The Block Australia 2022: influencer Elle Ferguson quits three days into filming

This year’s highest profile contestants of The Block have been forced to walk off the reality show set after only a few days of filming.

Reality show The Block has been filming for just a few days and already the highest profile contestants have walked from set.

Confidential can reveal fashion and beauty influencer Elle Ferguson and fiance, former GWS Giants AFL player Joel Patfull, have called time on the home reno show after just three days of filming.

It is understood the couple made the hard decision to quit after Patfull’s mother, Trish, fractured her neck in a nasty fall at home in Adelaide.

She is also believed to have possible bleeding of the brain, a broken coccyx and a fractured wrist.

Elle Ferguson and boyfriend Joel Patfall have been forced to quit The Block after only a few days of filming. Picture: Seafolly

The pair would not comment when contacted but a post to social media provided some insight.

“Wherever you are in the world. Whatever you are doing. Family always comes first,” Ferguson wrote on an Instagram story with an image of a packed baggage trolley at Melbourne airport.

Elle Ferguson and Joel Patfull were forced to quit The Block after three days. Picture: Elle Ferguson/Instagram

A family emergency forced the pair to leave The Block set. Picture: Elle Ferguson/Instagram

Confidential last week broke news of Ferguson’s casting on the reality show.

After being overshadowed by bitchiness and infighting last season, The Block producers were taking a different tact with casting in 2022 in an attempt to veer away from dramatic storylines.

The series suffered last year due to the overriding negative storylines around contestants not getting along amid accusations of cheating.

As well as Ferguson and Patfull, former Neighbours star Sharon Johal and hubby Ankur Dogra were also cast for the next season, that began shooting last week.

Casting the glamorous Ferguson was a move reminiscent of the 2017 season, when model Elyse Knowles won with partner Josh Barker.

Sharon Johal and husband Ankur Dogra. Picture: Sam Tabone

Josh Barker and Elyse Knowles who are part of the 2017 series of The Block.

For the new season, in light of Covid and many around the world looking for a sea or tree change, production is based in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges, near the town of Gisborne.

Ferguson meanwhile is well known in Sydney as a red carpet regular, who has 680,000 followers on Instagram alone. She has her own range of self-tan, Elle Effect, and runs a website of the same name.

Since retiring from AFL in 2016 at the age of 31, Pattful works as head of operations for Elle Effect and also has an athleisure range, Lost Athletes.

Pattful popped the question in 2017 with the Bondi-based pair tipped to marry later this year.

They were planning an earlier wedding, which was pushed back due to the global pandemic.

Originally published as The Block Australia 2022: influencer Elle Ferguson quits three days into filming