The Block 2024 Auction: Biggest Shocks and Unexpected Results

We thought it couldn’t be done, but this year’s season of The Block outdid last year’s drama.  

From contestant walkouts to team rivalries and a cheating scandal – there was even a baby – this season had it all.

But once again it was auction day that delivered some of this year’s standout moments. 

Here are six of the biggest shocks from The Block 2024 auctions.

Adrian’s surprise tactics blew everyone away

Adrian Portelli was back on The Block, and made his mark by buying all five houses. 

But it was how he did it that left everyone shell-shocked. 

In a sneaky move not seen before on The Block, Portelli worked with a buyer’s agent – Mark Errichiello from Master Advocates – to help him seal the deals. 

The two were seen at all five auctions, but were seemingly unknown to each other. They looked like two strangers going toe to toe, but Portelli was effectively bidding against himself … again. He did the same thing last year at Eliza and Liberty’s auction.

Portelli placed the winning bids on houses 1, 2, 3 and 4, while Errichiello was the winner of House 5.

When asked why he decided to use the strange tactic, Portelli was frank: “I didn’t want anyone to know my game plan. That was my little spin on things to make sure I got the deal done [on all five houses].

“If I bought all the houses, coming up to the fifth time, everyone knew what I was going to do … I just had to play the game as well.”

Portelli shelled out a cool $15.03 million to secure the five homes on Phillip Island.

Why? 

Because he doesn’t like sharing.

“The problem is, once you buy the first one, you’ve got to keep going,” he said. “I really wanted the amenities, and I don’t like sharing with other people, so I’ll take the whole lot.”

New bidders on The Block

While it ended up being the Portelli show, there were some new bidders on The Block we hadn’t seen before, and they came to play, too.

In Courtney and Grant’s auction, Portelli battled it out with TikToker and owner of Thirsty Monkey acai bar chain, Jacob Najjar. 

Najjar described House 2 as “phenomenal”. 

“I just really wanted to be a part of it,” he said. “We really tried to push for it but we got outbid.”

Real estate enthusiast Tiane Raupita flew in from Singapore just to attend the auctions.

Although she had her heart set on Courtney and Grant’s house, she also placed bids on houses 3, 4 and 5.

“I thought I would have a go, just participate and be amongst it all … it is unfortunate that we did miss out, but congratulations to Adrian,” she said. “He has really swept them all up – doesn’t really leave much room for the rest of us, does it?”

There was another new buyer’s agent in the mix: Stavros Ambatzidis, corporate founder and director at O’Brien Real Estate, who was playing the role of buyer’s advocate for a couple. 

After going back and forth with Errichiello for houses 4 and 5, he bowed out, failing to secure a property for his clients.

“You’ve got to expect the unexpected, and today we did see the unexpected happen,” he said. “My buyer did miss out on buying properties … but congratulations to Adrian.”

Buyer’s agent Frank Valentic and The Block regular Danny Wallis both made bids but went home empty handed.

The house that was auctioned last won The Block

Every year, the auction order is hotly debated between contestants and their agents.

Being first cab off the rank is usually the most sought-after position as it’s seen as the most advantageous. Looking back on the results from the past decade, it certainly appears going under the hammer early has proven profitable.

Over the most recent 13 seasons, five of the winning properties were auctioned first, and four were auctioned second.

But, for only the second time in The Block history, the property that was auctioned last – Maddy and Charlotte’s House 1 – was the winner.

The only other time this has happened was way back in 2003 in the first season of The Block. Adam Thorn and Fiona Mills took home the $100,000 winners’ prize after their Bondi apartment sold for $751,000. 

After plenty of discussion, Maddy and Charlotte opted to go last on auction day. Was there a method to their potential madness?

“There was strategy involved in it, but we were taking a major risk,” Maddy said. “We thought you could win big in five or you could lose big if the momentum of the day had gone down and we’d lost buyers.”

Charlotte said they thought positions one or five were probably the best options for the day.

“One [was probably] the safest option, but we didn’t think we were able to fight for that position, seeing that every other person wanted it,” she said. “So we would have preferred to get our second choice.”

It may not have mattered what position Maddy and Charlotte were in – Adrian Portelli had his heart set on House 1.

Adrian Portelli made (another) knockout bid of $1 million

Similar to Steph and Gian’s auction in 2023, Portelli knew what he wanted and went after it.

Maddy and Charlotte’s auction was the quickest of the day after Portelli raised the bid by a whopping $1 million, bringing the price to $3.5 million. 

The auction was over in less than three minutes and the youngest team to ever compete were crowned The Block 2024 winners, taking home a total of $1.65 million, including the $100,000 winners’ prize.

“It took us a second to be like, ‘No, no, you just won The Block.’ And I think I was a bit of a stunned mullet,” Maddy said after the auction.

Speaking about the results, Poretlli said he felt the girls deserved to win.

“I just saw the girls having a hard time and just getting bullied, and I don’t stand for that shit,” he said. 

Ricky and Haydn go in blind

Unlike every other team, Ricky and Haydn opted not to find out their reserve price ahead of the auction, meaning they didn’t know what figure they needed to hit before they started to make a profit.

“For the first time in 20 years, someone sat on the couch with Scotty and they didn’t know [the reserve price],” Ricky said.

The pair needn’t have worried, though – with an opening bid of $2 million from buyer’s agent Frank Valentic, they were immediately $50,000 up on their reserve of $1.95 million. 

“It didn’t really matter how much money we walked away with today, we already felt like we’d already won The Block,” Ricky said. “So yeah, for us, knowing that reserve didn’t matter.”

They didn’t win The Block. With Adrian Portelli’s winning $2.7 million bid, the boys came in fourth place, taking home $750,000.

Danny gets outbid … again and again

Serial The Block property buyer Danny Wallis said he came with the intention of “buying one or two” houses this year. But it wasn’t to be. 

Wallis was outbid on houses 2 and 5, walking away empty-handed for the second year running. 

In Courtney and Grant’s auction, Wallis made an opening bid of “two million minus four cents”. But that was as far as he went. The house sold to Portelli for $3.3 million.

Wallis made an early bid of $2.1 million on Kirstian and Mimi’s house, but again, fierce competition saw him get knocked out of the race early. The house sold for $2.93 million.

“[They were] the weirdest auctions I’ve ever seen,” Wallis said. 

When asked about pulling similar tactics to Portelli, Wallis said, “I don’t compete against billionaires.”

And he likely won’t have to. Portelli announced that this was his last year buying houses on The Block. 

“I’m going to hang up the boots after this one,” he said. “I thought I’d go out with a bang. I’ve overstayed my welcome.” 

See you in Daylesford for The Block 2025, Danny.

This article is brought to you by Snooze. It’s amazing what 50 years of Snooze can do.