Jamie Durie has revealed he has not ruled out a return to popular Channel Nine renovation series The Block.
The stripper-turned TV star, 54, was the inaugural host of the reality juggernaut for two seasons before it was cancelled in 2004.
Nine eventually revived the series, six years later, with current host Scott Cam at the helm.
Following rumours of a potential return to the series last year, Jamie told Daily Mail Australia that while he was currently happy at Channel Seven, it was a case of never say never when it came to The Block.
‘Like I say, you never know what the future holds. I’m the sort of person that keeps a very open mind to everything, and I started my career at Nine,’ he said.
‘I’m very happy at the moment at Seven, but you know, TV has changed a lot over the years and it’s a pretty transient world these days.’
Jamie Durie (pictured) has revealed he has not ruled out a return to popular Channel Nine renovation series The Block
The television veteran was the inaugural host of the reality juggernaut for two seasons before it was cancelled in 2004. Nine eventually revived the series, six years later, with current host Scott Cam at the helm
Following Durie’s departure from Nine to Seven, the pair, who had once shared the screen on Backyard Blitz for eight years, indulged in somewhat of a war of words.
News Corp reported at the time at Durie took a subtle dig at The Block while promoting his new show The Outdoor Room saying that ‘you don’t have to be sick’ to earn a garden makeover on his show.
Scott fired back reminding his former co-star, ‘That show, that supposed sausage factory, got him out of the leopard G-string, out of the velcro pants and on to the tele.’
Despite that past barbs, Durie told Daily Mail Australia that the pair are still firm friends.
‘I love the team I worked with at the Block – Scotty and I are still great mates. You know, we meet all the time for lunch,’ he admitted.
‘Having hosted series one and two of The Block initially in my career, I’ve really enjoyed watching the journey and watching the series grow.’
However, Jamie added that his focus is still very much his current Seven series Growing Home, which has just been renewed for a second season.
He sees this as a natural progression from his achievements on The Block.
Following rumours of a potential return to the series last year , Jamie told Daily Mail Australia that while he was currently happy at Channel Seven, when it came to The Block, it was a case of never say never’
‘I love the team I worked with at the Block Scotty and I are still great mates. You know we meet all the time for lunch,’ he admitted
The inaugural series charted Jamie’s journey in constructing his astonishing six-storey eco-friendly mega-mansion.
Jamie said the ambitious project was not without its challenges, including the toll it took on his fiancé Ameka Jane and their two children – daughter Beau, three, and son Nash, two.
‘I still walk through the place and I’m just astonished at what we’ve been able to achieve in such a short time frame,’ he said.
‘I don’t know what I was thinking when I suggested that we maybe start off the series with our home. But we figured if we were going to create a series about sustainable homes and and environmental initiatives, then we should practice what we preach and and show Australia the very best of what we can build first.’
Durie continued: ‘It’s been, of course, tough on Ameka – waiting to move into the new house and sort of living between a rental and here and so forth.’
But when it came to hurdles, Durie said building an eco-friendly home without ‘compromise’ proved the biggest challenge.
‘I think the toughest struggle was, Building a house without compromise that treads lightly on the planet, right?’
‘The geothermal system that we had to put in place, where we’ve got seven probes going, 120 meters into the ground, learning about that process and coupling that up with 40 solar panels.’
However, Jamie added that his focus is still very much his current Seven series Growing Home, which has just been renewed for a second season. Jamie is pictured with fiancé Ameka Jane daughter Beau and son Nash.
The inaugural series charted Jamie’s journey in constructing his astonishing six-storey eco-friendly mega-mansion
‘I still walk through the place and I’m just astonished at what we’ve been able to achieve in such a short time frame,’ he said.
Durie also added that the house had been integrated with charging stations from partner Kia Australia.
‘Also there’s huge off-site batteries that they can also charge the Kia electric cars and also in reverse where the cars charge the house and the house charges the car,’ he said.
‘It’s been actually quite good to work with them because their charging stations are quite accessible and it dovetails with everything we’ve been doing in the house in terms of making the best decisions we possibly can for the future of our family, for the environment and for the hip pocket.’
When the project was first announced, Durie copped some backlash from locals over plans to chop down 17 native trees to accommodate his vision.
However, he revealed that now the project is at an end, local perception has changed dramatically.
‘The whole neighbourhood has really turned around,’ he said.
‘It’s not a small home and so it was, challenging for a few people to look at the DA, but not really understand all of the environmental initiatives we were installing into the home.
‘We’ve planted over 3,000 plants, we’ve got a rooftop garden that’s now full of Australian natives and swarming with bees and Australian native flowers.’
With the dust now settled around the gargantuan build, there is a little more time for family in Jamie’s busy life
Jamie added: ‘It’s been really amazing watching the neighbours come by, taking photographs, and coming to shake our hands going, “Hey, what a challenge. It’s been Jamie, but congratulations, it’s absolutely beautiful”.’
With the dust now settled around the gargantuan build, there is a little more time for family in his busy life. But what about expanding the brood?
‘We remain open minded,’ he laughed.
‘We’ve got our hands full at the moment with little Beau and Nash and we absolutely adore them. But you never know what the future holds,
‘I think now that the dust is settled and we’re moving into the home, you never know what the future could hold.’
Speaking of the future 2025 is shaping up to be quite the red letter year for Durie.
Thanks to the ratings success, he revealed that a special episode of Growing Home, highlighting the finished product is currently being filmed.
‘We’re definitely embarking on series two, and what I can tell you is that we’re focusing on homes, that will certainly contribute to the cost of living crisis and the the lack of of It’s an affordable homes around Australia,’ he said.
Thanks to the ratings success, he revealed that a special episode of Growing Home, highlighting the finished product is currently being filmed as well as a second season
‘We want to focus on those two issues. We’re following three couples this year – we’ll be building homes for them and following their journey.
If that wasn’t enough, Durie is also working on another series Unspoiled, and the concept recently took out the 2025 AACTA Reg Grundy Award.
The format takes city-dwellers out of their comfort zones and into the vast Australian outback, guided by co-creator Neville Poelina indigenous wisdom and bush survival skills.
‘The sort of TV, I want to make, I want my children to be proud and proud of it, you know?,’ he said.
‘Its about taking everyday Australian families, into the outback, with only a shoe box of items packing in one hour – no food, no water, and Neville shows them how to survive.
‘It’s kind of Bear Grylls meets indigenous Australians – million-year-old customs, bush tucker, bush medicine and things that that are that are a part of Neville’s indigenous heritage.
‘Sharing those age-old customs with everyday Australians is, I think going to be really interesting TV.’
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