It’s the first week of The Block Australia and the pressure already seems too much for Perth couple Jesse Maguire and Paige Beechey, with Jesse having a breakdown over the phone to his mum after making a sobering realisation.
“I’m a builder, so two days in, I knew how behind we were,” explains carpenter Jesse, 29. “I was expecting I could do everything myself, but I could see that making it to Sunday’s room reveal would be a huge push. Then I realised this isn’t like home any more. I put too much pressure on myself and it all came over me.”
This week, the Blockheads have arrived on Phillip Island, near Melbourne, to renovate five family holiday homes. But, the bare bones of the houses they start with means they have nowhere to sleep. So it’s tent living for the teams as they attempt to build their main bathrooms.
Claims specialist Paige, 27, is less concerned about their living quarters and more worried about the layout of the home. She wants to move the master bedroom upstairs, away from the kids’ rooms. Who wants to sleep near their kids while they’re on holiday?
Despite pushback from architect Julian Brenchley and the company that build the cabinetry for The Block, Paige doesn’t want to budge. It leads to a huge disagreement and setback for the pair.
“It’s hard because you don’t want to break the fourth wall. But everyone behind the show’s cameras was being incredibly rude to me,” says Paige. “They were rolling their eyes – it didn’t leave a good taste in my mouth. There’s not much you can do off camera, but they were allowed to apologise to me.”
With so many early conflicts in just one week, will they be able to complete the room, let alone last the 12 weeks of the competition?
The Block Australia screens 7pm Mon to Wed and 7.30pm Sundays on Three, streaming on ThreeNow.
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