The Block

What are Seven thinking with their programming next week?

Sure – its finals week on Masterchef – which means most eyes will be on Ten to see how the week pans out, but it seems Seven have made a fundamental mistake with the time that the first season finale of The Amazing Race Australia goes to air on Monday (August 1).

According to current Seven programming, at 7.30 Monday night is a ninety minute special called The World’s Most Extreme Airports (which has already aired on Pay TV) meaning the final for The Amazing Race Australia does not air until just after 9.00pm. This final episode itself is also a ninety minute episode, which will result in a 10.30pm finish time. Possibly too late for some fans.

So why the 9pm start for The Amazing Race Australia? Did Seven presume that Masterchef on Ten was set to finish at 9pm that night – thereby ensuring that the two shows would not overlap and result in fans missing out on part of one or the other?

On Monday night Masterchef finishes at 8.30pm. On Nine, The Block is done by 8pm, while Rescue starts at 8.30pm. Ten again follow Masterchef with The Renovators from 8.30pm on Monday night. ABC1 has Four Corners on until 9.20pm, SBS also have one hour shows from 8.30pm, as do most of the major Pay TV channels.

The end result is that Seven is the odd one out – having Amazing race Australia starting effectively in the middle of shows on the other channels. The question remains as to what will end up happening as The World’s Most Extreme Airports is not likely to be a ratings drawcard.

Seven may well pay the price for the odd start time in ratings as viewers watching other shows see them through to the end, then only switching over to The Amazing Race Australia after 9.30pm. But perhaps the network are banking on the attraction of the final of the series will lure viewers to Seven before other shows finish.

Whatever happens, it is a VERY odd move from Seven.

This week (July 24-30, 2011) saw a record amount of locally produced reality TV air on our free to air networks. So much so, many have suggested there is simply too much.

The Block, seen on Nine, now airs over 6 nights a week, and a total of four and a half hours this week, not including encore episodes. Masterchef Australia, which airs on Ten, also airs six nights a week, amounting to five hours per week of competition plus a further ninety minutes for Friday nights’ Masterclass.

On top of that. Ten opted to launch new reality competition show The Renovators during the final two weeks of Masterchef, airing after the cooking show. This week, it aired one hour per night, over five nights.

Then there is Top Design on Nine, which was extended to over ninety minutes this week, The Amazing Race Australia on Seven – a one hour offering, and Australia’s Got Talent – also on Seven – which aired for two hours this week for its second last episode of 2011.

Just these six shows alone amount to a total over 20 hours of reality competition spread over prime time every night except for Saturday*. Next week (July 31 – August 6) is set to be similar as Masterchef goes into finals week, and both Australia’s Got Talent and The Amazing Race Australia conclude for 2011 while The Renovators airs over five nights again, and The Block continues on Nine.

All amounts to an absolute smorgasbord for reality TV fans, but for those trying to keep up with all these shows, a big ask to sit through hours a night of reality. All this before you consider, that on Foxtel, there is Project Runway Australia airing on Monday nights, and Australia’s Next Top Model soon to launch its new season.

Add on all the overseas produced reality shows – both on free to air and Foxtel and it would appear reality competition formats are back in full swing. On ELEVEN you have The Biggest Loser US, and Britain’s Next Top Model while the US version of The Voice starts on GO! August 9. On Foxtel, there is Top Chef and Dating in the Dark US to name a few. 

Past next week, and there is a reprieve of sorts as The Renovators on Ten fills the timeslots vacated by Masterchef, while The Block and Top Design continue on Nine.

Still to come this year is The X Factor and Beauty and the Geek, both on Seven while Ten has Junior Masterchef set to roll out its second season from September. 

Given how well locally produced reality is rating, the situation is not likely to change any time soon. 2012 is shaping up to be another year dominated by reality with Masterchef, Australia’s Got Talent, The Amazing Race Australia and The Block all set to return for new seasons next year. 

On top of those titles are The Biggest Loser Families to air on Ten from February, The Australian version of The Voice on Nine to launch next year, Masterchef season four on Ten and My Kitchen Rules season three on Seven. And of course, there is American Idol which will air on FOX8 from January.

Who said reality competition was dead? The format just seems to go from strength to strength – seems we just can’t get enough of it.

So if you’re planning to get into The Block and haven’t done so as of yet, and are looking for an episode to begin; this may or may not be the episode for you. In its third week, Unlocked is a program that recaps the week that has been; features full length open inspections (where the contestants get to look inside and judge the other contestant’s rooms from the previous week) and gets the judges comments and predictions. Other than that; there’s nothing really new here.

Before we begin, is it just me, or should Shelley wear that hat more often? Haha.

We begin with the results of last week’s double room; which ended with a tie between Josh & Jenna and Polly & Waz.

We go to Polly & Waz’s room first where they give us a tour of their master bedroom and ensuite. We also recap on the judge’s comments before Neale and John, like last week in a form of a cutaway, build on their comments.

After this, the open inspection begins and Josh & Jenna aren’t fans while Tania & Rod seem to like the room. Jenna is depressed that their master bedroom got a nine.

To the bathroom; and Josh & Jenna don’t like this room either; but Josh seems to like the curtain.

We move on to Josh & Jenna, and in the same process, they give us a tour, we hear from the judges, get a recap on the before and after shots before the open inspection begins.

