Paige Beechey and Jesse Maguire have been keeping a secret. The Block Australia stars have called off their wedding and now, in an exclusive chat with Woman’s Day, Paige reveals she was the one who suggested they press pause.
“I threw the idea out there because I handled the majority of the planning,” says insurance specialist Paige, 28. “I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down and plan.”
“But it was the right decision,” continues Jesse, 30, adding that it wasn’t one they made lightly.
“We had booked everything and bought everything,” tells Paige. “But we’ve been feeling good about the decision.”
The couple packed up and left The Block five weeks into the show’s filming. “It’d been very hectic and we didn’t have the mental capacity to give the wedding the attention it deserves,” admits Paige, who struggled with her mental health on the show and has been the target of vile online trolls, who she reveals have even threatened her life.
Jesse shares, “For us, it’s not just about a wedding – it’s about actually getting married to each other – and we felt we couldn’t put our full focus into it.”
The Perth couple are still living together, though. Carpenter Jesse insists, “We actually came away from the show stronger than we entered, which people will probably feel surprised at.”
Adds Paige, “Our relationship was never in question. But we get why people think that.”
Of watching their chaotic behaviour back on screen, Paige laughs, “We’re actually really great communicators, which is contrary to who you see on The Block. It was just such a bizarre situation that neither of us had been in before.”

Jesse says, “After each episode, we talked about how we felt. We definitely understood that we’re in this whole thing together.”
Paige went straight into therapy after finishing the show. “We were doing it beforehand,” tells Jesse. “We made a decision to do premarital counselling because it’s super-beneficial.”
Surprisingly, neither regrets signing up for The Block in the first place. Jesse insists, “The biggest positive out of the show is the friends we’ve made – we’re so close to them all now.”
The hardest part of cancelling the wedding, Jesse says, was “having to tell our family”. He adds, “My mum was so excited to finally be able to call Paige her daughter-in-law. It’s all she wanted for so long. But everyone was so incredibly supportive and understood why we did it.”
They confirm they’ve “lost deposits” by cancelling their big day, but they hope to claw back some money on auction day if they can claim a share of the profit on House 1.
“We’re not sure what’s happening yet,” says Jesse. “We’re the first to leave halfway through the process.”
Paige adds, “I don’t think it’s stipulated in any of the general contracts what happens when you leave. There’s no precedent for it. It’d be nice to get some money from the sale. We’ll see what The Block gods decide!”
Though they won’t be husband and wife soon, they say they’ve never felt closer.
“Getting through this is a really great foundation for when life brings us bigger challenges to get through together,” tells Paige, adding they’re confident they’ll walk down the aisle eventually. “We’re not going to leave it too long, but we want to have a little mental vacation from thinking about the wedding. We’ll start having the conversations soon.”
The Block Australia screens 7pm Sunday to Wednesday on Three and streams on ThreeNow.
Since our mag went to print, Jesse and Paige have announced their elopement in Paris, France!