There’s not enough saltiness in this season of The Block so far, and you can almost feel the producers and editors straining to create it.
At the start of this episode the closest we get is Kylie and Grant whining about the other teams’ rooms.
In Grant’s view he and Courtney shouldn’t have had to share last night’s win with Kristian and Mimi because their room had a few unfinished features. He stalks around pointing out the ceiling painting hadn’t been cut in, the door handles and hinges were different colours and the doorstop wasn’t secured.
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“We got pulled apart when our doorstop was in the wrong spot,” he whines, ignoring the fact their doorstop was a slightly more serious broken toe waiting to happen.
“I’ll give it to people when I feel their rooms deserve it, but I just truly feel this week should have been ours outright.”
In a later interview with producer Grant denies saying Mimi and Kristian’s room “sucked”. Cue tape of him saying: “Well, that’s a f***ing joke. That’s a crock of s*** and I’ll say it in front of the cameras. Even without the painting not being finished that’s a dog ugly room.”
Well that’s much better.
Then it’s on to a challenge involving renovating the club rooms of the local Woolamai Beach Surf Life Saving Club.
Divided into two teams, newbies Charlotte and Maddy are beginning to suspect they’re being cold-shouldered when Mimi and Courtney decide to go shopping alone.
“I definitely feel it’s a close-knit group and part of me feels like we’re not part of that,” Maddy says. “How long do we play catch up before they either let us in or we do our own journey, which I don’t want to do. I want to be a part of it.”
She might be imagining things, but then footage of the other teams talking about Maddy and Charlotte after hours emerges.
Mimi, who exudes a frenetic would-be main character energy and has obviously had one eye on a potential reality TV career since the show began, is caught critiquing the girls’ performances as if she’s one of the producers.
“I feel like they need more depth and drama in their personalities,” she says before noticing she’s being filmed.
“F***! I’m a villain,” she exclaims.
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But compared to previous seasons, none of this is what you’d call explosive, so it’s up to Dan to stir the pot.
He discovers Grant has massively over-ordered on plasterboard, in a breach of the show’s rules. After previously being warned by Dan for pre-ordering furniture, Dan isn’t accepting Grant’s unconvincing excuse that he was using measurements provided by his builder.
Dan knows that Grant knows he doesn’t need 40 sheets of plaster for the kitchen and dining area and he’s having none of it. It’s cheating, as far as Dan’s concerned, plus with limited storage space there’s a chance the plasterboard could get damaged, and he accuses Grant of not only disrespecting him, but disrespecting the Gyprock, and if there’s one thing Block viewers know, it’s that you never disrespect Gyprock.
Grant demands he accompany Dan on a site survey of other contestants who he claims have also over-ordered.
“That’s my job, you worry about you,” Dan hits back. “You look at authority like it’s nothing. I’m actually really pissed off about it.”
But sure enough, when he visits Kristian and Mimi’s site he discovers they’ve also ordered too much Gyprock, so they’re also going to face “consequences”.
MISSED AN EPISODE?
EP 20: ‘Can’t polish a turd’: Block judge lets rip
EP 18/19: ‘Paramount to cheating’: Scott Cam accuses Block team
EP 17: ‘Don’t give a f***’: Block team quits after producer steps in
EP 16: Abusive 1am phone call shocks entire Block
EP 14/15: “Snake… I’m not having you on site’: Block builder fired
EP 13: ‘F***ing walk off’: Block couple’s fight turns toxic
EP 12: ‘Arrogant’: Blockhead goes on a bender, cop huge judge spray
EP 10/11: ‘Rip it up’: Block’s biggest bathroom disaster ever
EP 9: ‘You never listen to me’: Block couple fall apart
EP 8: ‘This has become a joke’: Dan slams popular Block pair
EP 6/7: ‘F***ing wasting time’: Block couple set to quit
EP 5: ‘This has never happened’: Block team caught in fraud scandal
EP 4: ‘Childish, boring’: Block judges come in blazing
EP 3: Block builder already breaking rules incurs foreman’s wrath
EP 2: ‘Who the f**k wants to sleep near their kids?’ — Block couple baffled
EP 1: ‘Not good at anything’: Bathroom fireworks kick off on The Block