The reality of The Block set in right from the beginning for South Australian couple Spence and Kerrie, so much so they seriously considered hanging up the tools and walking away week one.
Spence, 46, reveals to TV WEEK that the day before starting at The Gatwick in Melbourne, the builder they had lined up through a friend pulled out, and he was left to do most of the work on his own.
“We had so much going through our head, thinking ‘what have we done going on this show?'” he says.
Despite being a qualified builder, after much soul searching, he soon realised it was too much work and he couldn’t cope on his own.
“I can’t describe how full on it is, the whole thing was just so ridiculously overwhelming,” Spence says.
“The pressure that is put on to you, the physical pressure and mental pressure, it is indescribable.
“I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life.”
In the end however, the couple, who run a bed an breakfast in the Barossa Valley, decided to stay.
“You have to think this is an amazing opportunity and other people have done it, and technically Kerrie and I are very experienced, we should be able to do it.”
The first task the contestants faced was a doozy. The teams each had to renovate a child’s bedroom in The Gatwick in a 48 hour time crunch.
The winning room will be picked by the judges in tonight’s episode, with the winning team having the power to pick which apartment they will renovate this season.
The Block airs Sunday, 7pm, Monday- to Wednesday, 7.30pm, on the Nine Network
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