The Block room reveal recap: A twist leads to a surprise win while Neale Whitaker has concerns about Omar and Oz's style

By
Lauren Attard
August 22, 2022
It's a massive turnaround for Ankur and Sharon who snatch the win by half a point. "What a comeback," the other teams say.

There’s not long left until Scott Cam’s ‘tools down’ call, and it can’t come soon enough.

That’s because teams are running out of steam from a huge week, with the Blockheads are pushing through to deliver their Guest Bedrooms.

Dylan and Jenny are moseying along and on track to finishing their room, as are Rachel and Ryan.

Omar and Oz are also ahead of the game, so much so that they’re already thinking about the flooring for their modern extension. The boys want polished concrete flooring, which means they will need to work ahead and need approval from all the other teams.

  • The Block 2022 listings are now live, and updated weekly. See them here.

They strategically call a body corporate meeting at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon – the busiest period of the whole week. Everyone has too much to do, so they all vote yes so they can get back to work.

“The other contestants, I don’t think they know what they’ve agreed to,” Omar tells the cameras.

While Omar and Oz have just secured a huge advantage, there’s trouble in paradise for some of the other teams.

Sharon is having some serious doubts ahead of the room reveal. “I actually hate it here,” she tells Ankur. After a harsh critique from the judges last week, the actress isn’t sure she can handle it a second week in a row.

To make matters worse, Ankur and Sharon realise their ceiling rose is too close to their skylight. And they’re not the only ones that notice it.

“It just doesn’t look right. I’d take it out,” Foreman Dan tells the couple. But at this point in the day, it’s too late to fix it.

Foremen Keith and Dan then bring more bad news to another couple – Tom and Sarah-Jane.

“Just one little problem,” Keith says looking around their room. “I’d say major,” Dan interjects.

“Your window isn’t centered to your room, and it stands out,” Keith points out.

Dan adds insult to injury by finding another flaw in Tom and Sarah-Jane’s Guest Bedroom. “Once your shutter goes on, you’re not going to be able to open this wardrobe door,” he says.

Tensions boil over between Tom and Sarah-Jane as they have a major difference of opinion. Tom insists it’s no big deal but Sarah-Jane feels the error could lose them the win.

With so much still hanging in the balance, the teams head off to The Block headquarters to hear the judges’ feedback. But before Scotty gets to the judging he softens the blow by delivering some good news – the winner of Landscape Week in Week 12, will also win a brand new Ford Next Generation Ute.

Tom and Sarah-Jane

SOLD - $4,100,000
191 McGeorge Road, Gisborne VIC 3437
5
3
4
View property

The judges are immediately impressed by the colour palette in Tom and Sarah-Jane’s Guest Bedroom. They feel the mustards and coppers give the room an earthy feel and Shaynna Blaze adores the oak tree wallpaper.

There’s one word on Neale Whitaker’s mind when he walks into the room, “sophistication”.

“I mean it’s early days in the competition I know, but Tom and Sarah-Jane seem to be demonstrating that they can hit that sweet spot between contemporary and heritage,” he says.

Tom and Sarah-Jane were praised for their colour palette. (Nine)

But from that point, the room starts to unravel when the judges realise the window is in the wrong spot. The window position has a flow on effect and Shaynna discovers the wardrobe door doesn’t fully open.

“That’s not good, that’s almost unusable,” she says, trying to pry open the door.

“That’s a fairly major issue of functionality,” Neale adds.

Sarah-Jane “totally agrees” with the judges’ feedback while Tom sticks to his guns and maintains there’s no issue with the window.

Rachel and Ryan

SOLD - $4,249,000
197 McGeorge Road, Gisborne VIC 3437
5
3
4
View property

The Sydney couple make huge efforts this week to take the judges’ comments on board and go more country.

But their efforts still aren’t enough. Neale has “concerns about the furniture choice and thinks it was a little bit too urban and could be more country.”

The judges were divided over the peacock colour feature wall. (Nine)

“It’s a good room but it could’ve been a great room,” he says.

The judges do love Rachel and Ryan’s modern take on VJ panelling but are divided over the peacock green colour of the wall. Shaynna, Neale and Darren all agree on one thing about the wall – the paint job is “messy”.

