Secrets and lies have been exposed as we reach the half-way point of the competition.

After keeping quiet about their experience as property flippers, Haydn’s wife, Chelsea, discovered an incriminating video showcasing Maddy and Charlotte’s renovation work online.

It was Kylie who tasked Chelsea with doing the background check on the sisters. She had never warmed to the newcomers and now she has all the evidence she needs to have everyone else questioning their integrity as well.

“They’ve lied about who they are and what background they’ve got and the experience they’ve got and who knows what else,” Haydn said.

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Maddy and Charlotte are apparently guilty of lying about who they are.

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The Block newcomers weren’t the only ones who were exposed for shady behaviour this week.

Courtney and Grant’s bookkeeping was also scrutinised after Ricky’s landscaper told him that local tradies were hesitant to work on site because of rumours Block contestants didn’t pay their bills.

Ricky knew just who was to blame for this black mark against his name: Courtney and Grant.

Having been told earlier in the week by glazier Betsy’s Glass that Grant hadn’t coughed up any cash for their work, Ricky suspected that they were tainting all the other teams’ reputations by association.

Eager to get on top of it, Ricky called a body corp meeting.

Ricky is on the warpath after finding out Courtney and Grant’s reluctance to pay bills is making it hard for other contestants to secure tradies.

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Quickly realising that Ricky was going to accuse them of not paying trades, Courtney and Grant got defensive. Their version of events was that they were waiting for the shower screen (which they said wasn’t the correct size) to be fixed before paying. 

“Let’s not make this a big deal,” Courtney said to Ricky. “There is no word on the street. We pay all our builders.”

Courtney took umbrage with the way Ricky had handled the situation, saying: “to be honest, I think he wants to look like the hero. It’s a bit of a snitch move.”

“He’s a dog,” Grant added without looking up from his phone.

Rather than hashing it out at a body corp meeting, the couple raised the white flag and got out of the red with Betsy’s Glass.

But that wasn’t the end of their dramas. Courtney and Grant’s landscaper had also gone to ground. As the deadline loomed for submitting garden plans, a desperate Grant went to the production office to request an extension.

There was just one problem, contestants are not permitted to visit the office as it contains important information about the competition.

A furious foreman Dan told Grant that ignoring the signs warning contestants to keep out was another clear sign he believed he was better than everyone else.

Frustrated and suspicious they were being painted as the villains, Courtney walked out (for three hours for a snooze at the beach).

Courtney storms off site and disappears for three hours.

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“You can’t control how Australia sees you or who you argue with,” she wept. “But it’s really frustrating and that’s what pissed me off. Dan is putting words in Grant’s mouth and you can’t control what people say. And you can’t control the picture that they paint of you. So, I felt suffocated and I was like ‘f*** this, I am going.’ And so, I left.”

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Even with Courtney and Grant MIA, Ricky persevered with his body corp meeting where he informed everyone in attendance about the non-payment rumours.

Nobody seemed worried about his revelations only about the time being wasted talking about it. In fact, most agreed (including Ricky himself) that the matter probably should have been settled with a group text.

Seizing the moment everyone (except Courtney and Grant) was gathered for a vote, Brad got approval to have a private gateway into the communal tennis court for his property.

The body corporate meeting that could have been an email.

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While the sneaky move should have scored him points with Kylie, Brad instead found himself in the doghouse when she discovered he’d been texting jokes about her temper with their tiler.

Her OTT reaction to their comments proved there was very little to laugh about when it comes to her moodiness.

She was so enraged that she wouldn’t let Brad attend the challenge and confiscated his phone like he was a naughty child. After a brief physical tussle, Kylie allowed him to take back his phone but held firm on going solo at the challenge.

“You talk shit about me, you get f***ing cut,” she railed as she shoved a pleading Brad out of the car.

Kylie banishes Brad from the car after catching him texting another tradie about her behaviour.

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At the challenge, the five teams (minus Brad) were told they would have to turn a surfboard into a piece of art to be judged (best to worst) by Darren Palmer. And there was a lot at stake now that the bonus point penguin was back in play.

The team with the best board would get first pick on which space they would later renovate in the communal clubhouse. And the winning space would have $50,000 taken from their reserve price.

Mimi probably wished she’d followed Kylie’s lead and left Kristian at home. Admitting she “hated working in a team,” the couple’s compromised vision for the surfboard found them in last place.

The winners were Courtney and Grant with a striped Mediterranean-themed board.

They chose to renovate the spa, second place getters, Kylie and Brad went for the games room, the girls chose the BBQ zone (but only because their first choices were taken), the boys took the kitchen and that left wooden spooners Mimi and Kristian with the cinema.

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Lucky for them the cinema was their top pick and securing it was a mood changer for aspiring-Disney princess Mimi.

She had been feeling uninspired and so was basically replicating their winning main bathroom only on a smaller scale and with a slightly different shade of feature tiles.

Kylie and Brad were going black and moody (with a splash of pink in the sink and a creepy Tim Burton-esque painting for the wall) while her nemesis, the sisters, went the opposite way with a very safe white bathroom.

Ricky and Haydn, meanwhile, were juggling two bathrooms, trying to right the many wrongs of their ensuite from four weeks earlier, while also getting to work on the latest one.

Hoping to secure their first win, the boys have a potentially polarising colour scheme for their latest ensuite, which would feature a mustard-hued feature wall and custard sink.

For plumber Ricky, securing a bathroom win was a matter of pride but also a necessity.

“We’re desperate for the win,” Ricky admitted. “Not only to get out of the red but to get a day off.”

MISSED AN EPISODE?

EP 25: ‘Not getting paid’: Block billgate emerges

EP 24: Grant, the master snitch

EP 22/23: ‘F..king brothel’: second Block builder quits

EP 21: Grant lets rip on “dog ugly” room

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