guide for teams for more than 14 years.
But fans might be surprised to hear that the jovial host, 62, can run on a short fuse.
“I’m actually a very short-tempered person,” he tells the Weekly on a recent visit to New Zealand. “My wife Ann is very proud of how I conduct myself on the show because I don’t blow up like I sometimes do at home! I treat the contestants like my children, basically.”
He and his wife of nearly 30 years have three kids – Charlie, 28, and 24-year-old twins Bill and Sarah.
“And that’s the exact demographic of Block contestants. So I’m a father figure to them during their TV time. My job is to pat them on the back when they deserve it and give them a poke in the ribs when they’re being painful!”
The key to success on the show? “Resilience,” he says. It’s a quality he tries to hammer home with contestants and his own family too.

“My thing is working hard,” he explains. “When I was a young bloke, I worked until I dropped. Anything less than that on a show like The Block is unacceptable.”
His firm but fair approach continues offscreen. He credits his family’s resilience with their quintessentially Australian upbringing, including holidays on the family’s farm in Mudgee, New South Wales, bought just before the twins were born.
“When I was a kid, my grandfather had a small 50-acre farm,” he shares. “I have so many memories there, so I bought a small, very cheap patch of land to create those memories with them. Then something came up across the road, which we bought, and we live in that now.”
Scotty says he wanted to give his kids “exactly the childhood adventures I had”.
He explains, “I was climbing down 300-foot cliffs and going fishing when I was eight years old. So, with my kids, we’d do all that. I think kids these days are wrapped up so tightly in cotton wool. It’s important to build that resilience when they’re young. Do stuff. Climb a tree. Camp alone in the dark.”
During school holidays, his children would clamber to camp outside the nearby cabin on the farm property, about 5km from the main house.
“They were really little, about six and eight,” tells Scotty. “They’d cook their dinner over the fire, get in their swags [sleeping bags], and sleep outside the cabin with the dog and a fire. It was pitch black out there. I’d come to pick them up the next morning and oh, the stories! They’d all be yelling, ‘Dad, the dog was growling, something was rustling out there!’”

His offspring “can now do anything”, claims the proud father. “Because they’ve been doing that since they were kids. Now they’re adults, we’re all extremely close. We go on holidays together and when I live in Melbourne for The Block, they fly down and live with me for a bit. So I guess it worked!”
This summer will hold more adventures for Scotty and his clan before filming begins on season 21.
“We’ve got a place down the coast,” he says. “It’s all about the outdoors – surfing, mud crabbing up the estuary and fishing in the tinnies.”
But if Scotty thinks he might get a respite from the holiday hijinks now his kids are grown, he can think again. The family will be growing by one very shortly.
“I have my first grandchild on the way!” exclaims Scotty.
It means, much to Ann’s relief, a sped-up timeline for summer renovations.
“I told my wife months back we needed to put another storey on our house,” he tells. “It’s a little three-bedroom. I said, ‘We’re going to have grandkids soon.’
“We’re about to start building this month. Then my son announced he’s having a child. I mean the timing is just impeccable. It could not be more perfect.
“I need to have space for my three kids to have three kids. That’s nine extra, plus partners… I’m preparing for the worst!”
The Block Australia screens 7pm Sunday to Wednesday on Three and streams on ThreeNow.