Tania & Rod thinks it is nice, but they wouldn’t have it in their room. Polly doesn’t know why they iron their linen. Katrina & Amie and Polly & Waz love the walk in wardrobe.

The bathroom gets mixed reactions with Polly expecting more and all contestants wondering how one would go about cleaning the cramped room.

Next for open inspection is Rod and Tania. Josh & Jenna love their study, as do Polly & Waz (well, not Waz). Katrina & Amie think they have done a good job but Negative Waz thinks their master bedroom needs a bit of oomph.

Last up are sisters Katrina & Amie. Polly thinks her room is different as they used their space better (Polly did). Tania thinks the room is nice with Josh thinking they bought the same bed head they did in week one, but of course the sister’s built their own. Haha.

With that, open inspections are done and Shelley promises us that after a break, we’ll see how the contestants are going with this week’s room.

After the break, we begin in true Block fashion with a lovely, big recap of the two challenges; Shelley’s and Scott’s; Darren & Jason’s visit, and other big events of the week like the Great Wall of Waz, Rod’s time issues and others.

After the break, we look back at another tumultuous week for the sisters and Josh & Jenna’s continual rise, dotted by moments of arguing. We also revisit Rod & Tania’s sad family tragedy and obvious setback and Polly & Waz’s somewhat average week.

So not much to say, just another Unlocked episode. No exceptionally new content except for a more in depth look at the open inspections and the judge’s thoughts. It’s just a nice way to end up the week really.

Courtney’s Verdict: 8.0/10

Don’t forget guys, I need your help! If you want to run this blog for a week in September and have the capacity to write even little reviews on some reality programs plus post them on Throng, I’d love to hear from you as I am unable to do so. Contact me via PM on this site, or through c_rose_luvy1980@hotmail.com. Thankyou for all who take on this volunteer work; it would mean a lot to me!

Another Scotty’s challenge is in order for tonight and whatever the prize turns out to be, I’m sure the contestants need every scrap of it! It’s going to be intense and all before the hosts do the rounds on the progressing living areas.

It’s just three more sleeps until judgement day, and with another day on the horizon, the contestants wake up more battered and bruised than ever.

Over at Katrina & Amie’s house, their plaster is going up, but their money reserves are going down. They have to do well in the challenge today, otherwise they won’t be able to pay the tradies and it will have to come out of their own pockets otherwise present an unfurnished room. This thought brings them to tears.

The challenge is near and with a simple text message; the contestants arrive at Scott’s warehouse for today. Scott tells them that they have been working 36 days straight and Scott tells them that for today’s challenge, they have to put their experience to date to play and build a home for Scott’s love; his dog Rosie who must be getting on now.

Scott tells them that today; Rosie will be today’s judge. They have to build the best doghouse they can. Scott shows us Rosie’s kennel which is quite large and complete with a television with Scott displayed on it, haha.

The team to create the best doghouse today will win a share of $6,000; with $3,000 going towards furniture from Keeki design furniture store. The runner up with win $2,000 and the third place getter will win $1,000. The losers win nothing.

They have a range of tools for aid but the sisters aren’t too optimistic, haha. Scott then tells them that the challenge will begin on Rosie’s bark and after waiting around for a bit, Scott just barks for the silent dog and the teams are off.

We have a look at the job at hand; the contestants have to build a pine base with four walls attached to both that and a hinged roof.

Josh is already cutting up parts with Rod & Tania planning their kennel. The sisters struggle to get started and seem a little upset. Polly & Waz are also rookies at the job but are a little more enthusiastic than the sisters.

Scott comes over to the girls and helps them begin with a few nice and handy tips. Isn’t he a nice man.

Scott is delighted when he comes over to Polly & Waz and sees Waz skewing a nail. He goes back to the sisters and is jokingly annoyed that they are using his trusty hammer.

Meanwhile, Rod draws up his door and uses a pencil tied to string, tied to a central nail to cleverly draw the curved roof of the doorframe.

Sister’s Katrina & Amie are nervous about using the circular saws with both girls horrified that they may turn the saw on with it already spinning or Katrina may cut through the cord, haha. Scott comes back AGAIN to help them and soon enough, they have cut out a door!

Polly & Waz are coming up with an ambitious plan to not follow Scott’s doghouse design and go for one without a triangle roof. Before the break in a cutaway, Waz cheekily suggests that this is when things became unstuck. Oh!

After another break, Scott gathers the contestant’s attention before telling them that they will all have to split up with one person from each team going to spotlight for design elements.

Tania, Amie, Jenna & Polly have all gone to Spotlight and get their shop on! Each contestant knows what they want with Amie craving a disco ball and Tania just throwing whatever she can buy in a basket.

Back in the warehouse, the contestants have to just paint the colour theme they predict will match the design items the other contestants buy from spotlight.

The sisters didn’t communicate their ideas to each other so are relieved to find out that with Amie going for a disco theme, Katrina has coincidently decided to go for an ‘80’s theme. Waz is going for an Austin Power’s theme and Josh is creating a graffiti drawn paddock theme on his house. Jenna is annoyed that he has made it look like a coloured in doghouse, wanting him to do a proper house. She goes off at him over the phone and he bitterly changes the scheme while badmouthing Jenna and her attitude to the other contestants. For the gossiping sisters, this is funny news.

After the break, we get a quick recap before returning to yet another Josh v Jen argument.

