The Block 2019 main bathroom reveal recap: Mitch and Mark's latest bold move fails to win over judges

A friend commented the other day that everyone is getting along too well on this season of The Block , and there’s not enough bickering and drama. “Where’s the backstabbing?” she wailed, making me think she could be a solid contestant for next season.

The preview for next week makes it look like there’s a little bit of drama in store. But, for now, we’ll have to do with people helping one another paint rooms, doing communal coffee runs to McCafe and politely borrowing tiles from their competitors. I mean, we’re happy for them, but there’s nothing like a good strop to get the viewer’s heart racing.

We digress. Back to this week’s big main bathroom room reveal. Here’s how it all played out.

Mitch and Mark

Since Mitch and Mark had such wild success last week by tinkering with the architect’s plans, they’re having another crack at it by creating a European laundry/en suite/linen press in place of a main bathroom. To give them credit, the thinking is sound – in their plan, all the bedrooms are on this level, so it saves lugging laundry up and down the stairs.

Again, this super-organised couple have been miles ahead all week, meaning they’re not wiping grout from their eyes when Scotty Cam wolf whistles. Quite the contrary, they’re perfecting their French tuck in the mirror at tools down. It’s rather beautiful.

Unfortunately, the judges weren’t so smitten with their revolutionary move this week. Darren Palmer admitted it was a “neat and well-contained laundry” and the bathroom was suitably luxurious, but Shaynna thought the extensive doors on the laundry was a waste of money and the space wasn’t used well.

All judges questioned whether this has been a good move for the Bondi granddads, who are essentially “designing a home for themselves”. At auction time, will their three entertaining areas stack up against four bedrooms and four bathrooms?

El’ise and Matt

With much fanfare and drama, El’ise and Matt used their one-off wild card and pulled the “all hands on deck” lever to get their master bathroom finished this week. They followed Mitch and Mark’s lead and changed the architect’s plans slightly. Instead of a main bathroom, they are flipping the orientation to make an en suite for the second master bedroom and a study. This allows them to get plenty of natural light into their bathroom by using the void.

The judges were fans of the bathroom’s styling and tiles, as well as the skylight over the double shower. They did critique the lighting around the mirror, saying it would throw shadows.

In this instance, the judges said the flexibility afforded by this small change to the plans was “huge”. The upstairs level could become a space for grandparents or an au pair, as there are essentially two master bedrooms and bathrooms in the build.

Darren Palmer mused “what Mitch and Mark have done, El’ise and Matt have done, but better? Mitch and Mark look out, these two could beat you at your own game”.

Deb and Andy

The Perth pair are the reigning bathroom champs, but they fell a bit flat this week.

After being banned from their bathroom because of some compliance issues and losing valuable time, they were eventually allowed back in. During the celebrations we were afforded the most awkward hug in Block history.

While the wooden vanity that was “made with love by hand by a family member” and the subway tiles were a hit with judges, Shaynna Blaze felt the layout of their bathroom let them down. The nib wall didn’t make sense and it was let down by being a one-shower bathroom. They also thought not having the toilet in the main bathroom was a mistake.

While they agreed it was an “inviting” space, the feedback was that in such a luxurious house “this isn’t really feeling like a main bathroom”.

Tess and Luke

The Cairns cuties are the only team yet to win a room. There’s a lot riding on this week’s challenge, as they are fast running out of money.

But, thankfully, this week they nailed it with Darren announcing “this is one of the best bathrooms I’ve seen on The Block”.

Their choice of a (difficult to install) finger tile paid off, with the judges instantly falling in love with it. They raved about the bath under the skylight, and Neale Whitaker felt all the textures and colours worked beautifully together. Shaynna praised Tess’ styling as well – something that, so far, has been an issue for the Queenslanders.

Jesse and Mel

For a while there, it was thrilling when uber-confident Jesse and Mel were put in their place, but it’s becoming a bit soul-destroying now. They seriously can’t get anything right, despite Jesse almost killing himself with physical labour each week.

This week, Jesse had another opportunity to use his secret tiling skills. Jesse describes keeping his tiling past a secret as “one of the greatest stitch-ups on television”. Clearly, he missed Pauline Hanson getting stuck on Uluru on A Current Affair last week.

Jesse used his mad skills to create a seat in the shower. Presumably so people can sit down when they get tired of him mentioning  that he’s a real estate agent.

Shaynna loved their choice of vanity saying “it’s like a piece of art” and Neale commended the bath and choice of tiles. They felt it was “a nice change from the tomb you delivered in your first bathroom”.

Jesse’s block seat in the shower was met with much head scratching and the double shower heads being so close together split the judges. Shaynna hated it, while Darren liked the intimacy of it.

Neale said he was “consistently disappointed by their styling” and didn’t like that the toilet was in a separate powder room.

Upon hearing that Mel snapped back at the judges saying “all they do is style rooms, they don’t sell houses, they’ve got no idea”.

In the end, Tess and Luke took first place, making it five room reveals and five different winners.

Main bathroom scores:

Tess and Luke – 28

Matt and El’ise – 26.5

Mitch and Mark – 24.5

Jesse and Mel – 24

Deb and Andy – 22.5

Next week’s challenge is the second guest bedroom. The producers are doubling the prizemoney to $20,000 and are also dragging back some ex-Block contestants to help … which will, hopefully, bring more opinions and more tension to the table. That’s something to tune in for.