The Block co-host Shelley Craft has shared a secret regarding the home renovation show. During its 20 years on the air, the show has grown substantially, and now, the kitchen and living room areas are larger than the entire apartments renovated in season one.
While the contestants are still under immense pressure each season, no sympathy is coming from host Scott Cam.
“The contestants are less resilient than they were 20 years ago, 15 years ago."
“There’s more expectation of it getting easier, but it’s not. It gets harder. And people aren’t ready for how hard it is.”
This year's season will be reminiscent of 2022's season, where production decamped to rural Victoria, and come auction day, teams struggled to attract buyers.
It's expected this season's contestants will see a similar struggle come auction day as they attempt to find buyers willing to pay lots for the houses located in the backstreets of Cowes, Phillip Island.
Scott Cam revealed this was an odd situation, having "no control over the most important episode of the year, every year."
Recent seasons have seen vastly different auction results compared to earlier seasons, with investors Adrian Portelli and Danny Wallis engaging in bidding wars on some properties, while others were ignored.
This leaves some contestants walking away with millions, while others walk away with nothing.
Scott Cam believes this year's contestants aren't ready for both of these outcomes.
“No, they’re not. And they’ve built accordingly – that’s the problem. There were reasons why last year houses didn’t do well: The kitchen was too small, too awkward."
"Or they’re built for themselves and not for sale; that’s a huge difference,” Shelley Craft added.
“In the industry, you’re either building for selling – flipping – or you’re building your family home. They’re two specific ways of renovating."
“And I think some of the contestants get a little bit lost in the fact that there is so much amazing product available to them, they want to put everything in the one house and that’s a little bit overwhelming for a family that just wants to buy a family home.”
Scott Cam calls the trend of building homes for the contestant's tastes "madness. They’re not going to live in it."
Craft continued, “People say, ‘Oh, you must get so many ideas for your own place.' Yeah – we also get lots of ideas of what not to do.”
Season 20 of The Block will premiere at 7:30PM on August 12th on Channel Nine.
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