The contestants that went to spotlight return with their stuff; including Jenna who has bought a lot of black and white stuff while Josh has coloured the inside with bright colours. They are not on the same wavelength at all. Scott shows her the pictures of the doghouse with Josh’s clever design and she does admit it looks good; but she wanted a proper house design.

With ten minutes to go, the contestants whip their elements into the doghouse and most of them look really good.

After time up, Scott congratulates them for the dog ‘mansions’. And now it is time for judgement. Rosie has invited four friends to help her judge the houses. The contestants are delighted with the dogs that are from Vision Australia Seeing Eye dog.

Scott tells them that the contestants have just built their brand new homes; aww. Time for judging now and first up, Josh & Jenna’s weatherboard house.

Rosie went into the kennel and ‘told’ Scotty what ‘she thought’ about them.

Next up is Polly & Waz’s slanted, groovy house before the sister’s disco doghouse which looks very fancy indeed.

Last up are Rod & Tania’s house which is a replica of their Block house. It looks very nice with padded dog patterns inside and a wonderful exterior.

With that, Scott gathers the contestants together for the result. The winners are revealed to be Rod & Tania after a break and they are overwhelmed. The house is truly amazing, capturing the inspiration of other contestants.

In second place with the $2,000 prize are broke contestants Katrina & Amie!

So who will be going home with nothing? Jenna seems happy yet nervous in a cutaway where she explains that she will be in the doghouse if they lose after she told Josh to change the colour scheme; so it’s obvious that they win, right? Yep, as it turns out, they do win the $1,000 which they are happy with.

As it turns out, when Waz said ‘that’s when we came unstuck’, he was meaning that they would eventually lose the challenge.

With challenge day over, Katrina & Amie return home to see that the tradies have dumped objects in front of doors of their bedrooms and they can’t get in. This pushes them over the edge again and the pair break down over missing their families.

After a tough night, the sisters recoup in the morning and head to the art show for a much needed break of inspiration. They find a piece perfect for their house but know that buying it will take every cent they have. They buy it anyway knowing it will win them the week! I would hope so! Polly, one half of a losing team, is driving three hours out of the way for bargains and inspiration. Waz looks at places a little more local to see if he can find anything for their room.

Shelley and Scotty arrive for a host’s tour as the sky turns grey. They begin their tour in Tania & Rod’s house. They are surprised at their floor which is tiled except for a square bit of carpet which, to Shelley’s shock, isn’t shagged!

The hosts are impressed as they move to Polly & Waz’s house. Scott isn’t too confident that they will get their house done in time considering judging is tomorrow morning and sanding of the roof hasn’t even been done.

They run through what they are going to do for the room and after questioning them on where their furniture is, Polly & Waz reveal that they will be purchasing it after their chat! Jeez!

Next up are Josh & Jenna and Shelley loves their hallway which almost looks finished. Scott also notices the wooden walls of the house.

They run through their ideas and Scott wonders where their money comes from when they say they have none left! I wonder that too!

Last is Katrina & Amie’s house and the hosts are shocked that they have spent their last $2,000 on a huge picture from the art show.

That’s just the hallway so to the lounge room and Shelley realises that not much has happened in the lounge with most of their energy seemingly focussed on the hallway.

They are confident and run through their ideas with the hosts.

With that, the host’s tour is done and we get some last minute words from the couples as they go to bed.

So a lovely episode that other than the odd misplaced ad break, was smooth, flowed well and included no time filling moments such as mindless recaps. The showcasing of Katrina & Amie’s problems, which have now shifted to them from Polly & Waz who felt this pinch a few weeks back, is brilliant, and proves to be a great cliffhanger for Sunday.

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.8/10

Don’t forget guys, I need your help! If you want to run this blog for a week in September and have the capacity to write even little reviews on some reality programs plus post them on Throng, I’d love to hear from you as I am unable to do so. Contact me via PM on this site, or through c_rose_luvy1980@hotmail.com. Thankyou for all who take on this volunteer work; it would mean a lot to me!

So, what can we expect from this episode? Well, more building of the living area is in store, that’s for sure. Probably a few more fights courtesy of Jenna & Josh. Maybe an update on the great wall of Waz… Oh, what fun!

The sun rises on Day 35 as we head to the early rises on The Block where tradies rock up to Katrina & Amie’s house. Polly & Waz are tired as all hell after having no sleep.

All couples have three days left to complete their rooms with some having more to do than others. Rod & Tania are tiling from the front door to the back themselves so Rod will be splashing out on tradies to do other jobs; in particular, the roofing.

Meanwhile, after yesterday’s hectic day at Josh & Jenna’s house where in between their bickering, tradies have been working around each other, things are a little calmer today with Josh and Jenna agreeing on the idea of a feature wall and agree on a particular design. Does Keith give him the OK?

It seems it all works out until Jenna and Josh begin to fight over what colour is going on the wall; Navy Blue or Charcoal! Oh, god.

Katrina & Amie are way behind schedule, so they have to make sure their tradies are working to their full potential but with things about to fall into place; they find out their plasterer isn’t coming!

Their morning isn’t off to a good start and they seem to be falling into a rut for yet another week. They run the risk of not presenting a room and Keith isn’t happy with their lack of management. Keith then suggests plastering themselves but they aren’t confident on doing it themselves even though doing it themselves will save on money. They contemplate drinking themselves silly.

