The Block on Channel 9 – It’s certainly been a tough journey for the Blockheads in recent days.
The wild wet weather put a damper on things for all the contestants, especially Leah and Ash whose ceiling cracked as a result.
The storm wasn’t the only thing to rain on their parade, as they placed joint last in the Room Reveals.
And when it came to Open For Inspections, the couple struggled to see how that happened when they compared their room to some of the other teams’ spaces.
With fire in their bellies from what they deemed to be unfair judging, Leah and Ash set their sights on someone to unleash their anger on.
”Going into judging [and] not coming out of it the way that we wanted to… it was all a big build up. So we had big emotions and we wanted to front up the Nine in Six builders Aidan and Simmo. We just wanted answers,” Leah tells cameras.
And boy, is it a front up.
In the red corner we have Leah and Ash, and in the blue corner we have builders Aidan and Simmo.
Ding ding ding. It’s on!
Leah’s the first to throw a (metaphorical) swing, calling out Aidan and Simmo yelling, “You guys are not keeping things safe, you’re not up to scratch.
“You haven’t put your life on the line here, you haven’t left your family…”
But Aidan isn’t one to take it laying down and is quick on the defense.
“If you just want to sit here and question people’s integrity…” Aidan struggles to finish a sentence before he is cut off.
In all fairness, it’s hard to make out the rest of it with everyone yelling over the top of each other.
By the end of it Leah just wants some confirmation that the same thing won’t happen again this week.
“We are going to do the very best we can to keep your room as dry as possible, but there is still a risk, there’s always a risk,” Aidan lays it straight.
Leah apologises for how heated the argument got but says they’re “emotional”. Despite Leah’s half-hearted ‘sorry’, things are still tense.
But all is fair in love and war and later that evening Ash turns up on Aidan and Simmo’s door step with a peace offering – a 12 year old bottle of scotch.
And it seems to do the trick, and all is well between the builders and House 2 again. We’ll cheers to that!
With all of the drama of last week finally put behind us, we acknowledge the fact that it is the start of a new week on The Block, specifically Guest Bathroom Week.
And Kyle and Leslie are making a big, or rather the smallest decision The Block has ever seen.
They’re deleting their shower and turning the wet area into a boujee powder room.
The move will see the space shrink to 2.1 square metres, making it the smallest room to ever be delivered on The Block.
“The plan is toilet, vanity and bob’s your uncle,” Leslie explains.
But she swears it won’t be that simple, with plans to jazz it all up with curved walls and textured paint, pops of olive green and a high-tech loo worth $3,000.
Kyle and Leslie plan to use the remaining space in Hallway Week as storage. and it’s not a call that everyone is onboard with.
“Does a hallway sell a house or does a bathroom?” Foreman Dan wonders.
On the other end of the scale, Eliza and Liberty are topping up their work load by giving themselves two bathrooms to do this week.
They have a 10.7 square metre bathroom to take on and are also choosing to tackle their powder room.
While they’re not looking forward to the mammoth workload ahead, there’s one feature that’s getting the sisters really excited – a moss wall.
If like Foreman Dan – and just about everyone else – you’re not sure what exactly that means, let us let Eliza explain.
“It’s dead, it was alive, but it looks the same dead as alive, you don’t have to water it, it last 15 plus years, it’s bacteria resistant, dust resistant,” she says with much gusto.
The sisters are well aware that it might not be to everyone’s taste but they’re backing themselves.
“In 19 seasons there’s very little that hasn’t been done before,” Liberty says of their moss wall.
There’s more on left of field design decisions this week. Despite Leah having a wisecrack at Steph and Gian’s beige à la “arrowroot biscuit” colour palette, she’s actually taking a leaf out of their book for this week’s design and going for something more “light and bright”.
It’s something that Leah and Steph don’t get a chance to swap style notes on because Steph and Gian are off to their second Ford Winners Getaway after winning Work From Home Week.
A well-deserved break and another chance to pick Scott Cam’s brain is something the couple are incredibly grateful for.
“He [Scotty] tells you so much stuff that he wouldn’t just tell you in walkarounds, so there’s so much value in winning the rooms,” Gian beams.
The Block is full of surprises, and this is one no one saw coming.
In celebration of the Paris Olympics introducing breakdancing as an Olympic sport, the Blockheads have been tasked with a breakdancing challenge of their own.
It’s not something that all the Blockheads react to with excitement.
After watching the head spinning demonstration, Gian looks like he needs to throw up.
“I was dizzy just looking at it, there’s no way I’m doing that,” he tells cameras.
But the thing is, he is doing it, as are all the Blockheads, so they get to practicing straight away.
Kristy and Brett are not avid dancers and say they’ll need “confidence-boosting beverages” to get them moving.
Eliza is already in the spirit immediately and starts showing off her “slug move”.
While she won’t be winning any awards for her dance moves just yet, Eliza and Liberty do win another award which you can find all about here.
The Block airs Sunday 7.00pm and continues Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm on Nine and 9Now. Catch up on all the latest episodes on 9Now.
This recap has been used with permission from Channel 9
Special thanks to Lulu Wilkinson at Nine.
Link to 9Now HERE
Link to Lulu’s full recap including with extra video content and info HERE
About The Block
Get ready, Australia. The Block, the number one renovation reality program, returns for an incredible 19th season on Sunday, August 6, at 7.00pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
Set in the family-friendly Melbourne suburb of Hampton East, the new series features five houses designed and built in the 1950s and located on the aptly named Charming Street. These grand old dames are now aged in their 70s and way overdue for a contemporary update.
For the first time in Block history, host Scott Cam will be providing contestants with the full renovation schedule ahead of time this season. So get your cameras out, Blockheads, it’s photo time.
Adding to the year of Block firsts and amping up the stakes at play during the 48-hour House Decider Challenge, contestants will be seeing all finished designs of the houses on Day 1. Who will prevail and get the house of their choice?
Not only will they get the schedule and designs up front, but in another first, they’ll receive their entire budgets as well.
However, the Blockheads will soon find out that it’s not all smooth sailing when renovating an original 1950s home – structural issues, extreme weather events, and a mountain of demolition will test our five keen couples every step of the way.
Plus, The Block’s state-versus-state rivalry will be amplified by the sheer closeness of the houses this year. Who knew being able to peak into your neighbours builds would cause such tension?
The couples in contention are: sisters Eliza and Liberty Paschke (personal assistant, 37, and integration producer, 34, VIC); parents Kyle and Leslie Cottone (firefighter, 36, and teaching aide, 34, WA); parents Leah and Ash Milton (first aid officer, 31, and builder, 36, QLD); married couple Kristy and Brett Beames (project manager, 34, and safety officer, 34, SA); and newlyweds Steph and Gian Ottavio (architect, 27, and start up worker, 27, NSW).
Real estate expert Marty Fox isn’t the only new addition to the lineup this season. The formidable foremen Keith Schleiger and Dan Reilly will be joined on site with the fan favourite from last year, Tom Calleja.
The nation fell in love with Tom and his wife Sarah-Jane because of their work ethic and relatable marital bickering, and he jumped at the chance to work with Scotty and come back as this year’s official Block plumber.
The designs of the amazing homes in this series again come from The Block’s resident architect, Julian Brenchley.
At stake is $100,000 for the overall winner of The Block, on top of any profit the five couples can all make on the critical auction day. Plus bragging rights for the winners’ state.
Since premiering on Channel 9 in 2003, Australia’s richest reality program has awarded a total of $32,592,807.65 in prizemoney.
The Block – on Channel 9 and 9Now
Media Release – Nine
TV Central Nine content HERE
