The Block premiered on Sunday night on the Nine Network, introducing us to a whole new batch of Blockheads for 2018.
As we enter in to the early rounds of the competition, the teams open up to TV WEEK about their journey toward The Block.
Click through to read our chats with the contestants!
‘It nearly broke me!’ The sporting setback that left Bianca devastated
Carla (far left) and Bianca work well as a team.
Bianca Chatfield remembers the awful moment she was dropped from the Australian netball team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. In hindsight, however, she’s glad it happened.
“It was a hard thing to go through,” the 36-year-old says. “But I look back now and think, ‘Thank goodness it happened to me then,’ because it really gave me a different lease of life towards the end of my career.”
The athlete ended up making a comeback to the Australian team. She won a gold medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Bianca, who’s competing on The Block with her former netball teammate and friend Carla Dziwoki, retired on her own terms in 2015.
Bianca was an Australian Netball star.
‘All couples fight’ Jess loves Norm despite their feuds
Norm and Jess don’t take life too seriously.
Like most couples, Queenslanders Jess and Norm have their moments. In fact, Jess even threatens to leave her fiancé at times – but it’s never serious.
“I would never seriously leave him,” Jess, 33, tells TV WEEK.
“Sometimes I might pretend I would leave him if I need the children’s lunches packed. You need to use that card if you want to go to bed! But it’s never been a real threat.”
Jess, a breakfast radio host, and Norm, a builder, have two young children: Fred, four, and 19-month-old Matilda.
The busy mum admits they have the occasional argument.
“It’s impossible to live with someone 100 per cent of the time and like them 100 per cent of the time,” she points out.
“I reckon couples who say they have never had a fight have seriously repressed issues.”
Top Model: From Milan, to The Block, Courtney has done it all
Hans and Courtney.
Perth contestant Courtney worked as a fashion model around the world from 2001 to 2007, TV WEEK can reveal.
Courtney, 33, who is on the show with her fiancé Hans, left Australia at the age of 15 when she was offered a modelling contract in Japan.
She worked in cities such as Tokyo, Milan, London and Bangkok.
“Having the opportunity to travel and live in those kind of places at such a young age was amazing,” Courtney, who’s now a flight attendant, recalls.
“To be living overseas somewhere for three months or a year was such a fantastic opportunity.”
Wedding Worry: Hayden and Sara almost missed their big day
A volcano drama couldn’t spoil their Bali trip with baby Harlow.
Hayden and Sara nearly got stuck in Bali last year after getting caught up in the Mount Agung volcano drama.
The Sydney couple were enjoying a pre-wedding holiday in Bali when the volcano threatened to erupt, potentially grounding flights and making them miss their October wedding back home.
“We were there for about two weeks,” Sarah, 31, recalls. “While we were there, Mount Agung was going to erupt.”
Thankfully, the couple were still able to fly home – but not before worried family and friends back in Australia started freaking out.
“Everyone in Bali was still doing their day-to-day business,” the former flight attendant says.
“I didn’t hear anything until my mother called me. She was panicking and wanted us to get out of there as quickly as possible.”
Sara and Hayden’s holiday was a bit stressful, but everything went to plan on their wedding day.
‘We wanted to WALK!’ Why Spence and Kerrie were ready to leave
Spence and Kerrie almost gave up in the first week.
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.
“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. Read more from our interview with the couple here.
The Block airs Monday to Wednesday, 7:30pm, and Sunday, 7pm, on Nine Network.
