With couple Elle Ferguson and Joel Patfull’s swift exit on The Block set to rock the Macedon Ranges this week, host Scott Cam tells Woman’s Day that no one was left more disappointed than him.
“There’s just certain ways of going about things,” he says of the Sydney-based couple, who fled in the dead of the night on day three without leaving as much as a goodbye note.
Scott says Elle, a popular influencer and Joel, a former AFL star, “just sort of left, and didn’t really give us a reason why”.
“Had they talked to us a bit more, we might have been able to talk them off the ledge. We didn’t want them to leave,” he confesses.
Touching on talk that the engaged couple left due to it not being “on brand” for them, Scotty, 59, confirms that’s what model Elle, 38, had in fact told his production team.
“That was her words. And look, we’re only renovating, it’s not the end of the world, but if you come in with a good old-fashioned spirit and have a crack like the others did, you’ll get it done.
“I love a bit of adversity. I’ve worked in trying conditions all my life, I’ve worked hard, and I don’t mind rolling my sleeves up. I’m always going to have a go.”
Scotty also confirmed that the couple mentioned to production that the hi-vis workwear didn’t go with their high fashion wardrobes and that “the toilet paper was too scratchy”.
WATCH: Scotty Cam to build his own house on The Block. Article continues after video
“I didn’t make it up,” he doubles down, but insists that there was no obvious tension between the couple and the rest of the Blockheads, despite Sarah-Jane, the no-nonsense social worker from Victoria, having some choice words about the influencers.
“I could see it coming, they didn’t make any effort to get to know us, they looked miserable the whole time,” she says on the show.
“I’m glad someone is going to get the opportunity that will appreciate it. Don’t bring them from Bondi.”
Since their departure has caused uproar, the couple have since gone underground, leaving new couple Rachel and Ryan to step in and pick up from where they left off.
“They were fantastic,” Scotty praises. “They just got stuck in and made a real fist of it.
“We never set up anyone to fail. We always want everyone to succeed and to finish and make money – that’s the goal.”