Kirsty's gigs dried up due to COVID restrictions and, with clients hamstrung by border closures and lockdowns, Jesse, too, was unable to work.

Frustrated, the couple threw their energy into gutting and renovating their house at Wangi Wangi, on the western side of Lake Macquarie. But with JobKeeper ending and money becoming tight, they had no choice but to down tools.

Then the universe stepped in and worked in one of its mysterious ways.

Jesse and Kirsty found out they were competing in reality renovating show The Block. Episode one premieres on Sunday night.

"It came at the perfect time for us. JobKeeper was ending in March and we started filming in February," Kirsty says.

Jesse and Kirsty are one of five couples going head to head in season 17 of The Block: Fans v Faves. Joining them will be previous contestants Ronnie and Georgia (2017 Elsternwick series) and Mitch and Mark (2019 Oslo series), as well as newcomers Tanya and Vito (parents from Melbourne) and twins Josh and Luke (Love Island Australia, 2019). The location for this year's build is a traditional Australian cul-de-sac: Bronte Court in the Melbourne bayside suburb of Hampton.

It's the opportunity of a lifetime for the childhood sweethearts from Kurri Kurri who married in 2014.

"We first applied for The Block back in 2012. This was our fourth time applying," Kirsty explains.

"Last year we made the shortlist and went through the whole interview process and met with the casting director however didn't make the final cut.

"As it turned out, it wasn't the right time for us last year. Our dog Millie - we had her for 13 years, she was like our child - got really sick unexpectedly and passed away. It would have happened while we were filming and that would have been devastating."

Another bonus was Melbourne's lengthy lockdown-free run earlier this year.

"We were very lucky that we got to film this series the whole way through. The week that we finished is when Melbourne went into lockdown. The timing was just perfect, really."

Yes, Lady Luck was shining their way, but their fun-loving personalities helped get them over the line, too.

Pint-sized Kirsty is a born entertainer. She loves a chat and a good laugh. Jesse is content to sit back and let her do the talking, adding his dry wit to the mix when the occasion arises. They are both down-to-earth, friendly and very "real", and this no doubt ticked boxes for The Block's producers.

When asked if they will be portrayed as the "country bumpkins" on the show, given Kirsty's country music background, the couple laugh.

"We've only seen the first two episodes so it will be interesting to find out," Kirsty replies. "But hell yes, we are hillbillies from way back."

Adds Jesse: "Yep, we are country bumpkins. We didn't change much for the camera. We were just ourselves so I think that's how we'll be portrayed anyway. Country bumpkins. I'm fine with that."

Then there's their renovating experience. Kirsty and Jesse were 18 when they bought their first house together at Weston.

"We've been together since we were 16 - we actually went to primary school together as well - so we've pretty much known each other our whole lives," Kirsty says.

"We both come from very humble beginnings. I was the very first person in my family to buy a house. It was always a goal of ours."

READ MORE: Kirsty Lee Akers is in control on her new album

Jesse started an apprenticeship as a fitter and machinist at the age of 16.

"Neither of us were lucky enough to have any rich aunties or anything like that. Kirsty has been doing paid band gigs since she was 14. I was an apprentice and still living at home with Mum so I'd save half my pay."

The couple renovated the "old shack" in Weston over three years, making a $60,000 profit when they sold it. They have since bought, renovated and sold a further five (or "flipped" them, as the lingo goes), and bought and sold a cafe at Kurri Kurri, all while juggling a three-year stint in Nashville where Kirsty wrote and recorded her fourth album Burn Baby Burn.

Jesse and Kirsty bought their house at Wangi Wangi six years ago, planning to flip it "really quickly". But they fell in love with the lakeside suburb and never left.

"We decided to fully renovate it to how we want it to be, and then COVID hit. Our house is literally in the middle of being pulled apart right now. We can live in it, though. We made sure we had our bedroom fully done so we could escape from all the mess," Kirsty says.

The talented singer and songwriter recorded her first EP at 16, funding it with money made busking on the streets of Tamworth. She studied at the CMAA Academy of Country Music and won Telstra Road To Discovery (2006), Toyota Star Maker (2007) and a Golden Guitar (2008).

The nominations and awards kept coming, year after year. In January Kirsty won a Golden Guitar for "vocal collaboration of the year" with Aleyce Simmonds, Amber Lawrence and Dianna Corcoran for their rendition of John Williamson's True Blue, dedicated to Australia's frontline medical workers.

READ MORE: Akers and friends' cover is pure True Blue class

"It was starting to look hopeful for the music industry over summer but it seems like we've gone back to how it was," she says. "Maybe we should hold a music festival at a football game [laughs]."

Competing on The Block means Jesse and Kirsty have effectively moved from one construction site to another and back again, but that's where the similarities end.

"We usually renovate by getting things off the side of the road or Gumtree for free. This time we had a budget to work with," Jesse says. "I did the building, cleaning and demolition work but there was a lot of pressure on Kirsty when it came to the design side of things and I'm really proud of how she handled it."

In a Block series first, there were no house plans for the contestants to work from. They had to not only renovate the mammoth project, but also design the layout and inclusions themselves from scratch. Kirsty, whose styling preference is a "Hamptons coastal vibe", was the one running from one bathroom, tile and furniture store to the next.

"I think Jesse left the building site maybe three times in the whole three months, he was just go go go the whole time, poor fella," she says.

Adjusting to the ever-present cameras on set wasn't a problem. They were too busy to be nervous.

"When we watched the show from home we'd always say 'It can't be that hard, they've got all these tradies there to help' but it's so much harder than it looks," Kirsty says. "You're running on minimal sleep every single day for three months' straight. You can choose to sleep as much as you want to but then you're not going to get the work done."

Jesse and Kirsty were up and working before the camera crew or tradies arrived of a morning and were still working long after they left at the end of the day.

"Nothing like this has ever happened to us before so we wanted to make the most of every minute of every day," Jesse says.

"We probably averaged about three hours of sleep a night. Every Friday night we'd get about an hour and every Saturday night we wouldn't sleep at all. It was crazy."

The life-changing potential of being on the show was not lost on either of them. This year's winner takes home $100,000 plus whatever profits their home makes on auction day.

"We really did make the most of every minute because we just knew, at the back of our minds, that there were so many people who would want to be in our shoes. So we just gave it our all, all we had," Jesse says.

Adds Kirsty: "There's the money factor, of course, but the show will also introduce a whole new audience to my music. You can't pay for that kind of exposure."

No matter the outcome, Jesse and Kirsty reckon they're already winners due to the friendships they have made on The Block.

"We all worked together really well and we became really close to Mitch and Mark, and Ronnie and Georgia," Kirsty says.

"They always gave us advice, even though it was a competition.

"Our favourite part of the show, what we will take away with us, is the people we met and the friendships we made. Hopefully they will last a lifetime."

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