“THIS RESULT IS UNACCEPTABLE!” The Block Fans Explode Over Controversial Win
One team had a record-breaking win at last night’s Block auctions, but their behaviour through the season has some viewers upset.
It’s been a blockbuster year on The Block, with each of the five teams making a very tidy profit – and this year’s winning team, Courtney and Sev, walking away with a record-breaking win of $1.87 million.
Even this year’s last-placed contestants, Chantel and Wyatt, earned a profit of $367,000 – a result that would’ve seen them much further up the leaderboard in some previous seasons.
Under new Victorian law, all reserve prices were publicly revealed seven days before auction day, meaning for the first time in the history of the show, viewers – and potential buyers – learned ahead of time that each house has a reserve price of $3.45 million.
And there were some unusual antics at the auctions, with one team logging the longest auction in Block history at more than 40 minutes, while elsewhere, serial Block buyer Danny Wallis’ eccentric antics wore thin.
Block winners’ budget blowouts
Friends Courtney and Sev romped to victory during last night’s finale, securing a record-breaking $1.87m Block win. But it comes after a season that saw the pair plagued by budget blowouts.
Take bathroom week: They spent $53,272.33, more than double their original estimate. They won the week – but copped a viewer backlash, asking whether it was fair to reward them over other teams who’d stuck to their (much smaller) budgets.
“It’s not even a level playing field. You shouldn’t be allowed to go that far over budget just to win the prize,” read one viewer complaint on social media.
Courtney and Sev were given multiple warnings and ‘strikes’ from Block host Scott Cam throughout the season, as he pleaded with them to stay on budget.
The overspending persisted to the end, though – the money ran out when the pair were quoted $45,000 by their landscaper to make over their front yard, but only had $25,000 left in the bank.
Some viewers were salty the girls won on auction day after having such money troubles all season.
Truth about ’12-year-old’ auctioneer
Father daughter duo Rick and Tayla copped some flak from Block host Scott Cam for their choice of auctioneer: “12-year-old” Ryan King, who Cam joked would need to make the auction quick because it was already past his bedtime.
Seconds before the auction started, Cam basically told the team they might’ve blown it, handing the auction to someone so youthful-looking – “does he know what he’s doing?” – but minutes later he was forced to eat his words, as King expertly worked the crowd to deliver Rick and Tayla a massive profit of $905,000.
So how old is this upstart auctioneer? Well, not 12 – but actually not that far off, either. Domain reports that King is just 22 years old, having finished high school in 2021 and immediately thrown himself into a successful career in real estate.
King won fans when he hilariously pushed back at serial Block buyer Danny Wallis as he entered yet another ludicrous bid.
Serial buyer walks out amid viewer backlash
Eccentric businessman Danny Wallis has a long and storied history with The Block, buying 14 houses so far across a near-15-year association with the show. But this year, his zany antics appear to be wearing thin with viewers.
The I.T. entrepeneur, worth an estimated $120 million, dominated several of last night’s auctions with bizarre bids – among them, “50 cents,” and several bids that included a “minus” caveat, as he demanded the auctioneer subtract some arbitrary dollars-and-cents amount off the running total.
Wallis is usually a favourite with Block contestants due to his deep pockets – but “minus” is surely a word no contestant wants to hear in a Block auction.
Wallis’ behaviour was even more unusual during contestants Chantel and Wyatt’s auction, where he once again dominated proceedings – then turned on his heels and walked out midway through, leaving the auction to fizzle. Chantel and Wyatt finished in last place; some viewers wondered if they’d have fared better if Wallis hadn’t hijacked the auction only to bail midway.
“Danny took the air out of the room for the auction, otherwise you guys prob would have done better,” one fan commented on Instagram.
Final Block auction results revealed
This year’s winners: Courtney and Sev, house sold for $4.720 million, a profit of $1.207m – plus $100,000 prize money and ‘Scotty’s prize pool’ worth $500,000, giving them a record-breaking win of $1,870,000.
