Nine/TikTok
For weeks, The Block had been building up to its dramatic mid-season episode – The departure of controversial WA couple Jesse and Paige.
The pair’s departure had been long coming. Not only had publications been reporting on their exit since early April, but audiences had watched the couple struggle for five weeks, with their dramatic storyline taking lead for most of the season.
Now, Paige Beechey has broken her silence, sharing with fans an in-depth look at her experience on the renovation show, telling audiences: “I just thought it was important to make this video to lift the veil on that pathetic Monday night episode.”
Taking to TikTok with a three-part video series, Paige shared with audiences intimate details of her experience on the show, revealing a production choice in week three became a catalyst for her “breakdown.”
The start of week three saw the teams move from tents to sleeping in the guest bedrooms they completed – and marked the start of new filming routines.
“Without no prior briefing, no warning and absolutely no consent, the crew started coming into our rooms in the morning to film us while we were sleeping,” Paige explained, revealing it was a triggering experience.
“I started having really bad PTSD symptoms come up in week three because you are in a dark room, you are asleep and…you have two or three figures standing over your bed and it’s terrifying.”
“I started to spiral very quickly from these mornings because some of the times Jesse wasn’t even in bed with me and I was just alone. So most mornings in week three i was trying to fight off big episodes of derealisation, lots of confusion, anxiety and paranoia.”
Admitting that she attempted to “push her mental health to the side,” Paige went on to explain the experience led her to be “nervous, anxious, paranoid all day.”
“I really did try my hardest to be ok,” she explained, before revealing that after talking with Jesse he went on to tell a producer and the morning visits stopped. “It was just sadly a little too late for me,” she added. “I was off the deep end and drowning.”
“I was spiralling, I was dealing with very real mental health issues and my world was imploding…I was trying to keep everything together.”
Two weeks later, the couple made the decision to leave the show – but Paige doesn’t believe audiences got the full story in their departure episode.
“I think a lot of people have seen through this narrative that just doesn’t make sense…I was pretty much done, I did not want to be there, I wasn’t feeling like myself, I was incredibly scared every day and dealing with those emotions on top of all that pressure and stress was sending me.”
Sharing her experience with pulling the pin on the season. “We left Monday week five, two weeks prior puts us at Monday week three – the exact time they moved us into our guest bedroom,” she explained in the lengthy video, before revealing she stood up for herself.
Paige claims that she did question why no one had come up and talked with her about her struggles earlier on. The producers reportedly let her know they had sent her an email.
“A pathetic get-lost-in-your-inbox email. And it was really at that moment I knew I was at a place I should not be.”
Paige says she expected more than that and went on to add that she felt as if “The Block capitalises off your personal life and totally exploits it.”
Paige went on to reveal she was upset with the editing of the show in post-production. “They happily manipulated snippets of one of my worst mornings,” she explained. “They took symptoms of deeper difficulties, spun them on their heads, used me on the show, used me again in the edit and then used me again for their agenda for mental health.”
Following the couple’s departure from the show, Scotty Cam spoke out, telling fans the pair left the show on their own accord.
“We didn’t force them out,” he explained in a video published on 9Now. “It was a duty of care moment.”
“We’ve always said we’re not doing anything important here, we’re just renovating. Health, well-being, happiness, always comes first on The Block. We always make sure contestants’ wellbeing is number one.”
“We got professional help and had extensive chats,” he added. “They made the decision themselves – we didn’t force them out. They made the decision they wanted to go home. We followed it up with professional care in their home state for as long as they needed it.”
WHO has approached Nine for comment.
If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help is always available. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 and visit their website, or Call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
