The Block 2022: The biggest backyards in Australian TV history are delivered in spectacular fashion
It’s not quite the way they’d hoped to finish the last working day of The Block, but Dylan and Jenny are off to hospital.
Jenny is hurt after she had a fall in the early hours of the morning.
“Before tools down I was walking around with my iPhone torch trying to style, trying to find all my stuff and because we ran out of decking, we didn’t lay two slats of decking near the door,” Jenny explains.
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The Block 2022 listings are now live, and updated weekly. See them here.
“Obviously I couldn’t see and I just stepped down into nothing.”
As Scott Cam sends the pair off site he is “so upset” to see such a “hardworking team” and “great couple” end their time on The Block this way.
Everyone else is scrambling to deliver “the biggest backyards in Australian TV history”.
“It is literally just run around like maniacs,” Ankur says.
Some teams are putting on the finishing touches while others are still doing the hard yards.
Tom and Sarah-Jane are lighting fire pits and walking in ponies and chickens, while Rachel is “literally on her hands and knees digging in the soil”.
“We’ve got a minute and a half left and we’re just starting to dig the base for this spiral plant,” Oz says.
They boys keep digging dirt right until the last ‘tools down’ call echoes out around the site.
Ankur and Sharon hoorah to the end of The Block, but there’s lots of unfinished jobs in their house.
“We’ve still got to paint the eave and the gable,” Sharon says.
“The person who buys it will paint it, it’s fine,” Ankur adds nonchalantly.
For Oz, the end of The Block brings mixed feelings.
“It’s emotional to be honest, it’s the final tools down to get together, we’ve literally done it 12 times and now it’s finally over,” he says.
And just like that, three months comes to an end and the teams, including Dylan and Jenny who is OK after her fall, head to Block HQ to hear Scott read out their feedback and scores for the last time.
Tom and Sarah-Jane
The positive comments start rolling as soon as the judges enter Tom and Sarah-Jane’s landscaping.
“The tranquility of that, it’s very zen,” Shaynna Blaze says listening to the calming stream from the water feature at the front entrance.
As the judges stumble across the kids’ play area, three-par golf course and basketball court they are impressed by the way that House 1 is selling the country dream.
“Tom and Sarah-Jane haven’t just created an amazing property, they’ve created a lifestyle,” Neale Whitaker says.
But Neale found himself eating his words when he discovered their pool and entertainment zone. “They’ve created a lifestyle resort,” he adds.
With a pizza oven, chicken coop, pony stable and their game changer hobbit hut, Darren Palmer is overwhelmed by what Tom and Sarah-Jane have put on offer.
“It is the most extreme entertainment space I’ve ever seen on The Block,” Darren says.
Shaynna could see the couple had been planning and saving for their landscaping since the start of The Block.
“They were organised, they thought ahead and they were pre-planning and pre-doing and you can tell,” Shaynna says.
Rachel and Ryan
Neale was instantly struck by the choice of their exterior colour palette.
“The choice of cladding, the choice of textures and colour all works beautifully with the landscape. Nothing jars visually,” he says.
Now it’s time for the big reveal – Rachel and Ryan’s vineyard.
“You’ll probably never see one again,” Neale says, taking in the beauty of it all.
“It does have a real magic about it.”
Shaynna is also in love with the vineyard but feels the swing that sits right in front of it is view is an eyesore.
“I feel panic in all of this, it doesn’t feel resolved,” she says.
And Darren is concerned about the substantial drop from the deck to the ground.
“That’s an accident waiting to happen,” Neale adds.
But that’s where the judges’ worries stop and it’s not long before Darren is in full swing on the flying fox.
“If House 1 felt like the resort, House 2 is the country estate,” Scott reads out at HQ.
“It’s going to be a very special home indeed.”
Ankur and Sharon
“I was waiting for this,” Shaynna beams as she steps out onto House 3’s verandah.
All three judges are absolutely awestruck by the “million dollar view” from House 3’s high position.
But once they take in the view and the pool, some concerns start to arise.
“How do you get to the pool, there’s no connection to the house whatsoever,” Shaynna points out.
