The Block 2020 upstairs room reveals: Victory, finally, for Sarah and George

Since last week’s absolute rip-through from the judges, it will be very interesting to see what they think of our Blockheads’ upstairs rooms. 

Maybe at the time of judging it was a full moon and the judges were just not feeling themselves entirely? This is my only plausible explanation for Neale and lamp-gate. 

Before the teams finish their rooms this week for reveals, all but Jimmy and Tam are having a less-than-cruisy run.

Sarah and George are down in the dumps for still scoring zero prize money, while Luke and Jasmin crack it after a squeaky floor incident.

Daniel and Jade get into with Keithy over “rough as guts” finishes upstairs and Harry, the poor love, seems to have forgotten again that he is on a TV show, saying that the cameras are annoying and being asked for interviews interrupts your work … that’s kind of the point, mate. 

Last week’s winners Harry and Tash, as always, are up first for judging. 

“Talk about taking advantage of your surrounds,” says Shaynna. “It’s all about the foliage, isn’t it,” adds Darren. 

“They immediately recognise the importance of creating a workspace like this, in this post-COVID world, where working from home is going to be so important,” Scotty tells the couple.

Shaynna says, “You would never actually do your work, because you’re just, like, taken by the atmosphere”, which makes this desk area seem less than ideal for those who actually need to work from home.

The judges spot issues, again, with the paintwork from this couple. “If the paintwork is the only thing we can find wrong with in this space, then you have delivered a very good room,” says Darren. 

“Oh my goodness, it’s stunning,” Shaynna says as she steps into the bedroom slash lounge slash kids’ space, as Harry puts it. 

“This room says money,” she adds – and, honey, doesn’t all of Brighton?

The three judges love that the room can be anything it needs to be for the potential buyers. 

View The Block properties for sale

House 1, Harry and Tash: 364 New Street, Brighton

House 2, Sarah and George: 362B New Street, Brighton

House 3, Daniel and Jade: 362A New Street, Brighton

House 4, Luke and Jasmin: 360B New Street, Brighton

House 5, Jimmy and Tam: 360A New Street, Brighton

“We feel the love and the joy and the brightness, and the life that’s in this house and I think that’s because Harry and Tash have really hit their stride,” Darren adds, as though he has some medium-type senses all of a sudden. 

“They keep peaking every week,” adds Neale. 

Scotty tells the couple the judges think they have achieved the most essential ingredient in The Block, according to them and them only, an “emotional connection”.

I am going to tell my mum I have a serious “emotional connection” with a Cadbury’s black forest block next time she questions my snack choices. 

Over to Sarah and George’s place, and I really hope the judges are a little nicer to these two this week. They are seriously over being the losers – and in 2020, aren’t we all? 

Walking in, Darren’s first words are “work from home”. “The new normal,” says Shaynna as they explore the couple’s second study. 

They hit the nail on the head there. It has been exactly 213 days of working in my trackies with questionable hairdos. Prior to lockdown, I would have never accepted leggings as pants. 

The judges loved the fact there are two chairs in this study space and could be a great spot for someone to run a small business or have two people working. 

They then head into the couple’s powder room and Darren is loving the tiles. “Lots of drama, lots of impact, but doesn’t make the palette overly complicated.” 

“I love that little black sink,” adds Neale, but he would have liked to see some contrast in there with colours. 

Heading into the couple’s third space, “Woahhh!” says Shaynna as the three of them discover that it’s a kids’ room. 

According to Scotty, Darren wishes he could be a kid again just for this room. “Everybody needs an upholstery teapot,” adds Darren. 

Shaynna notes, “When you are going to do a kids’ room, go all the way. When you are selling a house, you want these kids to run in and not leave, so the kids say, ‘Mummy, I’m not leaving until you buy the house.’”

In this ‘burb, that is highly possible and likely – some of the kids here are rolling around in Gucci sneakers like they own the joint. 