Meanwhile, Rod is on fire, getting the flooring down in no time; but after having second thoughts, he pulls it up again on the instruction of Tania and her new design for the living room.

Meanwhile, Polly & Waz also have a change in heart about designs and decide to remodel their living room.

Amie meanwhile pretends to know what she is doing and role plays in being a helpful tradie, showing Katrina how to plaster; but after a while, they both decide they will never be good tradies.

Josh & Jenna have bought furniture online in the meantime, and everything they buy has finally arrived however they debate whether or not the colour of the couch is good or not.

Meanwhile, Rod is trying to get his tile underlay down before noise restrictions come into place for the weekend and while he doesn’t need a distraction, arch enemy foreman Keith rocks up and sees if everything is in order.

We get a recap of when Keith told Rod that at some stage, he would have to reinforce the floors underneath his heavy bath; and with little time already; he finds out he needs to reinforce the floors TODAY. He better get moving.

With this disruption; Tania calling him about couch advice is the least of his worries. He quickly gets his planks in and his underlay down in time, but it is just a race against the clock!

After yet another break, Rod is still firing through his chores; but he only has a few minutes left before curfew.

Waz is also battling against the clock to get fixtures into the great wall of Waz before tools down. It is soon three o’clock and power tools are down. Somehow, both Waz and Rod finish on time and head off to an auction to find out what the market is like around the area.

Meanwhile, Tania is out at a furniture shop trying to buy a sofa and needs Rod to measure something however being at an auction, he can’t do this!  Poor Tania.

Waz & Rod look around the house for inspiration and well, they’re inspired. They then attend the actual auction to see how a nice looking house will sell for. The property ends up selling for $1,350,000 which is HUGE but Rod wants $1.4m. The house is soon sold for 1.36m dollars.

Back at Jenna’s house, she is measuring out the living room after yet another design change. As the sun sets and the episode ends, Rod is tiling and is obviously over it all. Time for bed.

So a pretty decent episode with maybe a few too many ad breaks; but hey, I always love episodes that are dedicated to showing the progress of the houses. Another decent episode.

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.6/10

Don’t forget guys, I need your help! If you want to run this blog for a week in September and have the capacity to write even little reviews on some reality programs plus post them on Throng, I’d love to hear from you as I am unable to do so. Contact me via PM on this site, or through c_rose_luvy1980@hotmail.com. Thankyou for all who take on this volunteer work; it would mean a lot to me!

After last night’s win, the sisters are going into this week’s living room renovations with a sweet home entertainment pack and a PC! But other than that; this episode marks the beginning of another stressful week with Rod & Tania on a bit of a downer and pretty much all the contestants suffering budgetary issues!

As the day begins, we get a few shots of Melbourne before we head into Polly & Waz’s living room where they are already behind the times. Meanwhile, an original brick wall which is a favourite of Waz’s (named The Great Wall of Waz) but not such a favourite of Polly’s will be staying on Polly’s command- aww.

Meanwhile, after yesterday’s funeral, Rod & Tania are sluggishly trying to get back into the competition with Rod spent on motivation.

A group not strung up about trying to get motivation, are Katrina & Amie who have not only won a home entertainment system, but also get to keep HomeMADE alumni Jason and Darren for a day for shopping help and advice.

When they arrive at the sister’s house, the sisters show them through the house and they love the first bedroom, but not their bland study area. They are happy with the master bedroom as well. They pass on some advice and the girls try to take it on board for the sake of winning a week.

They then show them around their half done living area, giving them some general ideas on what they want to do before Darren draws a sketch of what will work in the room.

The girls then go window shopping with Jason and Darren, with a limited budget.

Meanwhile, Josh & Jenna’s floor and plastering tradies have arrived at the same time and only one can be working in the room at a time. Keith suggests sending the plasterer home for half a day, but Josh wants it done now. Jenna argues, saying they can’t afford to pay the plasterer for doing nothing. Oh, god, just send him home!

Jenna & Josh go in to ask their tradies about times and jobs but they need to do something fast with tradies standing around doing nothing as the flooring tradie gets underway. Josh figures out a system that lets one tradie work on one room, and the other on another; with the two tradies (the other being the plastering tradie) swapping around midday. Crisis diverted, for now.

Rod, who usually does all the tradie work himself, decides to let tradies do the work this week after a heavy week last week and the recent death in the family.

Meanwhile, we have a look at their design and all up, it’s going to be a hard week for the couple. Rod still can’t get motivated, but a visit from Mark & Duncan with their new touch screen computer may turn spirits around. Rod is happy with the visit and wants to give them both a beer. Their visit is fleeting, and they soon leave.

Polly is out shopping for a heater and asks around for a good bargain. She finds a good heater, which puts her ahead of Josh & Jenna, who are currently bickering over the placement of a heater. Yet another argument ends in Jenna slamming a door, before Josh funnily asks her if she will help him with the skirtings!

With tradies, plasterers and floorers, hard at work, it doesn’t help with Josh & Jenna bickering on whether the plastering job should be done. He asks Jenna if she wants it done, she doesn’t. He goes ahead with it anyway!

Meanwhile, Polly & Waz are out looking for flooring; interested in wood tiling. They pick their tiling quickly, and are in good spirits.

