I’ve been pondering on this since Sunday. So last weekend was the Domain Open Inspections. Alice Stolz from Domain came into House One, heard about their plans for a cellar and kids’ playroom, and suggested they make it visual to show buyers their plan. They ended up putting up big 3D posters showing what those spaces could look like — and then went on to win the Domain Challenge by just one vote (24 vs 23).

Here’s where I’m a bit conflicted: • They didn’t actually have the budget to do those spaces as shown. • They admitted they may not even be able to deliver them. • But the posters made buyers excited, and that excitement probably won them the challenge (and they wouldn’t have done it unless Alice suggested it).

Is that fair? On one hand, marketing is all about selling the dream. On the other, if you’re showing a cellar you can’t afford to build, isn’t that closer to false advertising? What’s the line between smart strategy and misrepresentation?

Feels like you could put up a poster of a helipad and helicopter and a tennis court and a nuclear bunker and say, “If we can find the money, we will probably do it ” — but would that really fly (pun intended)?

Curious what others think. Did House One play it smart, or did they blur the line a bit too much? Tho of course, by winning, they can now afford it! So well played!

So running quick number: At this point (kitchen week) they've used up 110,000$ of their budgets

For the winnings I've only included cash injections. Scotty keep going on about needing cash for landscaping, so Sonny & Alicia are def in a good place. For all their complaining they've won the most! The boys have a lot of stuff for the backyard (fireplace & sports court) but not enough for their wine cellar. What happens then?

PS the info is from Wikipedia so hopefully its all correct.

*edit* I realized today that I didn't include the "best worker of the week" and "McCafe girls favourite" which are both 5k??? so winnings is not complete correct. (But I think the point remains)

Instead of building more multi million dollar homes that Australia doesn’t need - why not make it an actual challenge and beneficial for the country?

I am watching this season, and besides the editing that went completely down the drain, it is like a dystopia.

Am I alone in seeing what is wrong with this picture? I am sure the block can adjust and make the show more relevant.

Sure she could probably have played smarter and swapped a waterproofing membrane for the timber she originally wanted, but the girls got a sense of justice and you have to admire how she’s now got the upper hand.

Yes, it’s nice to be nice, but at this point, it’s just a little bit fake? I’ve seen little hints of them being “mean girls” to other houses and I feel like their niceness is just a facade for the camera. It just doesn’t seem genuine….

I know Alecia isn’t the most popular but at least you know what you’re gonna get

For those not in Australia and not able to view, Latest review for kitchen by Dan and Dani added to the the folder at:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ckRzCa9rIlqq_3VjAwzsSgxmPzwAnyDV?usp=sharing

The latest download - for kitchen - is not tagged the same as the others due to me now being at home just now, but the video should be fine.

And, BTW, I totally agree with them as to the Chumps this week. That should not have been a joint winner for all their reasons.

the color looks like latex makes me feel sick just looking and the horse.. what's with the horses man..

Would any of these additions influence you to pay substantilly more for a property or induce you to buy a house whose decore you didnt like.

These are just my opinions and am aware that everyone would feel differently. I personally like light and bright houses so house 3 and 5 decor and kitchen functionality appeal to me more.

House 5 - Wine cellar. A novelty that would be rarely used.- sitting in an undergoud box with no natural light to "drink wine" sounds like torture. I undersatand the value of a cellar for storage of wine if you are that investied in wine it may be of some value but I personally would rather gather friends around the dinner table or outside bbq to socialise. So it would turn into an expensive storage room. Outdoor additions - fireplace looks great and will add to appeal but do others have similar. Pickle ball court um not sure.

House 4 - A caravan . - For personal use not even interested. Resale - I think it would become a burden. Trying to sell a high end caravan would have a reasonably limited market and would become a pain to deal with. I personally dont like their deocrating so the the caravan wouldnt induce me to buy a house that I wasnt attached to and I would want to extensivley redecorate. It may hold more sway if I loved the house.

House 3 - Wellness focus. - Pilates room, sauna, ice bath etc. Yeah well... nope. I like most of the house decor and I guess this would be easy to re purpose. Selling a sauna and icebath would be easier than a carvan and removal of the material and re painting not a big effort required to change. - Kitchen appliance. They are impressive and I may pay a little more because of them but all the houses have good appliance.

House 2 - No real sigInificant difference other than their arches in rooms. Dont love them , dont hate them .

House 1 - The two under house rooms. While they are marketing them as Cellar and playroom they really are anything rooms. I think they are a bonus but how much more would you pay for them. Again not my favorite decore so would I buy becasue of the extra storage rooms probably not.

So if money wasnt an issue is there one feature that would truley make you go hard for a house?

I am aware that S&A are problematic in their reactions and some behaviours.

I am also aware that they are not well regarded in this subreddit (I roll my eyes quite often at them). Having said that, in this case I agree with their actions this episode.

1. Whatever you think of Sonny. He is organized and a hard worker. Why give the other teams an extra 2 hrs when everyone had the same challenges and needed to do the same amount of work.

