The Block was a tough journey for blue team Jesse and Paige, who went through many highs and lows together while on the show.
But enough was enough, and they officially decided to leave the competition at the beginning of week five.
Jesse and Paige both had moments over the course of the four weeks they were on The Block where they struggled with the pressure and intensity of the environment.
But it all got too much for Paige who revealed her mental health had deteriorated, and she and Jesse decided to depart the show to prioritise her wellbeing.
The engaged couple were met with so much love, support and respect from the other teams and host Scott Cam who told them, “It’s a very brave decision that you’ve made, and nothing is more important – not The Block, not building it, nothing is more important than your mental health. It is a big decision and a brave one that you’ve both made.”
But after their exit episode aired, Paige took to her TikTok page to share the ‘real reason’ behind their decision to depart the show, claiming the producers edited the footage to fit their narrative.
“We were quite frustrated with the first two weeks and how we were depicted… It’s such a shame you didn’t get to see our good moments,” she explained.
Despite this, a source has told Yahoo! Lifestyle that Jesse and Paige will return to The Block this season for a surprise cameo, although the couple themselves haven’t confirmed or denied it yet.
“Jesse and Paige agreed to return five weeks later and were more than happy to come back. They have been back to Phillip Island twice since their dramatic exit,” the source claimed.
The couple also spoke to the publication about the prospect of returning to compete on the show in future, revealing that they’re open to the idea.
“I think now that I understand behind the scenes a lot more, I would do it again,” Jesse said. “I’d go back, but I’d definitely do things a lot differently. I’d want to do it with Paige again, but they’d have to know that there are some rules in place from our side. Some boundaries.”
Paige said she was more hesitant, revealing, “Jury’s still out for me. We’d have some conversations.”
“If they came and asked us back, we’d definitely take it into consideration,” Jesse said, adding, “But I don’t think that’ll happen”.
The couple had a tough start to the competition, with Jesse breaking down in tears on the phone to his mother after a sobering realisation in the first week.
“I’m a builder, so two days in I knew how behind we were,” carpenter Jesse, 29, told TV WEEK. “I was expecting I could do everything myself, but could see that making it to Sunday [room-reveal day] would be a huge push.
“Then I realised this isn’t like home anymore, I put too much pressure on myself, and it all came over me.”
Over the course of their time on the show, the couple both had moments where tensions reached boiling point and they spoke about quitting on multiple occasions.
“It was overwhelming,” Paige told TV WEEK. “I couldn’t verbalise my design style and sounded like an idiot.”
The couple had many huge disagreements and setbacks early on, one of which being Paige butting heads with the architect, Julian Brenchley.
“It’s hard, because you don’t want to break the fourth wall, but everyone behind the cameras were being incredibly rude to me,” Paige, 27, said.
“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 off-camera.”
With so many early conflicts and setbacks, it all got too much for the Western Australian natives who chose to exit the high-pressure environment that is The Block.
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