Katrina & Amie are currently spending their budget on lunch, but the restaurant they are in is built on recycled and cheap design ideas which work really well. With this inspiration, thanks to Jason and Darren for the visit, they go to the shops to find things they would buy if they had money for Jason & Darren to get inspiration as to what the sisters want their room to look like.

Meanwhile, Josh & Jenna are at it again with Jenna annoyed at Josh’s franticness and impatience. Jenna wants them to sit down and plan, but Josh doesn’t want a bar of it. Jenna goes off in the car and Josh calls her dumb; he’s quite condescending.

After the break, The Great Wall of Waz is ready to be renovated and Polly is standing ground to make sure no one notices what they are doing, but it isn’t long before Rod gets it right; they are acid washing the wall! And guess what? Waz has to do it himself with no-one able to do it! Haha.

At the sister’s house, Darren & Jason leave and it is a near tearful goodbye for the thankful girls.

As Josh & Jenna get sick of fighting, Jenna backs off and lets Josh do his thing. He better hope it works, because Jenna will absolutely kill him if his decision to plaster the room does not pay off.

So a pretty decent episode and with being half hour, there was no need for any recaps! Placement of ads was good but product placement was still high with that Windows 7 plug which continues to hog the episode.

I quite love a bit of tension, which Josh & Jenna are providing, but this constant drama may threaten to turn the show into The Josh & Jenna Show; so producers better be weary to spread the show out more evenly.

Still, great episode and cannot wait for tomorrow.

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.7/10

Don’t forget guys, I need your help! If you want to run this blog for a week in September and have the capacity to write even little reviews on some reality programs plus post them on Throng, I’d love to hear from you as I am unable to do so. Contact me via PM on this site, or through c_rose_luvy1980@hotmail.com. Thankyou for all who take on this volunteer work; it would mean a lot to me!

Tonight is yet another Shelley challenge which seems to be the least of matters contributing to tonight’s episode with a contestant apparently having to leave, according to some promotions! What could this mean?

We are treated to two recaps back to back before the contestants gather for a BBQ where Scott give week losers Katrina & Amie a chump t-shirt with ‘chump’ replacing the word ‘Chum’ on a tin can printing on the shirt.

The next day, Polly & Waz share their good news with Chrissy & Toby whereas Katrina & Amie try to keep their chin up, being the only couple never to have won a week thus far.

Scott then tells us that Rod & Tania are the couple who will be leaving the Block, only for the challenge day, due to a family tragedy. In their place, 2010’s Mark & Duncan will return for their second cameo this season.

With Rod & Tania heading off, Scott, Mark and Duncan head off to tell the others. They are all somewhat under enthused with contestants thinking they will smash them at any building challenge.

With that, they all head off to Shelley’s challenge with Katrina & Amie hoping they can win some money today, as they are broke.

The contestants head to an unknown location which actually doesn’t happen to be on a construction site, but in a studio. Today, they have to style a room! Mark and Duncan are immediately worried with other contestants quite happy with the idea.

The room each contestant styles will be photographed with the team with the winning photograph, winning the challenge.

As it turns out, the judges won’t be judging today, with Neale sending out ‘tougher’ judges. They are Jason Sullivan (stylist and winner of previous Nine series HomeMADE) and HomeMADE runner up Darren Palmer! So, as if we needed any more mention of renovation shows this week, Nine has surely outdone itself!

Each team have been given a blank space with some stylish tools. They have also been given a Window’s Touch Screen monitor fitted with all the necessary requirements for a HUGE product placement; plus, the contestants get to keep the screen.

The winners will win a home entertainment system for this week’s living room.

Their time begins and they all get started!

The contestants all head for their touch screens and work out their design before Polly & Waz and other contestants head for their wall paints. Mark & Duncan are quite confused, but they decide to try to go for the worst colour for a reverse psychology room where in their world the worse room actually wins!!!

Josh & Jenna are going to step out of the box and use a colour different to grey, but by the look of the colour, it still looks safe.

The contestants are still out looking for paint when Katrina & Amie begin painting. Mark & Duncan get some advice off of Darren before we find out that the other contestants have finished picking paint.

Shelley has been nice enough to let two furniture stores open their doors and let the contestants choose anything they want. These places are Space and Herman & Herman. They have 30 minutes however to collect everything. The sisters head for Space and Polly & Waz head for H&H, with both teams being cautious about knocking things over.

Mark & Duncan are spoilt for choice but Jenna & Josh can’t find anything they want. The sisters are looking for a few things and as they are style queens, this shouldn’t be too hard but they can’t find anything either, believing they have lost confidence in themselves.

At the half way point, Josh & Jenna still can’t find furniture with Jenna not able to find the home entertainment unit that she wanted and very soon, they begin to argue yet again!

After the break, we are given a recap of what we have seen in the first half hour; maybe a little inappropriate, and a little too long.

The contestants are still choosing furniture with Mark & Duncan choosing some pillows before a shag rug catches their eyes. Katrina & Amie still can’t lock in firm decisions but there are only minutes to go.

The judges come to their rescue and offer them some advice. They find some lovely chairs to begin their room. The judges go to help Mark & Duncan next and funnily enough, they choose a lamp as it looks as if a whale has vomited it out.

Polly & Waz are overwhelmed at the moment and are trying to pick a lamp for their room. The judges tell them to filter out what they don’t want, but Polly & Waz doesn’t know what she wants. Meanwhile, Josh & Jenna pick a modular unit under the pressure of a strict time limit, ditching their last plan.