The judges also say the placement of the pool is “illogical”.
“This is very, very poor planning and actually takes away from the majesty of this house and it does not add value,” Shaynna says.
As they wander around to the garage and entrance of the house, the judges are faced with what Shaynna says looks like a “jobsite”.
“It’s hard to believe the house could go to auction in this state,” Neale says.
On that note and back at HQ, Scott raises the issue that Ankur and Sharon’s completely unfinished shed now falls on him “despite the fact that he gave them the budget to do it”.
“We’ve got to think about fairness in this competition,” Scott warns.
“It’s going to cost a bomb to do all this work, so we’re gonna have to revisit this when it comes to finalising the reserve prices.”
It’s no surprise that Ankur and Sharon aren’t happy with the revelation.
“I don’t think it’s fair that our reserve is effected by the shed progression if what my builder says is true,” Sharon says to cameras.
Her builder has given her the impression that there’s been a supply issue that means they weren’t able to complete the shed in time.
“Obviously we’re going to have a conversation with Scotty about that, I’d prefer not to because he shuts me down, but I want to get to the bottom of this,” Sharon continues.
Dylan and Jenny
Shaynna thinks Dylan and Jenny’s deck is big enough to have a music festival on.
“The proportions of everything with this house are just palatial,” Neale adds.
Although Darren wants to make a minor adjustment by flipping the deck furniture so it’s facing the countryside view.
He also thinks the dining area on the deck could’ve been better styled.
“I know it’s really hard to get a really long table for an outdoor setting but that’s the place for it,” he sighs.
With a market garden, beehives and a cricket pitch, the judges can’t wipe the smiles off their faces.
“There is so much happiness and joy here, and they’re definitely selling the dream,” Shaynna says.
The judges round off their tour of Dylan and Jenny’s landscape with their tiny house game changer.
“It’s so warm and cosy,” Shaynna says.
But when it finally clicks that the tiny house means House 4 can market their property as a six-bedroom home, the judges really begin to appreciate the genius of the idea.
Omar and Oz
As the judges stroll through Omar and Oz’s “very pretty” garden, they note how “professionally landscaped” their space is.
“This is the most trees I think we’ve seen so far,” Shaynna says.
Not only are they overwhelmed by the amount of trees, but they’re inundated with the number of landscaping inclusions in Omar and Oz’s.
They count a sauna, inground trampoline, three-hole golf course, croquet lawn, a babbling brook and that’s not even all of it.
But it’s Omar and Oz’s 40-foot shipping pool container that takes the cake.
“The sun lounges, the view, the scale of the pool, the outdoor decking, all of this is just magic,” Darren beams.
There is no question for him that this is “the pool area of the day”.
Apart from the fact that the judges would ditch the “tacky” printed screen in front of the water tanks, they are blown away by the dream Omar and Oz have created.
“It’s selling that lifestyle experience that normally you only get when you’re in a hotel or a resort,” Neale says.
“But they’re allowing you to live like that 365 days a year.”
This is the bit Tom and Sarah-Jane have been hanging out for. For weeks the couple have been saving their Bonus Point Gnome
And of course, in the last week of The Block and with a $90,000 Ford Ranger on the line, there’s no better time to put the Gnome to play.
“Saved it for three weeks for this moment,” Sarah-Jane says.
Landscaping week scores:
- Tom and Sarah-Jane: 30 (including the bonus point)
- Rachel and Ryan: 26.5
- Ankur and Sharon: 19.5
- Dylan and Jenny: 26.5
- Omar and Oz: 28.5
The Gnome gives Tom and Sarah-Jane a perfect score, but they didn’t need it to get the win.
They would’ve come out half a point in front of Omar and Oz even without it.
And the cherry on top of it all is that after scoring a 10 from Neale, they still win $5,000 from the Catch Cow.
“I feel so lucky,” Sarah-Jane tears up.
Scotty bids farewell to the contestants, but only until auction time.
“For now though I want you to go home, get some rest and be with your families,” Scott tells the Blockheads.
“You have certainly earned it.”
This article was originally published by Nine.com.au. Reproduced with permission.
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