The Block’s Nate and Andy

We married sisters!

Their unwavering friendship on The Block NZ is seeing them through their gruelling renovation, but when Hamilton dads Andy Murdie and Nathan Ross first met over a decade ago, the boys didn’t exactly hit it off.

In fact, building apprentice Nate reckoned the happy-golucky firefighter who had just started dating his sister-in-law was a bit of a slacker! “I’d heard the girls chatting about him and I thought he was going to

be a douchebag because it seemed like he was trying to swoop in and steal the limelight as the favourite son-in-law,” says Nate, 33.

“When he turned up, I was doing some gardening outside. He walked right by me, briefly said hello and didn’t even offer to help out. But looking back, he was probably just nervous as he had the daunting task of winning over my wife. Fair enough too – you have to impress your girlfriend’s sister!”

Fortunately, the hostility didn’t last long and the classic Kiwi blokes – who gelled over surfing, snowboarding and hunting – became great pals. Their bond was a huge relief for Nate’s wife Serena, 32, and her big sister Caroline, 34, who married Andy, 38, just seven months after their first date.

“Family comes first, so it was important to us that Andy easily fitted into our little unit,” says Serena, who wed her teen sweetheart Nathan 14 years ago. “But straight away, we all knew he was a keeper.

“You could see he adored my sister and was making such an effort with the family. It couldn’t have worked out better for Caroline and I. The boys love getting the kids out together as often as they can, which gives us plenty of child-free sister time for lunches and manicures.”

Indeed, for these handson family men, despite the stresses of the Three reality series, their biggest challenge is being separated from their wives and kids.

“The Block’s hard, but nothing compares to the guilt you feel for not being there for your family,” says Andy, who’s dad to Jett, eight, Willow, five, and Chilli, two. “Being a father is my biggest achievement. I’m working two jobs to try to keep us afloat, but hopefully this sacrifice pays off so when it’s