With two minutes to go, Polly & Waz step on it, but aren’t too concerned about finding something quick.

The contestants now quickly rush to grab a few small fittings to splash some colour into their rooms with Katrina & Amie trying to find a few things to debland their room but Jason isn’t confident that their room will look good regardless.

After the break, we get yet another recap, and it is a bit ridiculous to be honest with you and when we return, furniture time is up, and now they just have to assemble their room.

Polly & Waz have a few too many items, but Polly thinks this is a good thing as they have a lot to work with.

Mark & Duncan aren’t as serious; loving their less is more room. Katrina & Amie are currently placing their coffee table in the room and they disagree on whether or not it works.

Josh says the most important part of the room is the PC, which is correct, but he seems fixed on placing a feature on the room.

Mark & Duncan are finishing their room and are having a good laugh, but Jenna & Josh are still a little too serious about it all, not able to find a suitable place to place their PC.

Polly & Waz have nearly finished their room and it looks wonderful and complex; love it. Josh is still trying to fit the modular unit so it works well as it came with all the shelves packaged individually, but in the process he smashes a few things which up their stress levels.

Polly & Waz are now trying to take their picture as Shelley comes to visit. She loves the room and what they have done with it.

Shelley then visits a bickering Jenna & Josh and compliments their room as well before calling out time up! Wow, that was fast!

Another ad break return, another recap but this time, we get a few thoughts from the judges. Now, the contestants have to work with a professional photographer who will now shoot their rooms from all angles.

The photographer is able to make all rooms look good, even Mark & Duncan who tried to do the exact opposite nearly.

After the photo shoot, the contestants then had to work the pictures into a spread and after that, the judges judge each look. They begin with Mark & Duncan and love their ideas and room with Darren exceptionally proud of it.

To Polly & Waz, and they loved the room as well saying they incorporated the PC well.

Next is Josh & Jenna’s room and while they had concerns about the rug, they think it worked really well. They also love the spread they did but Jason doesn’t like the wall painting.

Last is Katrina & Amie who have made the brand name KANDA (Katrina AND Amie), and the judges love the sophisticated room, from the colour scheme to the books on the table!

Now all the judges have to do is choose the winner! The judges took a few minutes to decide the winner and gather in front of the contestants where Shelley congratulates them all for their work before telling them what is up for stake.

She also tells them that the winning team will win Darren and Jason for the day tomorrow for shopping. This is apparently courtesy of Microsoft which really confuses me, and is just blatant, unnatural, unoriginal product placement.

The judges then reveal that the winner of the challenge is Katrina & Amie who have wanted the prize so badly.

So that is that episode done and despite the blatant product placement, this was a pretty good episode. Actually, those recaps were also quite annoying and seriously, not needed. If they need to fill so much time, they should have just cut it back to half an hour. This challenge would have worked well in a half hour timeslot in my opinion, as do many others.

I loved the challenge nonetheless and wonder what tomorrow will have in store for us as the couples begin their living rooms.

Courtney’s Verdict: 7.4/10

Don’t forget guys, I need your help! If you want to run this blog for a week in September and have the capacity to write even little reviews on some reality programs plus post them on Throng, I’d love to hear from you as I am unable to do so. Contact me via PM on this site, or through c_rose_luvy1980@hotmail.com. Thankyou for all who take on this volunteer work; it would mean a lot to me!

The Renovators definitely lives up to being the Block on Steroids – if this 48 hour challenge was done the way Nine do the Block, it would have gone all week, filled with countless rehash scenes and interupted with pointless challenges and appearences from people who have nothing to do with the current show…

It was fast paced, the hour went so quickly, and the judges decision was also quick. Unlike Top Design – also on Nine – where it is almost painful watching the end decisions as who wins and who loses for the episode.

Unlike the Block, the brand placement does not dominate and the Renovators simply leaves the Block for dead.

One issue with the first episode and the 48 hour challenge was that day 1 finished with 40 hours to go, while day 3 started with 6 hours to go. That means day 2 covered 34 hours? Only 24 hours in a day – go figure!!!

The music was done by the same who do Masterchef – and definitely had a Masterchef feel to it.

Not sure though that having it overlap for five nights a week with the final two weeks of Masterchef will help or hinder the ultimate success of the show. I am hoping that they will save the start of the real competition – when the final teams are decided that renovate each of the six proerties – will be start after Masterchef finishes in two weeks time.

Ten may have another hit on their hands, if the momentum keeps up and it does not start dragging out the way Nine have done with the Block.

Seeing The Renovators is produced by Shine Australia, success should almost be guaranteed.

Will be very interesting to see the shift in ratings over the next few weeks with all these shows.

Will the Block drop with the Renovators now on? As for Top Design – a 30+% drop in ratings from episode one to two – will the figures settle or slide to the point of oblivion? Will reality fatigue set in?

Time will tell.

Look forward to watching more of the Renovators – for me – the best of the renovation based shows to date.

Your thoughts???

If you missed the first episode, Ten are replaying it Monday (July 25) at around 3.30pm. Should also be online Monday some time as well.

Another judgement day looms for the crew on The Block as the biggest room (or should I say collection of rooms) to date is put under the microscope by Neale and John (now seriously, isn’t Neale a girls name?).

