https://www.newidea.com.au/the-block/2026-lisa-rosco-baby/

Just announced, it seems that the baby arrived on Friday and has already made the trip to Melbs for the auction this weekend. Congratulations to these guys, what an incredible few weeks they’ll be having!

I just went to the inspection today at 5pm and the REA told me the rough order (can’t remember exactly what he said for second and fourth)
Spoiler alert below for those who don’t want to know!

Adam and Jolene - 1st
Can’t remember probably Courtney and Sev- 2nd
Lisa and Roscoe - 3rd
Can’t remember probably Chantele & Wyatt - 4th
Rick and Tayla - 5th

If they want to make bigger and bigger houses aimed at luxury buyers, they need to up the budget (by a lot). And then the brief was Kim Kardashian, her main bathroom costs easily 100k 🤣

Let's be honest here. If you have budget for a 4.5 million house, you also want designer furniture and unique pieces, not your average freedom furniture, so I don't see the owners keeping pretty much anything besides the kitchens and bathrooms.

And not to talk about the weird layout and skinny plots of land with zero privacy.

I think it’s easy to forget that the contestants on The Block are real people, not just characters there for our entertainment.
They sign up believing they’re entering a competition: an opportunity to create the best house they can, work incredibly hard and hopefully make some money that will change their lives. They put themselves out there, make sacrifices and, like all of us watching, get swept up in the excitement of what might be possible.
But behind the room reveals, the drama and the editing are families. There are little children who are excited by the possibility of a brighter future. There are two single mums on this show who have made sacrifices and taken a chance in the hope of creating something better for their families.
Yet so much of what we see is people tearing contestants apart. And apparently a “vanilla house” is now an insult. As an investor, I don’t see a vanilla house. I see a timeless, neutral home that can appeal to different people, adapt to changing tastes and won’t date the moment the next trend comes along.
We’re all entitled to our opinions, and believe me, I have some strong opinions of my own. But having an opinion doesn’t mean we have to lose sight of the people on the receiving end of it.
Every contestant has worked hard. Every contestant has a story. And every contestant walked into this with hopes for their future.
So why can’t we cheer them all on? Why can’t we hope that, when those auction hammers fall, every family walks away with something to celebrate? ❤️

Just finished One Euro House with Shaynna and Darren, and it highlights just how far The Block has fallen.

No forced sponsor integrations every five minutes, no artificial team feuds, just interesting, educational restoration work in an incredible setting. I actually paid attention to the TV for once instead of scrolling on my phone like I have for the last four seasons of Nine's main show.

Take note, Channel Nine—you’ve lost your way with the current format. Rant over.

While I assume Block producers assigned the various Trades to each House this year because of the site time restrictions, What I don’t understand is how they assured the game remained Fair?

If producers hired Trades, would they not have negotiated the Rates paid with them all beforehand?
Apparently not, as we still saw certain contestants paying more for some things Eg. Both Houses 3 & 5 got stung with hefty $20k plastering Invoices for relatively small areas, which Dan had to point out & handle, due to Tayla & Lisa knowing little of reasonable rates, understandably.

We all saw the Cursios (often 3 or 4 of the brothers) working day & night for House 2 & not just as Tilers. Yet We also saw Rick struggle on alone for much of this Season & barely finish a room - all be it often at his own choice. I can’t even recall what House 5’s Chippy looked like, he wasn’t there very often & there certainly was not a team of Trades pitching in for every space, every day/week in all houses were there?

It just seemed quite unbalanced across the 5 Houses. Which made me wonder how it worked this year, given the hiring changes?

Clearly having the Cursios on board was an advantage, with the quality of their work well known. Apart from their professionalism & experience, It was their versatility & ability to call in more hands quickly, that really set them apart. Oh & let’s Not forget that handy little truck of theirs either, which afforded Wyatt an advantage on several occasions.

Surely you’d expect to pay more for them & deservedly so, yet How could that work if the Labour Contract is with the Producers?
It does put a different light on the Cursios pitching in to get the girls over the line too though.

Does anyone else think more transparency is needed so the contest appears fair ?

My apologies for the late posting, consider this as a post-show thread, see you all for Auctions.

Over the years the Cursio brothers have been a delight to watch in action. I like them and their work, however they are not contestants, full stop.

Wilson is a popular "come to the rescue" plasterer, Damian is an oft used wallpaperer, and then there's Fabian the fussy tiler. But none of them seem to have been elevated to being co-contestants for the houses they've worked for.

What about they convert an empty office tower into affordable apartments for a future season? It brings it back to a more OG style program, is socially conscious, more in touch with what most people actually need, etc. Just a thought!

After Jolene threw out Wyatt’s protein powder there was further discussion from this topic. Do we know what ended up happening?

I’m tired of Jolene going off about how the girls are copying cause they got the mirror then they go the fireplace as well as the wine cellar but Chantel pointed out copying from her rooms and no one bats an eye

How is it fair one house will get the plungie pool and all its contents and the cash in excess of the reserve yet the other s will get less cash or potentially nothing

I'm just looking at the Domain listing's and the so called "kids bedrooms" all have sliding doors to the garden/deck. Nobody is putting young kids in a bedroom with a door to outside if they can help it. I know locks exist, but kids are wiley. I wouldn't have designed the room to specifically be a "kids bedroom" either.

It seems so strange when that would have been a great backyard space instead of enormous driveway!

Look at the state of this brickwork. Not the girls fault but I’d say it would show a lot about the build qualities

Given the state of the economy right now and the fact that Mt Eliza is another popular holiday destination (55 minutes from the CBD), what do we think will happen?

Hearing Troy tell the girls he got extra invoices in from suppliers last week that he’s passing onto the girls makes me think and wonder how accurate are these comm bank prizes on a Sunday night throughout the season?

I honestly think Chantel and Wyatt have been treated unfairly throughout this season. Not winning a single room, despite consistently completing their rooms every week and producing some genuinely beautiful work, is hard to understand. Their designs were based on the original direction Palmer gave them, only for that direction to change later. How is it fair to judge them against expectations that shifted along the way?

I’m not saying they should have won every week, but not winning anything at all makes me question whether the judging has been consistent and unbiased. Their rooms have been beautifully executed, and I think they deserved far more recognition for their effort and the quality of their work.

And as for Blaza’s review of Week 12, covering the house and garden, I thought it was unnecessarily harsh. There’s a difference between offering constructive criticism and simply tearing someone’s work apart. These contestants have put an enormous amount of time, effort and emotion into creating these homes, and I think that deserves a fair and balanced assessment.

I’m genuinely disappointed for Chantel and Wyatt. They deserved to have their hard work acknowledged, even if the judges didn’t consider their rooms the best. Not winning once is one thing, but feeling as though you were never given a fair chance is another.

not sure if i missed something but I saw in the in that interview where jolene was having a go at adam that their walls weren't painted and it was the second last day of the season and isn't that cheating considering that part of the house was suppose to be painted before the stairs were installed?

Let’s be honest, the girls won most rooms because they spent well over the budgets of other houses each week, starting from week 1. Finally they were grounded this week with a tighter budget and it showed in their delivery.

The Block needs rules that makes contestants spend similar amounts each week to make it a fair competition. Otherwise spend big from day one and win as much money as you keen and repeat.

I’ve got one more thing to say - “meh”.