Forget the houses – a TV insider says The Block Australia’s producers have been patting this year’s contestants on the back for outdoing the stars of Married At First Sight when it comes to drama.
“If this is how we’re going to be week one, I don’t know how we’re going to be week 12,” admits Leah Milton, who is already embroiled in a feud with rival Steph Ottavio.
Meanwhile, Kristy Beams confirms to Woman’s Day there are “a few hiccups along the way” that caused her to have “moments of wanting to leave”.
We hear that she and her on-screen bestie Leah, 32, have labelled Steph, 27, “smart and sneaky” as a catfight kicked off at the start of this year’s competition.
“Steph did everything calculated,” Kristy, 34, tells us.
“I did have my reservations about her in the beginning,” agrees Leah. “I prefer everything to be upfront and I wasn’t quite getting that from her, so I did find it really difficult. She was coming off as quite competitive, so naturally in The Block environment, you just start questioning everything. There were a couple of things that I thought, ‘She might be playing a game and being a bit sneaky.'”
Leah says one of Steph’s strategies was trying to psych her out. “She would know things about my room before I even shared them, but she’d say things like, ‘So you’re doing Venetian plastering. Did you know you can’t get that done in a short amount of time? It takes 10 days.’ It just came off in a rude way.”
“The Block is tough on everyone,” admits Scotty.
However, Steph insists the other Blockheads simply feel threatened by her architectural background.
She tells us, “I deflected on the show and said, ‘No, I don’t think people would be intimidated by me because we’re just young kids,’ but I grew to know that people were definitely intimidated by me.”
On top of the pressure of renovating, the personal drama really gets to Steph.
Of the rivalry with Leah and Kristy, she says, “To put it plainly, it was traumatising.”
Her husband Gian, 27, adds, “It became too much for Steph a few times during the week and I saw her break down. At one point, under the pressure of everything happening on site, my heart just melted seeing her cry and I shed a tear too.”
Kristy confesses she made it her mission to drum up drama on Melbourne’s Charming Street, admitting, “I could see things play out prior to them happening, so I would, like, drop a bomb and run away. I was just entertaining myself and trying to make it as fun as possible.”
And her husband Brett, 34, is totally here for it! He explains, “Other seasons I’ve watched, I’ve found rather boring, so if bitchiness comes across, then great. I’d rather watch that than some of the more simple seasons I’ve seen in the past. Look at last season – the biggest thing to happen was tiles not showing up. That’s boring!”
The Block Australia screens 7.30pm Monday to Wednesday & 7pm Sundays on Three.
Scotty tells Eliza and Liberty: ‘My sons are taken!’
Sisters Eliza and Liberty took a shine to Scotty’s handy sons.
When host Scott Cam brought his sons Charlie and Bill, who are in their mid-twenties, to the Block set, he had to get their girlfriends to drop by in order to get Eliza and Liberty Paschke to back off!
The sisters ask the TV presenter straight up, “Are any of your sons single?”
on the first episode of this season, to which Scotty, 60, replies, “Have you seen my sons? They’re magnificent.”
To which Eliza, 37, responds, “Yes, that’s why we’re asking.”
Liberty, 34, adds, “We’re both single and both have been for a long time, so we’re hoping there are some single tradies – or anyone really. We are single and ready to mingle.”
But Scotty has made it clear it won’t be with his sons, telling fans he gave the sisters in-person proof his boys are taken.
The Block Australia 2024 preview
The Block’s 2022 season wasn’t a big success when it came to auction day, but the producers are giving the country another crack for next year’s instalment.
Council records show a planning permit has been submitted for five luxury houses on vacant farmland in the idyllic tourist town of Daylesford in rural Victoria.
The Block’s resident architect Julian Brenchley is a joint applicant on the proposal for the properties, which have been designed to be fossil fuel-free, carbon-neutral, five-bedroom homes.
Meanwhile, Scotty has confirmed he’ll be back as host for the 20th anniversary season after rumours flew he was retiring. “I love The Block,” he insists. “I’ve been there 24 years and I couldn’t think of being anywhere else.”
