‘I just thought I’m lucky to have survived’: Block star Eliza Paschke opens up on terrifying sex attack

Reality TV contestant Eliza Paschke has told how a night out in St Kilda ended with her being physically and sexually assaulted.

Eliza (right) and Liberty Paschke appeared on The Block in 2023.

Eliza Paschke, one half of the popular Paschke sister duo from The Block, says she feels empowered after bravely speaking out about a physical and sexual assault six years ago.

After seeing the rise in violence against women and being in a good place with her mental health, Paschke said she felt ready to tell her terrifying story.

It was on Australia Day in 2019 after a night out in St Kilda that she ordered an Uber and went outside the venue before midnight.

She said “everything goes black from there” and when she came to – 4.5 hours later – she was “splayed out laying down” in the back seat of a stranger’s car, with a man on top of her, holding her down.

Eliza (left) has bravely spoken out about the horrific attack.

She said she “fought for her life” not even realising she was not in the Uber and no longer in St Kilda, but in Hawthorn.

“The CCTV from the venue showed me getting in a taxi, the driver said I had started to convulse and had become super paranoid and I’d jumped out onto the main road on St Kilda Rd,” she recalled.

“Then I’m in the back of a car and I just thought I’m lucky to have survived because we don’t know how I got there and four hours went missing.”

Paschke got a taxi home and reported the incident to police, who agreed she had symptoms of having her drink spiked.

Her face had been battered and her clothes pulled off  but she believes wearing spanx had stopped her from being raped.

“They’ve abducted me and there’s certain things which I luckily don’t remember but I was one to wear spanx and big nana undies and they were intact,” Paschke said.

“Police said there’s no way someone could have got them on and off so they essentially saved me. My dress and bra were around my waist and the guy had been sucking on my chest, so we got some saliva, which police were able to capture a DNA profile from.”

Paschke said most alarming to her was how long the wait times are for government-funded counselling.

She wants to use her voice for advocacy.

Paschke and her sister Liberty were runners-up on The Block in 2023 and she first spoke about her experience on their podcast, Try Before You Die.

“I wanted to shine a light on this and speak up because it can be disheartening … I feel empowered talking about it and people have been amazing – men have reached out … I’ve been gobsmacked in the most beautiful way.”