The Block: Everything we know about 'replacement team' Maddy and Charlotte

Following Paige and Jesse's emotional exit and Scott Cam’s brutal “prank” on the remaining contestants, viewers were introduced to a brand new team during Tuesday night’s episode of The Block. It was announced that sisters Maddy and Charlotte would be officially completing House 1, marking the first time in the reality show’s 21-year history that two new contestants have joined the competition midway through filming.

The duo live in Sydney but work in Newcastle, with Maddy working in finance and accounting while Charlotte is studying at university. They may be the youngest contestants to ever appear on the show at 24 and 22, respectively, however, they have plenty of renovation experience up their sleeves as they have been flipping houses as a side hustle since 2020.

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How were Maddy and Charlotte contacted to appear on The Block?

Maddy and Charlotte tell Yahoo Lifestyle that they received the call to join the reality show on Easter Monday and were given less than 24 hours to fly to Melbourne.

“I was actually putting a hot cross bun in the toaster and Charlotte was upstairs,” Maddy details. “She got the call and all of a sudden I hear yelling like, ‘Come upstairs quick!’. She was like, ‘It's the producer on the phone’, and I was just thinking that they were ringing us to tell us why we didn't get onto The Block because we got to the final round of applications and interviews and stuff.

“Next minute they were like, ‘Hey, so a couple has left today, could you get on a plane and be here tomorrow?’. We rang our parents and we were like, ‘Is this crazy? Is this silly? What are we what are we even doing? Can we leave like this?’ and they were like, ‘You'd be so silly not to, we’ll figure out everything at home, off you go’. So next minute we were crazily running around chucking anything we saw in a bag and then we were on a plane to Melbourne.”

Why weren't they originally cast in this season?

The sisters, who also applied for last year’s season of the reality show, admit that they were never “properly told” why they weren’t originally cast on season 20. However, they were made aware during the casting process that their “biggest obstacle” would be differentiating themselves from last year’s sister team Eliza and Liberty.

“I know that they had two sisters the year before and we were told in the first interview we ever had that that would be our biggest obstacle,” Maddy shares.

“Obviously, in casting they need to differentiate the cast, so we were always told from the beginning that that was something that we would have to overcome. But we weren’t really told the details, we didn’t have time for that!”

How much information were they given about Paige and Jesse?

While Paige and Jesse’s reasons for quitting the show were well-documented during Monday night’s episode, Maddy and Charlotte reveal that they weren’t fully aware of the details surrounding the couple they were replacing.

“We didn’t even know at that point why they had left,” Charlotte says, while Maddy adds, “We didn't have any contact with them when we arrived”.

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Maddy adds that one of their “biggest challenges” coming onto the show was adjusting to Paige and Jesse’s ‘modern colonial’ style which they had already implemented in four rooms.

“That was tricky because obviously their style was very distinct and it’s different to what our natural style would be,” Maddy explains. “That was probably one of our biggest challenges coming in. It was like, how do we make this house ours? How do we be authentic to our style and who we are, but at the same time, we can't have this mixed-match, half a house is one style, half is another.

“We really had no idea what we were doing but we were like, you know what? We're gonna give this our best shot. There were some times that I felt like, I think this is okay, and other times I was like, yeah, we wouldn't do that again. It was definitely a challenge, that's for sure.”

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