Master Ensuite Week is finally coming to an end, much to the relief of our tired Blockheads.
Dylan and Jenny are so tired that they sleep through the pre-start meeting – a morning site meeting where Foremen Keith gives everyone a rundown on the day ahead.
And Keith expects at least one person from each team to be present at that meeting.
“We literally slept through two alarms,” Jenny explains. But an unimpressed Keith says that’s “no excuse”.
It’s not the first time it’s happened. “We warned you that if it happened again there’d be consequences and unfortunately we have to stop you from working,” Keith says.
Dylan and Jenny – who have already suffered one shutdown this week – don’t take the news too well, especially Jenny who storms off.
Keith teaches Dylan and Jenny a lesson and shuts them down for an hour. But with less than a day until ‘tools down’, every minute is valuable, so this could definitely hurt their chances of finishing.
A team that Keith does have a bit of sympathy for is Omar and Oz.
The boys have had to rip all their floor tiles off after noticing they hadn’t set because the glue was mixed incorrectly – a huge mistake on their tiler’s end, who has understandably been given the boot by Omar and Oz.
“Tiles were cracked, tiles were moved, as soon as I picked up a tile it was still wet but it was done two days ago. Something was unusual, something wasn’t right,” Oz explains to the cameras.
“This is the worst case scenario for Omar and Oz on a Saturday morning,” Foreman Dan puts it bluntly.
But it’s not just a case of gluing new tiles down in time. Keith and Dan aren’t sure the waterproof membrane is intact, and the old glue needs to be cleaned off otherwise the new tiles won’t stick either.
“What we need to do is rip up all the existing glue and inspect the membrane, and then if it’s OK we can carry on,” Foreman Keith says.
“If it isn’t OK, they’ll have to start the whole waterproofing process again.”
If the waterproofing has to be redone on a Saturday, it’ll be a first for The Block and Omar and Oz might not be able to deliver a finished room.
Keith says “it’s a disaster” and the problem is so big it’s referred to Nine in Six, the company that oversees the entire Block build, and they say they’ve “never seen this happen before.”
“I think you need to forget about winning a room this week and look more towards doing it properly, because we’ve got to sell this house,” they tell Omar and Oz.
Keith and Dan “feel for” the besties because they had nothing to do with the stuff up, so they get on their hands and knees and help them scrub the glue off the floor.
Luckily it comes off like water and the membrane is unaffected so Omar and Oz are free to lay new tiles down – the only issue is getting it done in time.
Houses 1, 2 and 3 are ready for Room Reveals, while Omar and Oz basically have to redo their bathroom, and Dylan and Jenny are racing the clock too after multiple shutdowns.
Thankfully every team manages to present a room to the judges.
The contestants head off to The Block headquarters to hear the judges’ feedback – and some teams are on much less sleep than others after working straight through the night.
“Wow, I love this,” Neale Whitaker says upon entering Tom and Sarah-Jane’s master ensuite.
“I’m looking at this tile, oh my goodness me what a beautiful choice,” he adds.
Darren Palmer agrees the glossy green wall tiles and the matte patterned floor tiles work together perfectly.
“It’s a beautiful contemporary bathroom but it’s just got this timeless quality,” Neale says. He also says the ensuite’s colour palette is “perfect”.
And while Shaynna Blaze is also a huge fan of the room, she finds a few functionality issues.
The ensuite doesn’t have face-level storage, but Tom and Sarah-Jane don’t care and are sticking to their guns because they “do not like” shaving cabinets.
Shaynna isn’t convinced there’s enough storage for a master ensuite.
Despite a few small pickups from the judges, Neale gets the feeling “this couple knows what they’re doing”.
The couple are confident they have “a winning room” but the judges aren’t so sure.
Neale says the space “feels palatial for an ensuite” but that’s where the good news stops for him.
He labels Rachel and Ryan’s ensuite “bland” and says it feels “a bit downbeat”.
But Darren wholeheartedly disagrees and says he really likes “seven eighths of the room”.
Neale only likes three eighths of the room and says it “has no charm and no personality”.
Shaynna is on the fence but says she would still love to see more country from the couple – something Rachel and Ryan have heard every week on The Block.
Neale didn’t find personality in Rachel and Ryan’s ensuite, but he certainly does in Ankur and Sharon’s.
“It’s magnificent,” Neale says. “This defines luxury in a bathroom.”
Ankur and Sharon’s ensuite is packed with statement features – ornate wall and floor tiles, wallpaper, a spa, a fireplace and a green cabinet.
Darren says “it’s a lot but it’s beautiful”.
If the judges had any advice for House 3, it would be to learn to “pare things back a bit”.
The judges are “in love” with the double-sided fireplace that also features in the master bedroom. Shaynna walks around to see it from the other room and notices an awkward issue.
“Not good no, you can see someone on the toilet,” she notes.
Scott Cam warns Ankur and Sharon to be “very careful” of the placement of their bed in their master so that you can’t “look through the fireplace and see someone on the s—er”.
The judges are blown away by the sheer size of Dylan and Jenny’s “massive” bathroom.
They’re even more lost for words once they see their “party space” shower.
Neale thinks there’s an “understated elegance to the room”.
It’s “homely and warm” and the judges are a big fan of the choice of the mushroom tile on the walls.
While the judges have mostly good things to say about Dylan and Jenny’s ensuite, they’re not impressed with the execution of the room, especially for two tradies.
“The fact that they’re both chippies, that VJ panelling trim bothers me,” Darren says.
All the judges wonder why two tradies delivered a room with no corking and missing grout, suspecting that they ran out of time.
Omar and Oz, who managed to complete their room despite the huge tile setback, have the smallest master ensuite of all the teams.
And while the judges notice the room has “very different proportions”, size doesn’t matter in this instance.
Darren commends the boys on their “revolutionary” layout.
“The way they’ve allocated a quarter of this room to the shower and a third to the bathtub just shows you there’s scale and opportunity for grandeur,” he says.
To say that the judges were blown away by the boys’ walk through shower would be an understatement.
“It’s very cool and such a clever use of space. This is ingenious,” Neale says.
Of course, there are a few criticisms of Omar and Oz’s room. Shaynna points out a need for face-level lighting and a towel hook on the door.
Back at HQ, Scotty totals up the judges’ scores and reveals the week’s winners.
Tom and Sarah-Jane: 26
Rachel and Ryan: 23.5
Ankur and Sharon: 27
Dylan and Jenny: 23.5
Omar and Oz: 27.5
Omar and Oz beat all the odds to take out a second win, $10,000 and a mature tree for their property.
It’s a remarkable effort considering just hours ago they were told they probably wouldn’t deliver a finished room.
“Yeah baby, bathroom kings baby,” Omar and Oz celebrate their win.
And while there’s no arguing that the boys are leading the pack when it comes to bathrooms, will they be able to pull off another win come Master Bedroom and Walk-in Robe Week?
This article was originally published by Nine.com.au. Reproduced with permission.