Questions around The Block’s judging have followed the 2026 season for weeks, with viewers struggling to understand how some scores were reached. Now Shaynna Blaze has explained her own judging process — while revealing that part of what happened behind the scenes never made it to air.
Questions Grow Around The Block Scores
As The Block 2026 approaches its final stages, the judging has become one of the season’s biggest talking points.
Some viewers have questioned whether Shaynna Blaze, Darren Palmer and Marty Fox are primarily judging the design itself, the appeal of a home to potential buyers, or their own response to a particular room.
The debate intensified as fans compared feedback and scores from different weeks, with some questioning why apparently similar strengths or weaknesses appeared to be treated differently.
Now Shaynna has offered a clearer explanation of what goes into her decisions.
Shaynna Says The Judges Do Things Differently
One of Shaynna’s key revelations is that the three judges do not follow exactly the same scoring formula.
“We all have a different way we come up with the score but when our scores come together they tend to sit around a similar score,” Shaynna explained.
For her, assessing a room involves far more than whether she personally likes its appearance.
She considers factors including execution, suitability, buyer profile, layout, balance, whether the contestants followed the brief and the overall emotional response created by the space.
Shaynna also rejected the suggestion that her personal design taste determines her scores.
“It is about the contestant nailing the brief,” she said.
What Viewers Never Saw
But perhaps the most revealing part of Shaynna’s explanation concerns what happened away from the finished television episodes.
According to Shaynna, there were behind-the-scenes factors affecting the judging that did not always make the final edit.
She revealed that judges had to allow some degree of leniency this season because of time constraints.
“There had to be a bit of leniency in some of the judging this year due to time constraints,” Shaynna said, adding that this was not something viewers necessarily saw.
Importantly, she said the same leniency was given to all contestants.
That detail adds fresh context to some of the scoring decisions that have puzzled viewers throughout the season.
Why Watching On TV Can Tell A Different Story
Shaynna also addressed the gap between what judges experience inside a completed room and what audiences see at home.
She said physically standing inside a Block property can create a very different impression from seeing it through a television screen.
“Being in the room is so different from what you see on TV,” she explained.
According to Shaynna, texture has played a particularly important role in this year’s homes, but that quality does not always translate clearly on screen.
That can leave viewers focusing more heavily on obvious visual elements such as room size and shape, while judges are responding to details that may be harder to capture through television.
Would Shaynna Change Any Of Her Scores?
Despite the criticism and debate surrounding this season’s judging, Shaynna says she would not go back and change any of her scores.
Her position remains that the judges experience each space in a way viewers simply cannot replicate from home.
The comments also highlight how much of the judging process involves information and physical details that may never appear in the final broadcast.
For viewers who have spent weeks questioning how certain scores were reached, Shaynna’s explanation offers a rare look at what was happening beyond the room reveal itself.
Darren Palmer Uses A More Defined Scoring System
While Shaynna considers a broad range of factors, Darren Palmer has previously explained a more structured approach.
His score out of 10 is divided across four areas: finish, design, inclusions and marketability, with each category worth 2.5 points.
Marty Fox, meanwhile, has not publicly broken down his judging process in the same level of detail.
That means the three judges may arrive at their final numbers differently — even when their scores eventually end up close together.
The Judging Debate Is Unlikely To Disappear
Shaynna’s comments may explain part of what viewers have been questioning, but they also reveal just how much of The Block judging happens beyond what makes it into an episode.
With auction day approaching, the scores will soon give way to the final test: how buyers respond to the finished homes.
Until then, the judging debate remains one of the defining storylines of The Block 2026.
Source: Now To Love, October 16, 2026.