They might be known as the bad girls on The Block NZ, but beneath their tough-as-nails exterior, Auckland sisters Julia and Ali Heaney have a soft spot – their unbreakable love for one another.
The 28-year-old identical twins were inseparable growing up and shared a tight bond. They went everywhere together. From school to weekend playdates and afternoon sport, they couldn’t bear to be apart.
“We used to sleep in the same bed until we were 12,” architect Ali laughs. “We had a big room and two single beds, and our parents put a big wall down the middle of it, but that didn’t stop us. We just stayed together.”
Nodding, lawyer Julia adds, “It was honestly like growing up with my soulmate.”
While they might not be sharing beds any more, the girls gush about each other throughout their interview with Woman’s Day. Ali smiles, “It’s hard to think about not having a twin sister. I can’t imagine being closer to someone.”
And just as they’ve earned a bad reputation on The Block for protesting challenges and spying on other teams, the girls were just as mischievous as children.
A young Julia and Ali.
“When we were really young, we used to switch places at our primary schools,” confesses Julia. “But as we grew up, we stopped doing that.”
While the old trick from The Parent Trap might be an added bonus of having a twin, Julia says the best part is just having Ali by her side. “The thing is, you’re never alone. You’ve always got your best friend and your biggest fan with you.”
So when it came to applying for the DIY reality show, it was an easy decision to choose Ali over her fiancé and partner of almost four years, Clinton Herring. “I couldn’t do it with my fiancé because he has to stay at his job so he can pay off his mortgage,” jokes Julia, who met her husband-to-be while at university.
It was also a clear choice for Ali, who adds, “We do everything together so it just made sense to do The Block together.”
The savvy sisters have their own design company and, in 2015, they were the first Kiwis to have sculptures shown at Sydney’s famous Vivid light show.
Their parents, David and Denese, weren’t surprised when the twins announced they were entering the Three reality series together. Although they didn’t know what The Block was, they were supportive of their girls.
Ali laughs, “They were like, ‘Here we go again with you two!’ They were a bit worried about our swearing on TV, though.”
When the dynamic duo pause to catch up with us early one morning, they’re in the midst of a gruelling 12-week building stint for The Block. Tensions are high on site, but still the girls remain as thick as thieves – and they’re adamant they never get into serious arguments.
“We bicker, but we never have any massive fights,” insists Julia. “It would be like fighting with yourself – it’s kind of impossible! Basically, anything we do, we just have unconditional love for one another.”
The Block hasn’t exactly been the friendliest of places for the pair, but they contend that it doesn’t matter to them what viewers think.
“At the end of the day, we can only come off as who we are and we’re proud of who we are,” claims Julia. “We stick by the decisions we make. We don’t like to pretend. At least we’re not putting on a façade. We can 100% maintain who we are.”
Despite receiving the lowest score in the history of the DIY series for the first room reveal – a children’s bedroom – the girls have come back fighting and are winning challenges, along with taking out first place in bathroom week after playing a game-changer advantage to knock competitors Stace Cottrill and Yanita McLeay off the top of the leader board.
And although the twins are up against two all-male teams, they’re not letting that get in their way of winning.
“We don’t believe in gender stereotypes,” asserts Ali. “Obviously, we don’t have the same physical strength that the boys do when it comes to heavy lifting, but we have other qualities. We want to show all the girls in New Zealand that you can do anything a boy can do!”