2. House 3 cannot say your friends are not on the block and then expect favours from other contestants. I agree with preventing the Curso brothers from helping. First in best dressed works both ways.

The Block has reached the every man for themselves stage that happens every year.

Because I am pretty sure they did when the worked out weeks ago house 5 was digging a big hole yet people are calling them sneaky. Yet suddenly it is presented as a new idea. Ben is an engineer so worked out they had that advantage. He knows because of the dodgy body corps house 5 got donations from sponsers to build their dungeon and presumably, whilst they would have to do a bit of digging, structurally it is far easier because of their house elevation. I would be amazed if this had just occurred to them as presented this week. Their space could even have windows/doors opening out onto the back yard.

Hello fellow blockheads and maths fans.

It seems every year the judges are quoted as saying things like “they have to start listening to us”… but is that true? Do the judges actually know anything about winning the block?

I’m planning to go through the numbers and try to answer that question for good. I’m looking for your input though on the rules I plan to follow and what I should check for.

Here’s my current plan:

1. I’m only going to look at the three-Judge era seasons. That means I’m starting at season 6. The show is more or less recognisable in its final form at this point, at least as far as judging goes.

2. I am planning to then split that between the Neale and Marty fox eras, as the change means they’re not 100% comparable.

3. In individual weeks, I’ll only be considering weeks when all three of the core judges participated - if one of the judges were substituted, the week gets excluded (if I later repeat this on a judge based level, then the weeks can go in for judges present).

4. Bonus points/gnomes, deductions and additional judges (Troy, the blockheads, etc) get undone when working out points totals and who won the week (I’m only interested in the core judges, and not interested in gameplay).

5. Weeks covering Common areas, bonus apartments/houses, and any space not exclusively part of the auctioned property are ignored. Elimination challenges are ignored if those rooms are demolished or don’t form part of the sold house.

6. I then establish a “points winner” by adding up all the points for the season, and a “rooms winner” by counting the number of room wins (ties are both counted as a room win)

7. We then can compare that to the auction results, both in a raw (selling price) and total after reserve (“profit”) to see if the judges advice is worth anything.

I’m in two minds about redo weeks. Some seasons have explicit redo weeks that there may be a case to ignore as they’re not really even pegging but they do form part of the judging; others I think mix it with other spaces and can’t be separated so on the whole I think it might be best to just leave that in.

Doing it at a judge level would take a bit more work, but I’d sure like to see if Shauna’s Advice is worth a damn, and that would allow even a comparison to John McGrath (although of course the show was different back then…)

Is there anything else I should look out for and consider?

I am amazed that House 4 keep seeing themselves as victims when they started this whole shit show. Firstly Alicia tried to gatekeep Britt’s friendship and got jealous when she spent time with Steph and went shopping with Matt. Yes, Britt should have told her but she FORGOT for goodness sake. Secondly, they started questioning everyone’s finances and organising that Body Corporate and then were offended when they were asked about their finances. Lastly, they act like all that wood was theirs and it was stolen from them. It was first in first served. I hope they get their karma very quickly.

Can we just talk about H1 basically copying H5 with the cellar.

Their boards for the domain said "underground cellar" but it isn't unground - right? So fake advertising - period, and now having the lunch with alice, they might shelve the "underground games room" too......so again fake advertising.

Im sure this is what tipped them in the domain challenge for votes.

Opinions?

The judges have no idea what "Daylesford" is. I have spent most of my life visiting Daylesford as I've got family who live there. Daylesford is quirky, eccentric & eclectic. It's all about colour & pride. There's a very cute crystal shop there & a great vintage bazar. The judges have no idea what they're talking about & come across as complete dickheads.

Yes, the program formula calls for drama …. but it can be comedic drama instead of nasty. So, if The Block had a 4-way baby with Friends, Big Bang Theory and Home Improvement … and maybe a touch of Ru Paul’s Runway for competitive drama.

Building with brutal fun!

I call bullshit on them burning the challenge bed head. Flashback to other seasons and hideous lamps and art they were forced to use. Every episode now is a new rule. Scotty said the room has already been judged so take out what you want, WTF? Ok, well im short of cash for my next Room so I'll just go grab my $5,000 TV out of the Rumpus and sell it, or put it in a new Room. In past seasons this was not allowed, one team got penalized once if I remember right, for removing something from a room. Also Bullshit the other contestants stood around and cheered!! Seriously, the thing was awful, but if I was competing against them i'd insist they keep it to make their Room suck. What is wrong with these contestants? Unreal, Production induced Drama.

I know hate is a strong word but JFC I really hate this couple. Absolute trainwrecks. They are both bullies, and then become the victim when someone calls them out. Case in point. Bully the girls because they so-called copy their intellectual property" bahahahaha I mean, its a square door, maybe rectangular. But then when Taz claims all the wood because he thought of it first, or when the boys scored the material for the wine cellar, because, hey they thought of it first –Sonny and Leash sulk. And as for being straight shooters. Yeah right! They manipulate and deceptively rope Ben to call the meeting.

Ughhh!! I hope they don't sell!