This season of Nine‘s The Block has overcome more hurdles than usual with a contestant returning a positive Covid test just before filming was set to begin, an unnamed insider complaining about living conditions, and a shortage of tradies on hand causing a last minute call out for skilled labour. And that’s all before the series has gone to air.
One of the biggest spanners to be thrown in the works was when influencer Elle Ferguson and her fiance, former AFL player Joel Patfull, made the decision to quit the season just three days in after Patfull’s mother suffered a fall.
The Block host Scott Cam has made headlines this week with comments calling the pair “un-Australian” and saying that “their behaviour was piss-poor. It was an embarrassment.”
Speaking to a media contingent that included Mediaweek on Friday, Cam clarified his comments, saying that he should “address the elephant in the room.”
“I want to say that that’s just me, that’s just me being me. Obviously, I wish Joel and Elle success in the future, it’s just that they created a fair bit of chaos for us here in the first 48 hours of the show. We put a lot of time and money into the start of our show, and then we had to re-jig the whole thing. The promos had to be re-shot. It just was a lot of angst on our part, when they just departed the way they did.
“The great news is when they left, we got another couple to come and they’re terrific – they built House 2. And they’re a great young couple with young kids. That’s what The Block is about. Someone leaves, someone comes.
“Joel and Elle, I hope they go well and have great success in the future. Sometimes The Block is not for everybody, and when I say those words, that’s just Scott Cam speaking from the heart.”