Matt: “It put a massive strain on us”

El’ise and Matt open up about the hardest obstacle they’ve had to overcome as a couple…

They’ve had a rollercoaster ride on this year’s Block. But WA contestants Matt and El’ise are no strangers to adversity. Here, they open up about El’ise’s struggle with crippling anxiety after the birth of their third child, and how overcoming the tough times TOGETHER made them stronger as a couple.

Matt and El'ise have had their fair share of ups and downs on The Block.

You guys have had your fair share of ups and downs on the show, but you also had a tough time after your kids were born, right?
Matt: We did. We had three kids, we bought our house, and we went down to one wage [very quickly]. The financial side of things - it put a massive strain on us. But also, El’ise had a tough time after the birth of our third child, and I don’t think I understood what she was going through as well as I probably could have - that put a lot of pressure on our relationship.
El’ise: I withdrew a lot, I think. 

Three small kids is a lot to juggle...
E - The one thing I know personally is, it definitely did affect us as a couple. When I had [third son] Mavi, we went from having two kids to three, and you haven’t got your arms - up until that point I always had an arm for each kid! Then, all of a sudden I’m in these four walls, at home, with three small kids, and I’d never been an anxious person, but my hormones were out of whack, and I was having a really hard time; having all these nightmares...


This mum and dad couple from Perth are all about doing The Block to make things better for their young family. “We’re really doing it for the kids,” says El’ise, who remembers how they did it tough financially when the kids were little.

That sounds tough…
E: I remember Matt’s mum had been with me for eight weeks, and she left, and all of a sudden I had this bloody panic attack! I just didn’t think that I could walk down the street without somebody running me down, or something random happening to me. I was really anxious. It definitely wasn’t Post Natal Depression, but anxiety was something I had personally never experienced before that point...

How did you cope?
E - It was horrible - and trying to explain it is impossible. I think one night Matt was watching this anxiety thing on 60 Minutes, and he looked at me and was like, ‘Oh, this is what you are going through!’ My best friend, she’s got a health clinic, and she ended up getting me to see her mum, who is a naturopath. She gave all these Chinese herbs and was like, ‘Elise, your hormones are out of whack - it’s ridiculous.’ She put me on these Chinese herbs, and within three months, I was a completely different person. 

It’s extremely hard for partners to watch their other half suffer - how did you cope, Matt?
M - That was the most difficult thing for me, just not understanding it. I hadn’t experienced anxiety, and none of my friends had ever suffered with it, so it was strange to see the change [in El’ise]. She was exactly the same person, but there were these little things she wasn’t doing. 


El'ise and Matt pictured with Ronnie and Georgia during All-Star guest bedroom week.

How so?
E - [Around the time] all these terrorist attacks were happening, and it started to really affect me. I had the three kids, and the dog, out and about and I felt like I was an easy target - I couldn’t even walk into a shopping centre without feeling like something bad was going to happen. It feels so stupid now, but it was the strangest feeling…. 

It’s easy to say ‘it’s stupid’ now that you’re better…
E: That’s right. It was actually Matt’s mum saying I needed to look after myself that made me realise I wasn’t thinking straight. Thankfully Matt is extremely patient and understanding. Even though couches went flying at the time, and I was screaming, ‘Just listen to me!’ he was like, ‘I don’t know what I am listening to.’ But luckily we saw it through together - a lot of couples don’t. 

Do you think it brought you closer together?
M - One hundred percent. We look at it now and we think ‘Wow. How did we get through it?’ But we are in a really good spot now.


They made it! El'ise and Matt working on the final space to be revealed the front garden.

Everything is crossed for a successful result for El'ise and Matt at the auction this weekend!

Read on to get to know the WA contestants HERE

Matt and El'ise went to insane lengths to get on The Block - read all about it HERE

We are loving watching Matt & El'ise - view their completed rooms HERE