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EXCLUSIVE: The Block season one winners Fiona and Adam on life after the show

Could their daughters be the stars of the next generation of The Block?
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One day, Adam Thorn hopes his daughter Shylah might become a chip off the old block and compete on a TV home renovation show alongside him.

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Adam โ€“ who won the first season of The Block with wife Fiona Mills in 2003 โ€“ would โ€œdefinitelyโ€ compete in the reno show again in a heartbeat.

But he might need a new partner before that happens.โ€One hundred per cent he would do it again,โ€ laughs mother-of-two Fiona. โ€œBut Iโ€™d have to have a long hard think about it. I donโ€™t think Iโ€™ve got a thick enough skin to cope with the social media pressure on contestants today.โ€

โ€œWe had a good shot at it and it was great, but Iโ€™d probably have to let Ad go with someone else now. Shylah might team up for a father-daughter partnership in 10 yearsโ€™ time, you never know!โ€

The family are ready for the next generation of The Block.

(Image: Phillip Castleton)
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Amazingly, for most of their lives, 12-year-old Shylah and sister Aria, 10, had been blissfully unaware of their parentsโ€™ top-rating reality TV fame, which still sees them recognised from the Baltics to Bali.

โ€œThey didnโ€™t find out about it until about three years ago,โ€ smiles Fiona, who runs a successful cosmetic laser beauty business. โ€œThey had been watching one of the recent series of The Block and were really getting into it.โ€

โ€œWe asked if they knew we had been on the show, and they thought we were joking. So we got out the old DVD and they loved it. But you know what? They lost interest before the end when we actually won!โ€

The couple have kept their former stardom at bay.

(Image: Getty)
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โ€˜THE SHOW CHANGED SO MUCHโ€™

Former fitness trainer Adam, now 50, says, โ€œThe kids were quite intrigued by how young we looked! But so many things have changed since then, including the way The Block is made.

โ€œA lot of people probably donโ€™t understand that we had to keep our day jobs and build through the night. It was completely exhausting, physically and mentally.โ€

โ€œDay three of the first week, Fiona fell asleep with a paintbrush in her hand! That kind of set the paceโ€ฆโ€

โ€œOne hundred per cent he would do it again.โ€

(Image: Phillip Castleton)
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โ€œBut Fiona and I thought we were pretty good at renovations,โ€ recalls Adam, who works in design and project management.

โ€œWe were both sales reps back then, but weโ€™d already done one house each, individually, and finished one together.โ€

โ€œSo when we heard about auditions for this new show, we decided weโ€™d give it a go. We werenโ€™t in it to be famous. We just wanted to get ahead in life and thought we might win!โ€

From the get-go, the good-looking, ambitious couple from Sydneyโ€™s western suburbs were considered clear favourites.

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At the end of the 12-week build, they sold their ground-floor Bondi apartment for $751,000, earning them a profit of $156,000, plus the $100,000 prize.

The family have since moved into their Eastern Suburbs beach house.

(Image: Phillip Castleton)

Their winnings enabled them to buy a Queensland investment property, and they released a book, Adam And Fionaโ€™s Renos On A Budget: How We Renovated Our Way To The Block.

The show also gifted them lifelong friends in fellow Blockheads Warren โ€œWazโ€ Sonin, Gav Atkins and Amity Dry.

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โ€œWe just chat and say hello every now and then,โ€ explains Fiona, 48. โ€œThe Block became a TV sensation, but it was an unknown situation going into it and we went through a lot together. It was a big deal for all of us!โ€

Ironically, the couple reckon they probably wouldnโ€™t be cast in the TV favourite today. โ€œThey seem to want contestants with really interesting, quirky backstories and that wasnโ€™t us,โ€ says Adam. โ€œWe were just renovators, and we still are. Weโ€™ve done four houses since The Block.โ€œ

The family outside their Coogee home.

(Image: Phillip Castleton)

Back in the day, Fiona dreamed of one day owning a house by the sea. Two years ago that wish came true when she and Adam bought a rundown, six-bedroom Federation home in Sydneyโ€™s beachside Coogee for $4.095 million.

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โ€œItโ€™s taken many, many years to reach this point and weโ€™re still together,โ€ she chuckles. โ€œThe Block was a means to an end, and it certainly helped us get where we are today. Weโ€™re so thankful to be here in our forever home.โ€

So no more renovations? Adam just grins and says, โ€œNever say never, hey?โ€

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