The Block 2021: Mitch and Mark's shock Domain Buyers Jury challenge win restores their confidence

Mitch and Mark had an incredible night at the Domain Buyers Jury challenge for a couple of reasons.

They not only won the votes of real buyers, meaning their house is the current favourite from a real estate point of view, but they won their first-ever challenge on the show.

The grandads were absolutely over the moon with the win, and a little bit shocked as the announcement was made.

“It felt very reassuring that our decision to stick with our belief of what we thought was right for the area and for the home,” Mitch told 9Entertainment.

“It was reassuring that we were on the right track.”

They’ve copped a lot of criticism from the judges on Sunday nights during feedback for spaces they’ve delivered, but both agree winning this challenge has confirmed they’ve got it right.

“It’s really satisfying that [the buyers] could see the vision of the entire house, and to me it just confirmed it’s not about room by room and whether a cushion is in the right place or where a throw is, to me it’s the space, so it was very affirming,” Mark said. “I’m very happy.”

• The Block 2021 listings are live. See them here.

But aside from impressing buyers, it was also their first-ever challenge win across two seasons of The Block.

“We won the buyers’ advocate on our first season, but it wasn’t a challenge that time,” Mitch said. “But we broke the drought!”

Mark joked they did feel a little bit like they still wanted to keep that record as “a claim to fame”.

“But we’re very pleased, I guess two seasons on The Block and both times the buyers actually voted and have chosen our house. So two very different styles and we still seem to resonate with buyers.”

Mitch excitedly jumped in to add, “And we got a win on a challenge! Woo hoo!”

With auction day looming, the win with real buyers feedback has given the team some more confidence in the home, which has only won one Room Reveal so far.

“I think, commonly we often hear the judges say, ‘This is real estate gold’ or ‘This is not going to work for real estate’,” Mark explained.

“What it says to me is what I’ve always said: I take Alice Stolz, someone like her opinion very highly. People like Nicole Jacobs or Greville Pabst, these are real estate experts. You never know what happens on auction day, we’ve seen some very unusual results in the last few years, and it depends on the emotional connection I guess.”

Mitch added that it makes them feel confident that they got the house right.

“The house is not only beautiful, but it’s fit for purpose,” he said. “But when it comes to auction day, I do think buyers, they’re not necessarily going to buy the house that is deemed the best, the buyer is going to buy the house that appeals to them the most.”

Mitch and Mark have been vocal about their thoughts on the feedback they’ve received from the judges this year and they believe the result echoes what they have been saying.

“The Buyers Jury challenge result reaffirms to me that a real estate expert needs to be part of the judging,” Mark said.

“Two designers and a journalist, I don’t think is appropriate. I think you need to add in the real estate expertise because they see the entire picture. The challenge result to me confirms what we’ve been saying, which is bring some different expertise into judging.”

As for the challenge, both agreed it was very good to see Danny Wallis in Bronte Court.

“It does give you some sense that one or two houses will sell for good prices, seeing as Danny is looking around, but it is hard to say,” Mark said.

“And for us, while it’s fun and exciting for us to have Danny there, he did buy our Oslo home,” Mitch added.

“But he paid the lowest price for the home that was supposedly the one that won the buyers’ advocate, that won the highest scores from the judges. So, if Danny wants to pay for our house, great — but hopefully not get it for a bargain like he did last time.”

• This article was originally published by Nine.com.au. Reproduced with permission.