The judges are very impressed that the couple have delivered a perfect kids’ room as if they have their own, which for the record they do not. 

Scotty says to them, “Maybe by the end of the series you will.” Ew Scotty, boundaries. 

He finishes the judging with, “It’s your job to produce a Block child,” and the contestants are in hysterics. I, on the other hand, am not sure if he is serious or not. 

The judges then head over to Daniel and Jade’s upstairs zone. 

They are loving the hybrid rumpus study space and think the separate desks are clever. 

But Shaynna thinks the styling is lacking and “the couch is too stiff”. 

“Buyers will walk into this space and see it as a real value-add,” says Neale. 

They then head into a bedroom and realise that the home will end up being five bedrooms in total, which Scotty describes as “real estate gold”. 

They are all very complimentary of this bedroom and, according to Neale, “can see no faults”. 

The judges then go behind a secret door into what Scotty calls “storage heaven”.

“How good is this?” Shaynna says. She looks like a kid that has chugged down a blue pop top, she is that excited. 

“There is no doubt this is going to be hugely appealing to a certain buyer to have this amount of storage,” says Neale. 

“All right, deep breath, next one,” says Shaynna and that’s it for House 3. 

Luke and Jasmin are up and Darren immediately notices the grandness of the width of this house and its hallways. 

Into the study slash lounge, “I think this is really clever,” says Darren and all three of the judges think the styling is on the money. 

Shaynna says, “Why didn’t they put plantation shutters? That would have been amazing.” 

Neale conveniently says he found a note by the door explaining the lack of curtains from the contestants. 

They then walk into the bedroom. Straight away, Neale says “nice colour” over their, what I would describe as, pistachio wall. 

“They had me at the VJ panelling,” he adds. 

All three judges are doing the typical, we love the bedhead, love the colour, love the lights vibe. Shaynna note that the bedside tables are a little squished – to me, that feels a bit picky. 

Scotty says, “Some great feedback, but execution-wise once again, and the paintwork in this room, this was another letdown.” Ouch. 

Now it’s time for our fallen angels, Jimmy and Tam. 

The judges try to physically judge the couple’s rooms, but poor Shaynna seems to be in struggle town getting this door open. 

Once they finally get in, Darren and Shaynna plonk themselves onto the couch and Darren finds an issue immediately. “I am looking at a lovely logo of a soundbar instead of the TV, because the TV is too high.” 

“No home office,” says Neale “Ah, yes,” says Shaynna. Are they speaking in code or something?

“Post-2020, you have to have a working-from-home space,” says Darren. And oh gosh, those three words got me good – post-twenty-twenty.

Scotty tells the team, “Neale, of course, was loving the lamp in the corner.” Ugh, Neale with the lamps again. 

They then enter the couple’s bedroom and Shaynna says, “This has the sense of luxury with the height and space.” 

Darren starts poking fun at Neale, asking him his thoughts on the dried flowers in the room. 

“I think it’s horrendous actually, I think it’s kind of funereal in its ugliness,” he quips. 

Scotty tells the couple Neale is so horrified with the dried flowers and matching wallpaper that he thinks the couple is taunting him. “You were poking the bear,” Scotty says. 

Neale says, “I will put that to one side and say that the colour palette is gorgeous.” 

“They have [emphasis on the have] to put an office in the studio space,” he adds.

With that they end Jimmy and Tam’s judging on a more solemn note than the other houses, so we doubt we will see them use the ever-powerful gnome they won earlier in the week. 

Scotty tells the Blockheads, “Oh, I love a close one!” and gets to the chalkboard. 

Next week, the couples will be given a mountain of a task – finishing off the entire interior, including stairs, laundries and hallways.

I simply cannot wait to see what kind of staircases they produce for those martini-carrying-while-decending-type buyers they are targeting. 

Final Scores:

Sarah & George 28.5

Harry & Tash 28 

Daniel & Jade 27.5

Luke & Jasmin 26

Jimmy & Tam 25.5