The Block 2018 terrace reveal: Jess and Norm's double delight as Courtney and Hans slide to the bottom

Last room reveal (yes, I know we’re finally there. I hear your relief and double it – this recapping caper isn’t as easy as I make it look, let me tell you) and it’s a double judgment day for our Block contestants. Not only will one couple take away another $10,000 (this time as a cash prize, rather than into the apartment) but one will also be revealed as the winner of the Domain magazine cover prize.

As the contestants are all too aware, the past three Domain covers for The Block — Shay and Dean, Karlie and Will, Elyse and Josh — have gone on to win on auction day. No pressure on us at all, clearly.

The pressure of trying to take a win out this week has apparently led to Kerrie and Spence’s first argument in eight years together (I don’t believe it) when Kerrie disagrees with Spence painting the roof of the terrace.

It’s all over quicker than you can say “winery” and then we move on to the actual business. Managing editor Alice Stolz is a tough judge but after hearing the best of the terrace pitches, she awards top points, and therefore the cover to Jess and Norm.

Our teams are clearly feeling a bit of cabin fever mixed with a bit of relief that the end is in sight. We have dancing contestants, singing contestants and stripping tradies.

Related: View the five Gatwick apartments for sale

• Kerrie and Spence: 1/34 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda
• Hans and Courtney: 2/34 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda
• Sara and Hayden: 3/34 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda
• Norm and Jess: 4/34 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda
• Bianca and Carla: 5/34 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Ding dong, Avon calli… oh whoops, wrong recap. It’s the judges who rock up to Kerrie and Spence’s and enjoy the casual version of their living room. The heating is appreciated, but despite having what Shaynna Blaze describes as “the biggest kitchen in St Kilda”, Neale Whitaker is surprised by the lack of a barbecue.

Blaze praises the plant choices but Darren Palmer feels it may be a little underbaked when compared to the rest of Kerrie and Spence’s apartment. It turns out Kerrie and Spence just couldn’t afford anything more. #tightarselyf

For Blaze the whole terrace is a bit Jekyll and Hyde, a bit haves and have-nots. “Sometimes you set your bar so high, which is a bad thing because you have to follow it through.”

Up at Hans and Courtney’s “terrace” (sorry, no offence but it’s true: this is a sunroom, straight outta the ’80s) the best that can be said by Palmer is that it’s light, bright and refined.

Blaze, on the other hand, isn’t impressed: “I feel it’s as boring as batshit … I feel like I’ve walked into a tired, white, clinical box.”

Whitaker agrees, deciding that this room is again Hans and Courtney at their worst, not knowing how to use a space. “They’ve plonked a few things in here to make it feel like an outdoor room, but it’s not … it’s an indoor room. This is the one terrace that didn’t need to feel like an outdoor deck.”

Palmer decides he loves it all (sorry Daz, but I’m with them) and gushes about pretty much everything in what Whitaker says, like me, is a sunroom. (Finally, vindication for my cattiness.) Despite trying to get Blaze and Whitaker onside by showing them the cinema screen. Whitaker ain’t impressed. A screening room is a waste of space. Take that, suburban McMansion designers!

Sadly for Courtney and Hans, the pain isn’t over: the judges laugh at their outdoor fridge full of water (budget cuts starting to bite) and Blaze decides the room is just one big missed opportunity.

“This is a brilliant apartment, and I’m so sorry to say this, but I just don’t think they’ve done it justice,” she says.

Over at Sara and Hayden’s it’s a bit better. The judges are completely enamoured with the teppanyaki grill and bench and say it’s the best they’ve seen from Hayden and Sara.

“This is exactly what a terrace in these apartments needs to be,” says Whitaker.

The judges love all the little details, the plants and the automation but all that’s missing is an outdoor couch. Still, Whitaker says it’s an extremely glamourous terrace that’s remembered for all the right reasons.

At Domain cover stars Jess and Norm’s, the happy times continue. Blown away by its sheer size, the judges love the vergola, the barbecue; actually, they love it all.

“Everything out here says luxury,” Whitaker observes. Adds Blaze: “It says everything you want in a terrace.”

They gush over the inclusion of a lawn, which adds an extra area for dancing (on a good day – not today, thanks guys). It even has the three of them looking for their chequebooks, saying it sells the apartment.

At the other end of the top floor at Bianca and Carla’s, it’s a different view and layout but the pièce de résistance is the repurposed original chimney stack, which now has a fireplace in it, visible from the living room.

All at once, Whitaker says, it’s sexy, traditional, modern and glamorous. The barbecue and enormous dining area also keep the judges excited.

Less successful is having the outdoor sofa, well, outside. It’s not undercover and it starts to bucket down with rain as the judges cast their eye over the place.

Eventually, in a battle of the penthouses, it’s Norm and Jess who win the day for the first time, with a perfect score.

Next week: the challenge apartment, which will be given away to the winner of the Monopoly board game competition. For the contestants, it will mean money off their reserves on auction day.

Final scores

1. Norm and Jess: 30

2. Bianca and Carla: 29

3. Hayden and Sara: 28.5

4. Kerrie and Spence: 25

5. Courtney and Hans: 23.5