Images: Realestate.com.au / Instagram via @martyfox01 @darrenpalmerofficial
Since real estate agent Marty Fox arrived on The Block scene in 2023 (replacing Neale Whitaker, who’s now on My Reno Rules), he’s been full of enthusiasm for the series.
Alongside expanding his real-estate agency internationally, the entrepreneur has thrown himself into the Channel 9 TV series format, providing controversial hot takes and bantering with the best of reality show judges, Shaynna Blaze and Darren Palmer.
So when Darren posted photos from the final reveal, mysteriously sharing that Marty was absent, questions were raised. “This is a wrap for this season…” he wrote. “I will miss my weekly catch-ups with fellow judges @shaynnablaze and @martfox01 (who sadly could not join us today for our last reveal).”
Landscaping reveals are a major milestone after three months of room reveals by The Block contestants. Each season, the walk-throughs herald in a sense of finality as the three judges compare pools, plants and fire pits with guest judge Dave Franklin.
Perhaps only auction day has higher stakes than these final reveals, so for Marty Fox not to appear was unusual. One had to wonder what would make Marty Fox miss it?
The answer has been given by Marty himself: “After 4 months of not taking my foot off the gas, I finally broke…” he wrote in a lengthy carousel post on Instagram. “I’m not someone to cancel, reschedule or put it off because I’m not feeling 100 per cent. I just keep going and push through.”
“And all month people were sending me messages saying, ‘You are everywhere’ and I was. But I wasn’t there for myself… On the inside I was so sick it wasn’t funny… Then we had to film again, but this time I had to tell Channel 9 my voice and flu hadn’t subsided… But no matter what, I couldn’t shake the cough and the flu had turned into bronchitis.”
He goes on to explain that despite pushing through with personal and professional commitments, the founder of Whitefox and dad-of-three was feeling terribly unwell and his doctor confirmed it was likely pneumonia. Once arriving back home from a stint of travelling, things only escalated to the point where he was unable to breathe.
Luckily, his wife Charlotte was home and he says she “genuinely saved my life”. Emergency services were called and he was taken to hospital. “If I was home alone, I would have passed out or had a heart attack,” he says. “Scariest moment of my life.”
Under strict medical orders, he stepped back from work for some time to recuperate from his illness. “To miss the final episode and not be there with my colleagues to cap off an incredible season on The Block was upsetting,” he shared.
Since then, Marty has since been discharged from hospital and is back to “full strength”, albeit with a fresh perspective around looking after his health and slowing down sometimes.
The curse of The Block: A history of host and judge burnout
While ambitious business man Marty Fox clearly has a lot on his plate outside The Block, it’s hard not to wonder if the intensity of filming the reality series may have played a part in his downfall. The real-estate agent certainly isn’t the first person to appear on the show and find themselves teetering on the edge. Past contestants have also famously struggled mentally and physically with the pressures.
In recent years, couple Jesse and Paige walked out after just four weeks of filming the 2024 season, sharing that Paige’s mental health was suffering. Within days they were replaced by sisters Maddy and Charlotte, who went on to face serious bullying from other team members and intense lows on the show themselves.
“Being on The Block is extremely stressful,” Block alumni Ronnie Caceres shared after appearing on the show with wife Georgia for the second time. On-air breakdowns over the years have included contestant Spence Thomson, who walked off the show with his partner Kerrie in 2018 when filming pushed him to the brink.
Even earlier, in 2015, Andrew Simmons and Whitney Nolan put out a word of warning that serious thought needs to be put into casting or “God knows what could happen.” The inexperienced renovators found it emotionally taxing. “It is just immense the stress that you’re under,” Whitney revealed at the time. “I had a panic attack. The producers were going to send me to hospital because I was having pains in my chest. It wasn’t shown on television.”
Although the contestants are under probably the most pressure of all, no doubt the judges are feeling it too. After all, their words have weight and can either make or break a couple’s chances of winning week-to-week, so that can’t come without stress of its own.
From the crew to the on-air talent, The Block is as intense as reality shows get and the emotional exhaustion, high drama and intense scrutiny that comes with being part of a high-profile fly on the wall show like that would take its toll on anyone.
As Neale Whitaker recently told Home Beautiful’s editor-in-chief Elle Lovelock when he appeared on the podcast, being such a high-profile judge has its downsides, automatically creating expectations of you, even outside the series.
How Marty Fox’s absence may affect 2026 landscape judging
Bringing his real-estate eye to all spaces, no doubt Marty will be sorely missed at the landscaping reveals in 2026. He tends to note what will add value to a property more-so than the others judges, with Shaynna and Darren leaning towards aesthetics that are daring or exciting over mass appeal.
At the 2025 backyard judging, Marty had comments such as, “The biggest pool is a massive selling feature,” he said about Ricky and Haydn’s landscaping. “It separates them from the others that we’ve seen.” Meanwhile, Shaynna couldn’t see beyond the overuse of pool toys.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out when the show airs later in the year. Until then, take a look at the Mount Eliza site and a sneak peek at the completed homes here.
