In 2011, my sister and I (Amie) participated as contestants on The Block. It was the show’s fourth season, but it marked the beginning of the popular 7 o’BLOCK craze, where contestants didn’t have to go to work during the day. Our season of The Block was the highest-rated TV show on Channel 9 at the time and it might still hold that record. It was a time before Netflix and Instagram/TikTok had gained much popularity, and people relied heavily on free-to-air TV.
Like many things in life, looking back often leads to wondering how things could have turned out differently. Could I have enjoyed it more? Should I have worked harder after the show ended? Back then, it wasn’t the right time to start things like businesses or influencing on social media because those concepts weren’t prominent. You simply did the show, came back home, and got on with your life. We didn’t win anything from The Block. Our house didn’t sell at the auction, which was a heart-wrenching experience. At the time, I didn’t expect to win hundreds of thousands of dollars because it wasn’t a common occurrence on The Block yet. I thought it would at least sell! On the night of the auction, my sister and I had to pay for our own cab back to the hotel, and hardly anyone spoke to us afterward. What a wild time!
Before I joined The Block, I had immersed myself in the world of blogging. I started in 2006 to document my kids. I taught myself how to buy a domain, set it up, build a free (blogspot) blog, customise it, and I wrote blog posts every day. I even started a small business called The Media Maid, where people paid me to set up their blogs. I earned decent money from it! Even after The Block, I continued to blog daily, and to this day, that same blog is alive and kicking. It has over 3000 articles, and I still write on it frequently. Over time, it has transformed from a personal blog to a design-focused blog.
In 2012, I won a significant blogging award and was named Kidspot’s Blogger of the Year, which granted me a trip to New York. I was absolutely thrilled. I also had the opportunity to speak at various blogging events, continuing to teach others how to blog and being paid to set up their websites/blogs. This was all self-taught at the time.
Being on that TV show taught me a few important lessons. It made me realise that TV always comes first, renovations came second, and your emotions are often disregarded. For a while, it significantly affected my self-esteem. It normalised online aggression and bullying, as no one monitored the Facebook pages dedicated to us, and it was brutal. It also provided me with an unrealistic perception of success. I was only 34 years old at the time. You could be one of the most famous people in Australia for about eight weeks, and then suddenly, everything would fade away. I’m not bitter or upset about it. Absolutely not! I see it as an experience that has given me valuable perspectives as I moved forward in life.
Would I recommend participating in a show like The Block? No, I wouldn’t. I honestly can’t imagine what anyone would gain from it. Temporary fame? But then what? There wouldn’t be much to gain after that.
After the show, I went back to my normal life and just continued on.
The years from 2012 to 2018 were somewhat of a blur for me. I spent that time dealing with serious health issues. I’ll delve into that in the next part of my story.