They remind Rachel and Ryan to “pay respect to the building you’re in,” but Rachel is still struggling to understand “what more would they like”.

Ankur and Sharon

Contact Agent
223 McGeorge Road, Gisborne VIC 3437
5
3
6
View property

“Ankur and Sharon are back in the game,” Neale says walking into the room. The feedback is music to Ankur and Sharon’s ears.

The judges find the room to be “warm and welcoming” and feel the room is the “complete opposite” to their bathroom which fell flat last week.

Ankur and Sharon's warm and welcoming Guest Bedroom impressed the judges. (Nine)

Shaynna loves the heritage fireplace and the country styling and commends Ankur and Sharon for their “eye for detail”.

But once the judges look up they are distracted by a “dog’s breakfast” paint job and feel the ceiling rose is way too close to the skylight, but no surprises there.

Overall the judges feel the room “is very authentic” and want more of this style, “I want to see this tone, this character all the way through the house,” Darren says.

Dylan and Jenny

SOLD - $3,900,000
225 McGeorge Road, Gisborne VIC 3437
5
3
4
View property

“Lush”, “luxury” and “heaven” are the words Shaynna uses to describe Dylan and Jenny’s Guest Bedroom.

She’s glad to see they’ve taken her feedback onboard and quickly labels them the “best students ever”.

Dylan and Jenny took on the judges' feedback in their second room. (Nine)

“I’m in love with this,” Darren says, staring at the subtle gingham wallpaper. While Neale wants the matching gingham bedspread for himself.

Dylan and Jenny are the only team with a walk-in wardrobe and it certainly gives them an edge. “It’s all the things you could ever want,” Shaynna says over the luxurious wardrobe space.

While Shaynna says the room needs a few “styling tweaks” the judges agree the room “is hard to fault”.

Omar and Oz

SOLD - $5,666,666
241 McGeorge Road, Gisborne VIC 3437
5
3
4
View property

The judges have mixed feelings about Omar and Oz’s room. “It’s unexpected,” Darren says.

Darren and Shaynna “love” the dark chocolate herringbone floorboards in the room, but Shaynna worries about their that they will make the room too cold.

Darren thinks the vertical lines add grandeur to the small space but Shaynna disagrees and says all the lines make the room “a bit too busy”.

The judges had mixed feelings about Omar and Oz's guest bedroom. (Nine)

Neale says the cushions or the bed side tables don’t exactly match but somehow fit in the room. “It shouldn’t work but it does,” he adds.

All the judges praise the boys for their “spot on” execution. “You can’t help but be impressed by the professionalism,” Neale says.

At this stage the judges still find Omar and Oz’s style to be “intriguing and interesting” but have concerns the boys don’t know what direction they’re taking their style in.

“There comes that point where experimental and innovative actually starts to become dysfunctional,” Neale warns.

Main Bathroom scores

Usually this is the point where Scotty spins the scores around, but before he does that he has one important question to ask. Will Ankur and Sharon play the Gnome and add an extra point to their total score?

There’s not much between Ankur and Sharon’s and Dylan and Jenny’s scores so Ankur and Sharon decide to play the Gnome.

  1. Tom and Sarah-Jane: 23.5
  2. Rachel and Ryan: 24.5
  3. Ankur and Sharon: 27 (including the bonus point)
  4. Dylan and Jenny: 26.5
  5. Omar and Oz: 23.5

It’s a massive turnaround for Ankur and Sharon who snatch the win by half a point. “What a comeback,” the other teams say.

They win $10,000 and a mature tree to plant in their garden.

Sharon is feeling emotional about the win. “I’m actually quite shocked that we won because I didn’t think that was possible for us,” she says.

While Ankur and Sharon are on cloud nine, Jenny is “pissed off”. “That bloody gnome,” she rants to the cameras.

Even though they narrowly missed out this week, Dylan and Jenny have a chance to claim a win in the future as the teams look to building their master ensuite bathrooms in the coming week.

The latest from The Block
See The Block listings plus recaps, room reveals and renovating advice.
Visit The Block Hub

This article was originally published by Nine.com.au. Reproduced with permission.

Share: