Shelley Craft: A Block fave returns

Shelley Craft may have spent the last 12 years living in Byron Bay – with her cameraman-real estate agent husband Christian Sergiacomi and the couple’s two daughters, Milla, 10, and Eadie, 9 – but don’t go making assumptions. 

“I’m not your typical Byron yogalates, lighthouse-walking, green juice-drinking person,” she says jokingly, with mock affront. “I would say I’m a typical mum, most of the time.”

There are some Byron cliches that do stick, however. The Australian television star does spend every morning at the beach, walking the family dog while Sergiacomi and Milla ride the waves, and, when she has the time, partakes in the odd surf lesson herself. 

Generally speaking, though, Craft doesn’t do down-time. In fact, productivity is her meditation, she says with a laugh. 

“I’ve learnt in my 45 years on the planet that I love working, and that is my downtime; it is my hobby,” she says. “I would actually rather be working than what they call ‘doing something for myself’.” 

On top of her television work, Craft holds various brand ambassadorships and is called on to emcee functions and awards ceremonies.   

When she’s not doing the school run, driving Milla and Eadie to dance lessons or yelling advice from the sidelines of the girls’ soccer games (“Having never played a day in my life,” she concedes), Craft is also championing competitors in another arena.

On Channel Nine’s long-running renovating show The Block, Craft is the ever-smiley and encouraging “Aunty Shell”, as she dubs herself with an accentuated Aussie twang, providing advice and support to the teams trying desperately to deliver a completed makeover for judging each week. 

Ramping up for its 17th season, the latest series is a “Fans v Faves” construct, and Craft is excited to be back working with former contestants, who bring both their expertise and familiarity to the set. 

“Once you’ve been on the show, you are an integral part of The Block family forevermore, whether you like it or not!” Craft says. 

This year, the show has purchased the better part of a “classic Aussie” cul-de-sac in the Melbourne suburb of Hampton.

“When they told me we were doing a cul-de-sac in Melbourne, I thought we’d bought Ramsay Street,” Craft laughs. “Turns out, no, not quite, but hopefully most people watching have had the neighbourly experience of living in one.”

Unlike past seasons, contestants have been given free rein on floor-plan design. 

“Not only are they renovators this time, they’re architects as well,” Craft explains. “Even if they didn’t listen to me, I guarantee I told them a thousand times what I thought they should be doing.”

Craft is well placed to dole out advice. On top of being a Block veteran, she and her husband have bought and renovated, to varying degrees, 10 houses in the past 14 years, including a whirlwind gutting and rebuilding of a holiday cottage in Byron, which they completed in a similar time frame to a Block season. “I thought, ‘I’ve got to put my money where my mouth is!’”

The couple’s latest project is what Craft calls their “forever-for-now home” on the site of an old whaling station at Belongil Beach, not far from the stretch of sand where she married Sergiacomi in 2009.

It was completed in December last year, and Craft says she had a clear vision from the outset, wanting to marry the property’s industrial roots and beach location.

“It was a real project of love,” she says. “We sat on the plans for a couple of years. We tinkered with it back and forward, until we came up with [an] overall design which we loved.”

The end result is impressive, featuring huge blocks of sandstone underfoot, exposed brick, weathered recycled timbers and soaring, raked ceilings. 

Craft says both she and Sergiacomi grew up in families who bought, sold, renovated and developed property, so the many projects they have tackled together have never felt daunting. In fact, Craft says, it’s a passion the couple share. 

That passion developed early for Craft, who bought her first house off the plan at the age of 22, after working in television for four years. Visiting the building site daily, and singlehandedly choosing the house’s fittings and fixtures, gave her a buzz – one that’s propelled her ever since. 

Sergiacomi, too, brings his own expertise as head of Byron’s Pacifico Property real estate agency, which he co-owns with Brad Cranfield, another ex “Blockhead” and branch of the ever-growing Block family tree. 

Not to be outdone, Craft studied for her real estate agent’s licence last year.  

“I’m a television host by trade but it seems that’s not really enough anymore … I was starting to realise that throughout television you’re either a chef who’s now a television host or an Olympian who’s now a television host or a sporting star who’s now a television host, and I was just a TV host.

“I feel like I have a lot of real-estate knowledge but now I’m putting it into practice as well, and it’s great to have a bit more of that learning to bring to the show.” 

Despite all this, Craft says she hopes she doesn’t have to rely on the property market for income any time soon. “It’s much easier to stand up in front of 10,000 or a million people and talk than it is to sell a house,” she says. 

Plus, TV is her first love. 

“I’ve done kids’ shows, cartoon shows, game shows, travel shows, entertainment shows, live shows. I’ve worked pretty much every genre of TV there is and loved every single one of them. 

“TV is very much my home, I’ve been doing it since I was 18, so I don’t really know anything else other than this, and it’s served me pretty well so far.”

The lifestyle this work affords her is a true gift, Craft adds. While The Block’s intensive filming schedule steals three months a year, with many nights away, when she is home, Craft can be fully present to the needs of her daughters and the joys of life in Byron Bay.

“It was a lifestyle decision coming here. We [are] really well established in Byron now, as members of the community and the school, and businesses here. 

“The people moving to town, I believe, are coming for the same reasons we did – to find that better life balance, to enjoy their ‘down time’ more, to have more time with their kids.”

Speaking of which, Shelley Craft has to wind up our call – it’s school holidays and the girls are keen for a trip to the beach. 

“I know how lucky I am,” she says, signing off.

“Fans v Faves” airs on August 8 at 7pm on Nine and 9Now.