We are reminded of the gruelling task at hand and the prize money on offer with a quick recap of the week that was.

It is day two of the extra help given by Chrissy and Toby and Aaron & Shannon to Polly & Waz and Josh & Jenna respectively and as Chrissy and Toby arrive at 6am, work begins straight away.

Katrina & Amie are one of the teams that didn’t win extra help, but after winning $3000 after a wallpapering challenge, they shouldn’t be too hard off. With the wallpapering expertise, they begin their wallpapering their bedroom; the first room this year to have a wallpaper treatment.

Waz & Toby are glossing a cabinet up, even after foreman Keith and builder Shiran advise against glossing it up, due to it being Waz’ pride and joy. Seriously, when the foreman tells you it won’t work, what chance to they have at impressing the judges.

Meanwhile, Keith tells Rod his shower is not waterproof with no room for architraves. Rod, being a tradie himself, has now gotten himself into trouble by Keith for the third time and Keith tells him if he doesn’t fix the problem soon, he will have to complete the room again!

After the break, there are four hours to go. Shannon and Jenna are out getting furniture and as they have left it to the last minute, Jenna is panicking and Shannon is trying to get her to calm down.

Shannon gets a first hand experience at Josh & Jenna’s arguing when Josh calls wanting money and Jenna is cardless.

Meanwhile, the sisters have finished wallpapering and jokingly pretends they are judges, viewing the room for the first time, putting on some dramatic ‘wowing’. Haha.

Meanwhile, rod has worked out a way to get his architraves in and both Keith and Scott are surprised at his problem solving.

Meanwhile, on the back of their wallpapering success, they now have to finish their bed head and get it up the stairs. Moving the heavy head is quite funny to watch with Amie using plastic bags for gloves.

It is time for Polly & Waz and Josh & Jenna to farewell their help in the form of Chrissy & Toby and Shannon & Aaron. After a few last words, they are out of here.

It takes about two and a half hours for the sisters to manically get their bed head up the stairs and it seems they are doing it with a lot of giggles, haha.

Katrina places the bed head on top of Amie who is on the bed, which is also quite funny to see.

After the break, it is judgement day, and the contestants have two hours to put the final touches on their rooms. Manic music ensures as a picture falls down and smashes in Rod & Tania’s bedroom; somehow they had two of the same picture. This is one event amongst many that flash across the screen as Scott walks down the street to call times up.

As the contestants walk out, despite the harder challenge this week, they don’t seem flustered as much as usual, possibly a sign of growth over the season thus far.

Scott debriefs with them of the week that was, interviewing all of them. The contestant’s then head to the warehouse after Scott promises this is the only season they will probably make the contestants renovate two rooms, haha.

The judges now rock up to judge the two rooms. First up, Josh & Jenna.

We look at their week and then get to see the wonderful before and after shots. The judges thought it has a lot of wow factor in it. They think that featuring an unmade bed is a big risk. They also like the continuity of the room. They don’t like the storage in the room but do like the lighting.

Next room, the walk in wardrobe and they love it, calling it endless storage, but realise they may have more space than the others.

Off to the bathroom and the judges are again blown away, loving the room and what they’ve done with it. They also like the feeling of height in the room, saying it is a great example of going the 10%. There are a few dirty corners however.

Next up are Rod & Tania and after a recap of the week, we get a look at the before and after shots before the judges come in.

They walk into the mini study at the top of the stairs and they love the execution and idea of the room. Concern? Maybe the fact they got the space from somewhere else may compromise the other room’s size.

First official room for inspection; bedroom. They think it looks like a boutique hotel room and Neale loves the headboard. It’s a room that doesn’t amaze John, but he thinks it is ok.

Time for the shower and they like the black and white bathroom. The double shower idea is also praised. They can’t find many faults in the room but the black curtain isn’t highly praised.

After the break, the judges move to room(s) number three, Polly & Waz. A recap and a before and after shot later, the judges enter to judge their room.

They knew they had a room like this in them; thinking it has great soul and character. They call the bookcase tremendous. They love the bedside photo that works well with the city views. The fitting of the blinds are not too good, but OK. Their wardrobe is also great. John calls it one of the best rooms of the series, possibly the best.

To the ensuite and the judges think it looks good and functional. John calls it well planned with Neale loving the use of space. They think it a good quality room and is very professional.

Katrina & Amie are last for inspection and we look at their week that was and a few B&A pictures before Neale and John walk in.

Neale, a wallpaper lover, doesn’t like the wallpaper, saying it makes the room look smaller- and I agree! The room looks small and really more of a teenager’s room than a master bedroom. They love the storage of the wardrobe, but don’t like the lack of storage bedside.

To the bathroom and it looks like a near carbon copy of Tania & Rod’s room. The judges think it is pleasant and cosy. Neale loves the vanity unit and the use of a trolley for storage.

Neale finds it hard to fault with John calling it their best room so far.

The contestants walk into the warehouse for the result revelation as Scott comes out and stands in front of the blackboard.

Scott interviews the contestants with Josh showing his shaking hands. He reads out Josh & Jenna’s comments about their design. And it seems he will be reading out all the contestant’s comments for design before scoring any of them.

He then writes down all the eights that the contestants scored with Rod & Tania scoring an 8 for Ensuite execution as well as Katrina & Amie. Polly & Waz score two eights for their Ensuite (one for Design and one for execution) and also one for their Bedroom’s execution.

