Elle Ferguson and Joel Patfull quit The Block in first week of filming

Two of the biggest names joining the 2022 season of The Block have been forced to quit the competition just three days into filming.

The Block has been rocked by a family tragedy in the first week of filming, with one of the show’s star couples forced to back out of the competition after some troubling personal news.

As reported by The Daily Telegraph, influencer Elle Ferguson and her fiance, former AFL player Joel Patfull, have had to pull out as contestants after Patfull’s mother suffered a nasty fall.

Patfull, formerly of the GWS Giants, and fashion and beauty blogger Ferguson have reportedly travelled to Adelaide, where Patfull’s mum Trish is receiving treatment for possible bleeding of the brain, a broken coccyx and a fractured wrist.

The couple had to drop out of The Block in the first week of filming. Picture: Instagram

Ferguson took to social media with a telling post about the sudden change of plans, declaring: “Family always comes first”

“Wherever you are in the world. Whatever you are doing. Family always comes first,” she posted to her stories with an image of a packed baggage trolley at Melbourne airport.

It is understood the couple flew straight to Adelaide after Patfull’s mum suffered a nasty fall.

Ferguson took to Instagram to share photos of her fiance at the airport.

Power couple Ferguson and Patfull were enlisted to join The Block cast as the highest-profile contestants along with former Neighbours star Sharon Johal and her husband Ankur Dogra.

Influencer and businesswoman Ferguson boasts 680,000 followers on Instagram, and has her own range of self-tan, Elle Effect.

Meanwhile, Pattful, who retired from AFL in 2016, works as head of operations for Elle Effect and has an athleisure range, Lost Athletes.

The couple were engaged in 2017.

The couple were the highest-profile contestants of the upcoming season. Picture: Instagram

Last week, it was confirmed that for the first time, the reality home renovation show is heading out of the city to Victoria’s Macedon Ranges, near the town of Gisborne.

The Block Tree Change will see the new crop of contestants set off for regional Victoria to get stuck into their builds.

Host Scott Cam will also be renovating his own Block property for the first time.

It comes off the back of a controversial Fans vs Faves season which was marred by the biggest cheating scandal in the show’s history after one team distributed a photo of the top-secret production schedule.