The Block NZ’s Em ‘I’M HAVING A BABY!’
The reno queen is building the family of her dreams
It’s been four years since her time on The Block NZ, but Emily Blanchett – known to fans as “Em” – still looks back on the home reno show fondly. Even though she left the Three series with just $5750 to show for her months of gruelling work, she feels everything happens for a reason.
“I wouldn’t change a thing,” smiles Emily, 29, who originally hails from Palmerston North. “The Block is what led me to Auckland and my life now – and I’m super-happy.”
She has every reason to be over the moon. The 29-year-old now lives in Te Atatu with her partner of two years, who – much to the disappointment of many Block fans – is not her fellow contestant Tom Waalkens, with whom there was a rumoured romance.
Emily met her partner Tim Slane, 30, through mutual friends and romance suddenly blossomed after a few years – and one night of tequila and dancing!
“It’s cheesy to say, but I’ve fallen in love with my best friend,” grins Emily. “I’ve never been in a relationship before where I can just 100% be myself. He lights me up and absolutely brings out the best in me.”
The happy couple are currently renovating a three-bedroom 1970s house, she adds. “We’ve pretty much stripped the entire inside, from paint to flooring. There’s a new kitchen and we put in double doors off our master bedroom. Our last project is the baby’s room!”
Emily and Tim are thrilled to be expecting a daughter next month, but there have been a few bumps in their road to parenthood.
“I’d actually gotten pregnant before, when we’d only been together six months,” confides Emily, her eyes welling with tears. “That was a shock, but then we found out at our 12-week scan that the baby had died. It was so heartbreaking. It still makes me upset
even thinking about it now.
“At the time, my midwife told me miscarriage is super-common, but no-one I knew had ever talked about it. I felt so lonely. It would be a lot healthier if people talked about miscarriage more.”
Emily and Tim’s heartache had a silver lining, however. She remembers. “It brought us a whole lot closer and made us realise that a baby was what we wanted. When we found out we were pregnant this time, we were so excited and so ready.”
The little girl is due on 29 April, which is also the first birthday of Emily’s “other baby”, a medicinal mushroom company she started with her childhood bestie, model Jessica Clarke, who became the first New Zealander to walk in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2011. “The company is called Mother Made – the name comes from Mother Nature,” tells Emily.
“After being on The Block, I was actually really lost for a while there. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I ended up moving to New York with a guy I was seeing at the time and while I was there, I started taking medicinal mushrooms, an ancient Chinese herbal remedy.
“Each mushroom has a different benefit, for things like brain function, focus or relaxation. I instantly felt the effects and
I just went down an absolute rabbit hole researching them.”
After reconnecting with her model mate Jessica, the two women found they shared a passion for the fantastic fungi, and developed a successful range of mushroom powders and capsules, which are now sold in stores like Health 2000 and Farro.
“We still laugh and pinch ourselves,” says Emily of their thriving business. “Sometimes I can’t believe we actually did it.”
When she’s not busy being a mushroom magnate, Emily also keeps in touch with another high school BFF – Chloe Hes, her partner in crime from The Block. She says, “We’re still super-close. We talk all the time. Chloe’s got a baby now as well – Noah’s just turned two and I always joke he’ll be my baby’s boyfriend!
“It’s so handy having a best friend who’s already had a baby and been through it. It’s pretty scary, pregnancy! There are so many changes constantly happening in my body and I’m feeling the pressure, like, ‘Is the baby OK? Should I be doing more?’ Chloe’s helped me a lot.”
But despite the first-time-mum nerves, Emily is looking forward to what her future holds –including tying the knot at some point.
“Tim and I have talked about it, but for now we’re just focusing on having the baby,” chuckles Emily. “Maybe by the time she’s a couple of years old, she can be invited to the wedding!”
‘By the time she’s a couple of years old, she can be invited to the wedding!’