Josh & Jenna score double eight for their bedroom and one for their Ensuite’s execution.

This of course surprises the contestants, Polly & Waz in particular.

Scott tells them that despite all of the eights; this isn’t a predictable week as some of them scored a 9.

With that, he spins the board. He then writes down the rest of the numbers, also calling out some extra comments.

After the break, he flips the board after announcing there is a split decision. The scores read as follows:

JOSH & JENNA= 33
POLLY & WAZ= 33
KATRINA & AMIE= 28
ROD & TANIA= 29

This means, the money will be divided $5000 each for Josh & Jenna and Polly & Waz.

So what an interesting outcome, but I thought that if there was a tie, the judges would re-rate.

The contestants go to judge the outstanding rooms for themselves but I won’t bother blogging this as it will probably appear in Unlocked but basically, Josh & Jenna and Polly & Waz shun each other’s rooms.

So as it turns out, a pretty decent episode with wonderful results; always love these episodes. The blackboard was a bit complicated, and a longer camera shot of it would have been appreciated, but I’m picking fault here at an overall outstanding episode.

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.8/10

Don’t forget guys, I need your help! If you want to run this blog for a week in September and have the capacity to write even little reviews on some reality programs plus post them on Throng, I’d love to hear from you as I am unable to do so. Contact me via PM on this site, or through c_rose_luvy1980@hotmail.com. Thankyou for all who take on this volunteer work; it would mean a lot to me!

So, another one of these Unlocked specials, eh! Last week saw the contestants walk through some of the completed rooms over the past few weeks, but didn’t the contestants walk through the completed week three rooms after Judgement? So, I wonder what tonight will be on about.

Shelley tells us that today; the contestants will be judging the laundries and bathrooms from last week, so I guess I must have been seeing things. We will also get to see an update on how the contestants are going this week!

Shelley reminds us of the bathroom and laundries the contestants made last week, commenting that the judges were impressed with the results. She draws upon winners Rod & Tania and after looking at their week that was, they give us a bit of a tour of their bathroom and laundry.

We are also reminded of the judge’s comments and we even get to see a look at the judges behind the scenes in cutaways, talk about the rooms in more detail. I just realise after four weeks, it is spelt ‘Neale’, not Neil.

The other contestants come in, and I swear the contestants have done this/ we’ve seen this before. The contestants aren’t inspired with Polly not liking the hand basin splashback.

The sisters love their pull out ironing board; well everyone does really.

Katrina & Amie’s room is next and after a look at their week that was (and wasn’t it emotional!), they proceed to show us around their rooms.

We get a recap of the judge’s comments with an even more in depth look at their opinions.

The other contestants walk in and despite the judges negative comments of their standalone black wall, the contestants bar Josh & Jenna like it.

Polly & Waz are not happy with the sister’s grouting in the shower with Rod & Tania agreeing that Polly & Waz have done a better job!

And guess who’s next on the radar- Polly & Waz! We look at their week in review, a look at their score for the week, a tour and the judge’s comments in review before the rooms become open for inspection.

Katrina & Amie thinks their laundry is identical to their’s. Josh looks around quite stunned, but calls the room great. Jenna tells him to be honest and begins to argue with him, suggesting he isn’t showing his true opinions. Jenna thinks it is a display room bathroom.

The sisters don’t have good comments for it either.

So moving onto week losers, Josh & Jenna; we get a brief look of their week, a small tour of their room and again the judge’s comments in depth. Lastly, their room opens for inspection.

The sisters are first in and love the mirrors in the laundry. Polly doesn’t think the room looks done with Katrina feeling the mirror’s are off.

The contestants also notice that there is no water in the bathroom despite Josh being a plumber. Waz suggests he lied on his application form, haha.

After the break, we return to the dramas of this week by looking at a recap of the tumultuous week thus far.

This includes Katrina & Amie’s challenge win and fallout from the money grab twist.

The contestants all look flustered and bothered as they go around finishing their rooms and shopping.

What follows are clippits of old and new material from the week that’s been with the occasional look back at the host’s visit and some more opinions from the judges in the form of cutaway’s.

To me, this episode is like a fanzine spin-off show; and maybe one that does not deserve to be blended into the Friday timeslot; maybe best to distinguish itself from the other mainstream episodes by placing it elsewhere in the Nine schedule. I don’t know what they’d replace the 7PM timeslot with, but to me, this episode just doesn’t fit in with the others; and hey, if it isn’t meant to be a fanzine show, it’s definitely just a massive recap.

I like the idea of showing the Open for Inspection segments, but again, we’ve seen this integrated in an episode earlier in the week; and therefore, is it really needed again?

Still, for a fanzine show, you have to give credit where credit’s due, this show delivers in getting people to catch up on The Block (that begs the question; why did this Unlocked series of specials commence half way through the competition and not at the beginning? Seems a bit rushed together for me).

Courtney’s Verdict: 8.0/10

Don’t forget guys, I need your help! If you want to run this blog for a week in September and have the capacity to write even little reviews on some reality programs plus post them on Throng, I’d love to hear from you as I am unable to do so. Contact me via PM on this site, or through c_rose_luvy1980@hotmail.com. Thankyou for all who take on this volunteer work; it would mean a lot to me!