Second place: Rick and Tayla, sold for $4,355,000 – a profit of $905,000.
Third place: Lisa and Rosco, sold for $4m – a profit of $550,000.
Fourth place: Jolene and Adam, sold for $3,905,000 – a profit of $455,000.
A huge result for the final auction
Finally, Father-daughter duo Rick and Tayla in House 5 front up to auction – and it’s another huge one. Offers quickly soar north of $4 million, with their house eventually selling for $4,355,000.
Not before Danny Wallis re-enters the chat, throwing in head-scratching bids that come with caveats like “…minus 122 dollars and 23 cents.” Danny, do less!
There’s also a bit of grief from Scott Cam about Rick and Tayla’s choice of auctioneer – who is “12 years old,” Cam insists (there he is above and he is at least 16). “He’d better hurry with the auction… it’s past his bedtime,” Cam jokes.
The huge result means the pair finish in second place with a profit of $905,000 – and it also means that (no surprises here) Courtney and Sev have won this season of The Block.
Chantel and Wyatt face the music
Fitness influencers Chantel and Wyatt have taken a few punches this season: They’re the first couple in Block history never to win a room reveal, and earlier this episode, they copped a stray when another contestant revealed on camera they’d had “no interest” in their house.
Thankfully for them, that turns out to be untrue. After some, ahem, unusual bids from Danny Wallis (“50 cents!” is not a bid for a multi-million-dollar house, please be serious sir), a bid from a man Scott Cam has dubbed the “new Lambo guy” secures the auction at $3.817m – delivering them a profit of $367,000.
New baby, new money
Third up is WA couple Lisa and Rosco, who were the only couple to express irritation at their place in the auction order (to be fair, Lisa gave birth a week ago – she has every right to be irritated about…literally anything that involves leaving the house).
After a rapid-fire first two auctions, this is quite the opposite: As these two log the longest auction in Block history, with over 100 bids stretching out over 40 minutes. Mercifully, we’re shown the abridged version – although we do see Scott Cam stop to eat a sandwich as the price crawls up bit by bit. Eventually, their house sells for $4 million, giving them a profit of $550,000 and putting them in (very distant) second place so far.
“Not bad for a s**t ensuite,” Rosco mutters under his breath as they celebrate the windfall. Translation: Up yours, judges.
This is going to be hard to beat
Friends Courtney and Sev are up next – after that last-minute change in auction order – and their auction kicks off rapidly too. In what feels like seconds, they’ve already overtaken Jolene and Adam and cleared half a million dollars.
And up it goes… and up, and up. Eventually, the bids top out at a stagggering $4.72 million, giving these besties a staggering profit of $1,270,000. Not a bad windfall to split between friends!
Scott Cam seems confident that this won’t be beaten, telling the girls that they can “tack on the grand prize”, which this year adds an additional $600k to their winnings. Hold your horses Scotty, there’s three more auctions to go!
After the auction’s called, Cam calls it once more, dubbing their result “impossible to beat”. We’ll see…
The first auction result is massive
Married cattle station managers Adam and Jolene are up to auction first. Serial Block buyer Danny Wallis is in the house, as well as various other very rich-looking property buyer types.
And they’re off – the first bid, from Wallis, clears reserve and gives the couple a profit of $50k.
And up it goes, very rapidly – soon they’ve cleared $350,000 in profit.
Eventually, it sells for $3,955,000 – a profit of $455,000 for the couple. Is it big enough for them to win The Block?
A last-minute auction order change
This is new! On auction day, Chantel and Wyatt’s real estate agent sidles up to Courtney and Sev and asks if they’ll swap from spot 4 to spot 2 on the auction order – the logic being that Chantel and Wyatt’s house doesn’t have much interest, so a flop in spot 2 could spook buyers and hurt everyone who comes after.
Source: news.com.au