Josh Packham, along with his twin brother Luke, is an Aussie reality TV staple, having appeared on Love Island, The Block and now The Traitors. But it was his stint on The Block that appears to have left the biggest impact, as it kicked off an ongoing trend that’s still used on the show today.
Speaking exclusively to Chattr, Josh reflected on the infamous cheating scandal that surrounded him and his twin brother Luke during The Block: Fans vs Faves in 2021, saying they had no idea what they were walking into.
Josh admitted that despite being cast as a ‘Fan’ of the series, he’d never actually watched The Block before being cast on the show and to this day, he still refuses to watch the show.
“To be honest with you, I never watched The Block before I went on it,” he said.
“When I was put on Fans vs Faves, that was fraught… I had to pretend to be a fan, but I’d never watched the show beforehand, and I never have since.”
He said that lack of knowledge explained why the brothers often found themselves in hot water during the early weeks of the competition.
“That’s why when we were doing the wrong things in the early weeks and were seen as the bad boys, like we don’t know the rules, we don’t know how the show works,” he admitted.
Josh also addressed one of the first controversies they faced, when a builder was seen helping the pair paint.
“Even on the first week, where a builder helped us paint, I was like, ‘I didn’t know how to do that’. That’s how little knowledge I had of the show,” he said.
Josh believes The Block has replicated the cheating scandal from his season
Reflecting on the years since his season aired, Josh suggested The Block has needed to keep raising the stakes because audiences now expect the level of drama his team brought back in 2021.
In fact, their cheating scandal — in which they admitted to using a leaked schedule to plan ahead — was one of the first of its kind, but it certainly wasn’t the last.
“I think they need [cheating scandals] now because I think it’s voted by the fans [as] their favourite season of all time, and when you’ve hit that level of drama, same with any sort of big drama type show like Married at First Sight, when something major happens, your next season has to live up to that,” he said.
“They basically have to do that every season now. If not, their ratings would go down.”
Josh also reflected on the number of clashes he had with his fellow contestants during his time on The Block.
“I clashed with almost everyone who was a contestant besides Tanya and Vito at some stage on that season. It was a lot of fiery characters, so made for compelling TV,” he said.
We thank you for the drama, sweet king.
The Block airs Sunday – Wednesday on Channel 9 and 9Now.
Want to CHATTR with us? Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok for more entertainment news.
