After the heartbreaking loss of their newborn daughter Billie in December 2024, it would have been understandable if Foreman Dan didn’t feel up to being on The Block in 2025.
In positive news, it’s been confirmed he’s back for the 21st season, alongside judges Darren Palmer, Shaynna Blaze and Marty Fox.
His wife Dani, along with their two beloved dogs, Hazel and Olive, have also joined Dan in Daylesford, where the series is being filmed.
“Always a special moment seeing her step onto a new site, but this one hits different,” Dan shared in March 2025. “We’re pumped for what’s to come — bring on the chaos, creativity, and a massive season ahead!”
Dan and Dani Reilly (maiden name Wales) from The Block were first introduced back in 2012 as contestants. Who would have thought that 12 years later Dan would have been stepping into the role of head foreman on The Block 2024. He took over from Foreman Keith Schleiger, who stepped away from filming to remain close to his two daughters.
While Keith was missed, fans of Foreman Dan have been stoked to see him on our screens more. It’s not his first rodeo though, having been associated with The Block since its early days. As a young couple, Dan and Dani first appeared on the show way back in season five, and we’ve loved seeing his building credentials and confidence increase ever since.
Here, we catch you up on everything that’s gone on with OG The Block team Dan and Dani since the beginning to now.
Meeting Dan and Dani on The Block 2012
Young couple Dan Reilly and Dani Wales stole the nation’s heart when they first hit The Block as a team on season five in 2012. “It’s the toughest challenge we’ll ever do… but it is rewarding,” Dan shared about his Block experience.
The pair came second and the home they worked on sold for $1.44 million, earning them $448,000 in profit. “The day that changed our lives forever…” Dani wrote on Instagram with a photo of them on the auction day.
Returning to The Block: All Stars in 2013
Fan favourites Dan and Dani were back the following year to compete as All Stars in season six. There were dramas galore, with the pair becoming fast friends with fellow The Block faves Josh and Jenna (who are now renovating their Rutherglen homestead) and the four of them trying to keep Amity and Phil off the top spot. It didn’t work and Amity and Phil ended up winning, but they’ve since sadly split – news of their divorce came out in 2018. In the end, Dan and Dani walked away in third position that season and a not-too-shabby $220,000 in winnings.
The Block Dan and Dani: After the show
The success continued even after The Block team Dan and Dani finished their two seasons on the show. Dan upgraded his carpentry qualifications to become a certified master builder and they launched an interior design and construction company called Manna Made.
The pair worked on some incredible homes of their own too. Their cottage in Seddon, Victoria, sold in 2016 for $1.3 million. More recently, they built on the Mornington Peninsula. That Blairgowrie home sold for near asking price, with a guide of $3-$3.3 million. “We’re really happy with the final result and are already on the hunt for our next dream project,” Dani told Homes To Love.
Meanwhile, Dani was a co-host on Healthy Homes on Network Ten along with Walt Collins. In 2023, after 10 years hosting, Dani shared on Instagram that the show was coming to an end.
Foreboy Dan joins The Block in 2014
Graduating from contestant to cast member, Dan Reilly joined The Block in the role of ‘Foreboy Dan’ in 2014. He joined foreman Keith Schleiger who began on the series in 2011. Their jobs are to ensure building regulations are adhered to.
Dan may have clashed with Keith when he was a contestant, but being on the other side made him see things in a whole new way. “It wasn’t until I started doing this job that I realised how hard his role is,” Dan shared of their past beef. “It is not a fun thing coming into a near-complete room and telling someone that it has been done wrong and they’ve got to rip it up and redo it.”
By 2016, he’d been promoted from Foreboy to ‘Foredan’ and was nominated for Best New Talent at the Logies. Dani has been his biggest cheerleader. “It’s still funny seeing him on the show. I never in a million years thought anything like that would end up happening,” she shared. “Way back when we did the show, Dan was really funny and really engaging, but not so great when it was ‘Solo Dan to camera’ stuff. But watching him develop has been really cool. I tell him every series, ‘I’m so proud of how far you have come.’”
Are Dani and Dan still together?
They might not be a duo on The Block anymore, but Dan and Dani are still together. They got married in 2018 after eight years of dating. Guests at the nuptials included foreman Keith and their mates Josh and Jenna.
Dan and Dani The Block 2024
We loved seeing Dan step up his foreman duties in Keith’s absence on The Block 2024. It looked like Dani wasn’t far from his side during filming. Early in the season she posted a snap showing the pair of them walking next to the sign for Phillip Island’s Island Cove Villas, where the season was filmed and Dan posted a wrap up of his first season flying solo on his own Instagram feed. Joining the line-up of guest appearances including The Block stars Alisa and Lysandra and The Block 2023 winners Steph and Gian, the pair also shared their thoughts on the backyard and front garden and facade reveals on The Block website, with Dan confessing he was quite proud of the results achieved by the teams – a view not always shared by Dani!
Do Dan and Dani have a baby?
In very happy news, the couple announced in July 2024 that they’re having a baby. “So, who’s going to tell them the pram isn’t theirs?! Baby Reilly incoming late 2024,” they shared, with a photo of Dani’s pregnant bump and their pups, Hazel and Olive.
Dan and Dani’s baby girl, Billie Vera Reilly, was born on December 8, 2024, and very sadly passed away 10 days later on December 18, 2024. All of The Block community and fans mourned with them as they made the heartbreaking announcement.
“It is with insurmountable grief that we share the news that our daughter Billie has passed on from this life and into the next at just 10 days young,” they said. “Billie was so wanted, so loved and she made us parents… and what an honour it is to be her mummy and daddy. She will always be our daughter.”
The couple also shared a link to donate to The Royal Women’s Hospital if people were interested in supporting the nurses, doctors and staff in the NICU who had cared for their daughter, Billie.
This article originally appeared on Home Beautiful and is republished here with permission.
