After 19 seasons, it’s fair to assume we all have a decent idea of what’s involved on The Block.
But this year’s contestants are here to tell you that in fact, there’s a whole lot of behind-the-scenes action that is guaranteed to surprise you.
In the exclusive video for 9Entertainment, the Blockheads spill about the assumptions they made that were completely blown out of the water.
House 2’s Leah admits immediately that she was taken aback to learn it wasn’t all about renovating.
She shares that she embraced the opportunity to “self–reflect, work out who you are in this world, who you want to be and I guess… the people that you want to surround yourself with.”
Leslie confesses to being completely stunned at how much could get achieved in such a small timeframe.
She explains that their own builder was constantly left surprised at what she and Kyle achieved between the time he left at the end of the week, to when the room was completed on a Sunday, ready for judging.
Steph and Gian in House 4 can’t help but agree, revealing how they managed to embrace their many tradesmen to pull towards a shared goal.
“It gets done… and it’s not as easy as it looks,” says Gian.
Brett shares that he honestly didn’t realise how challenging the workload would be.
“I am the couch critic that sat there and said, ‘Ah we can do that. We can apply,'” he says. “You need to be one million percent committed!”
Kristy concedes you need to be mentally strong, too.
Sisters Eliza and Liberty say they were also blown away by the relentless amount of work they took on, as Liberty elaborates on what a typical evening looked like.
“It’s fully, fully, fully, fully real,” emphasises Eliza. “So hard.”
“People think we actually don’t build the houses in that timeframe, and I’m bloody telling you we do!” Steph laughs.
“Whatever I thought The Block was, times it by ten,” Gian agrees.
“It’s definitely the hardest, most challenging, but also most personally rewarding thing we’ve ever done.”
This article was originally published by Nine.com.au. Reproduced with permission.