The Block 2021 backyard reveals: There's more drama, but judges are blown away by stunning spaces
Friction between The Block teams hits new heights when not one but two arguments break out the day before backyard reveals. Mitch and Mark find themselves in a bitter clash with Tanya and Vito, before Josh and Luke hold a heated body corporate meeting over Kirsty and Jesse‘s backyard budget.
Then five stunning backyards are presented to judges Shaynna Blaze, Neale Whitaker and Darren Palmer. They are blown away by the beautiful spaces, leading to very close scores and a bittersweet win for one team.
Ahead of the backyard reveals there is a lot to do to finish the spaces. Mitch and Mark are up bright and early, raring to go while they wait for their building team to arrive when they notice something isn’t right.
The couple realise tradespeople are turning up to site before 9am, which is the earliest they can start on a Saturday because of noise regulations. Mitch and Mark confront Tanya and Vito’s builder Andrew and tell him to get a coffee until the official start time.
When Vito hears about this he has a go at Mark, leading to an argument between both couples outside the McCafé van. It ends up descending into more accusations about the cheating scandal.
“The rules are very clear,” Mark tells Tanya and Vito.
“So you just think you try and cheat the whole way through,” Mitch says, before Mark reminds them of the photo Tanya had of the production schedule.
Then Tanya makes a shock accusation.
“And Jason (Mitch and Mark’s builder) sent that schedule to my builder who knew nothing about it. How about that?” she claims.
Later that day Josh and Luke ignite another argument when they finally hold a body corporate meeting to vote for an audit into Kirsty and Jesse’s backyard spending.
Kirsty and Jesse explain their room and challenge wins, sponsor products, the hipages lever and the money they’ve saved along the way mean what they’re spending is all above board. They’re also going to use some money from Front Yard Week, and their landscaper has charged a fixed price.
Suddenly Josh and Luke’s concern about Kirsty and Jesse getting limestone for free evaporates into outrage about the common practice of getting a fixed quote.
“For us we just want to make sure everything’s happening fairly,” Luke says.
Kirsty hits back, “I think you’re forgetting that we aren’t actually the ones that have been cheating on this show.”
The meeting ends with Josh and Luke, Tanya and Vito and Ronnie and Georgia voting for an audit. But Mitch and Mark, who voted no, soon realise an audit can’t go ahead because there wasn’t a majority vote since the people who called the meeting don’t get to vote.
“Thanks for having our back,” Kirsty tells Mitch and Mark.
Now that’s out of the way, it’s time to visit Block Headquarters to hear host Scott Cam read out the judges’ feedback.
Before he does, Scotty gives everyone a piece of his mind, and it seems to be a subtle warning to back off from questioning Kirsty and Jesse’s finances, and focus on their own builds.
“You had a body corporate meeting yesterday just to make sure nobody was getting an unfair advantage leading up to judging. Fair enough, I understand that because it certainly is harder to win when your budget is starting to run on empty. But it doesn’t mean you can’t win — size does not matter, bigger is not necessarily better as it always comes down to design and execution,” he says.
“And it doesn’t matter what you think of them, our judges are always fair. That’s my two bobs’ worth.”
Back to the judges’ comments.
Ronnie and Georgia
House 1’s backyard gets a “wow” from both Shaynna and Neale as the judges walk onto the deck.
Shaynna is a huge fan of the bricks around the pool as well as the layout, which includes a firepit area, dining space and room for play.
The judges also praise Ronnie and Georgia for the effortless way the look of the backyard ties in with the rest of the house.
“It is that very sort of sophisticated blank canvas because they’ve left it finished to an extent, but unfinished to an extent because they know that people are going to want to play around within this space,” Neale says.
Mitch and Mark
The judges see a glimpse of Mitch and Mark’s Oslo style when they walk into their backyard, with Neale calling it “their Palm Springs moment”.
Shaynna, Darren and Neale all love the relaxed, luxurious, resort-style feel in the backyard. It even has a second kitchen with a grill in a pool side cabana, complete with a heater and speakers.
The garden is particularly impressive to Shaynna.
“I’ve got to say the planting selection is blowing my mind … The scale of the planting, the type, what they’ve selected, it’s actually very low maintenance and the fact that you’ve got this beautiful chequerboard look with faux grass, love it,” she says.
Tanya and Vito
The judges’ first impression of Tanya and Vito’s backyard is one of slight disappointment.
“It feels a little bit undercooked compared to the previous two houses we’ve seen,” Neale says.
Shaynna, Neale and Darren also feel let down that the stunning window in the corner of the butler’s pantry hasn’t been used effectively.
“You could have [the window] slide down, you could have it lift up, you could do any number of things …” Darren says.
“Pool-side drinks and a stool,” Neale suggests.
Darren also realises the framing around the window sill is a hazard for small children. Speaking of kids, Shaynna notices there is no space for them to run around.
“It needs replanning,” Neale says.
Josh and Luke
Neale is instantly won over by Josh and Luke’s backyard because of its simplicity, and thinks it “feels quite zen”.
As for Darren, he believes the modern look of the backyard ties in with the rest of the house, and is “a really saleable house”.
Walking further into the backyard, the judges are wowed once again by a large fire pit. Then Shaynna is stopped in her tracks by a very cute guest.
“A puppy!” she squeals.
While it wasn’t the cubby house Shaynna was hoping to see today, the dog kennel at least helped give that feel of family living she was after.
Kirsty and Jesse
House 5’s backyard is so stunning to the judges it takes them a moment to collect their thoughts.
“We’re all pretty speechless!” Shaynna says.
They love the gazebo area with its pizza oven and dining table, as well as the way the steps lead down to the pool.
“You can sit here [on the steps], the kids are in the pool, they’re playing, you just have a chat to them. This is real living, just sitting here,” Shaynna says.
Then Shaynna had to check out the “cubby house” which she thought was a bit “prison-like”, until she looked inside and realised it was a chicken coop.
“How cool is that? We’ve never had chickens on The Block, ever!” she says.
Time for the judges’ scores, and apart from Tanya and Vito, everyone gets 9s and 9.5s, so Kirsty and Jesse decide to play their bonus point Gnome.
- Ronnie and Georgia: 28
- Mitch and Mark: 28
- Tanya and Vito: 22.5
- Josh and Luke: 28
- Kirsty and Jesse: 29.5 (includes bonus point)
Kirsty and Jesse win by 1.5 points, meaning they didn’t need to play the Gnome after all.
Far from feeling like a victory though, all the tension in the air adds a sour note to the night.
“It’s a weird feeling tonight. I just feel really down. I know we won but I just feel like the whole time there was eyes glaring into the side of my head not wanting us to win,” Kirsty admits.
With that hectic week done and dusted, teams will now aim to complete all the inside spaces of their homes. That means garage, study and wine cellar for the next room reveal, plus any other additional rooms that need to be completed to make the house ready for auction.
- This article was originally published by Nine.com.au. Reproduced with permission.
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