The Block

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!

A quick note before we begin, The Block Unlocked will be uploaded by 10.30pm AEST tonight or just a little after. Apologies for any inconvenience.

But before that, let’s recap the massive week it has been in reality television. We begin with The Block which, after moving to the new timeslot of 6.30pm Sunday, has now been extended to six episodes per week.

What a week to begin this with the contestants having to makeover their entire upstairs area (including an ensuite bathroom out of a master bedroom and a walk in wardrobe) bar Jenna & Josh whose house is double fronted and therefore features a master bedroom on the ground floor.

The week began sluggish in terms of storyline; but featured many twists that kept me entertained. After Tania & Rod took top spot on Sunday’s judgement day, the contestants were told to get stuck into their second storey with the added incentive of a $10,000 prize for the winning couple!

Moving onto Shelley’s wallpapering challenge, the sisters won this lovely yet drawn out challenge and got $3,000 for it. The twist in this? The $3000 must come from the other teams.

Controversially, the sisters decided to take $2,000 off of Josh & Jenna and $1,000 off of Rod & Tania, therefore ‘billing’ them $1,000 for every weekly win thus far and saving the broke Polly & Waz from an early finale.

As I said, the storytelling was sluggish, based around the budgetary problems of the contestants. I know budget plays a bit part in the game, but every episode we are some how or another reminded of this through the words and stress of the contestants; why did we need the best part of Monday and Tuesday’s episode to be based on this?

Scott’s challenge was a beauty as Polly & Waz paired with Josh & Jenna to go up against Tania & Rod and Katrina & Amie in a Salvation Army market sell-off. All the proceeds were to go to charity with the winning team earning the right for both its couples to have their corresponding eliminated team from week one return and help them on their house for a little while.

With that, Laura & Emily, Chrissy & Toby, Aaron & Shannon and Chris & Carrie returned to help their corresponding Block competitors on the stalls.

In the end, it was a failing-at-first team consisting of Josh & Jenna and Polly & Waz win the challenge. This meant that Aaron & Shannon returned to help Josh & Jenna and Chrissy & Toby returned to help Polly & Waz, mostly with their painting.

It was also a sad day with the departure of Laura & Emily & Chris & Carrie for what will probably be the final time.

But whatever twist The Block had, was no match to what MasterChef Australia had in store; however for most of the week, this show was doused in controversy.

On Sunday, things began smoothly with the contestants cooking for their biggest guest yet; the Dalai Lama! In the end, the vegetarian dish of Dani impressed, with Ellie, Billy & Kate’s dish getting the thumbs down (not from the Dalai Lama, of course) meaning possible elimination for the troubled trio.

On elimination night, Ellie gave up her immunity pin and saved herself from elimination however Billy pretty much spoilt the results nonetheless that morning on his twitter account and apparently, personal blog. As it happens, the only returning chef from this season went home for the second time.

On Tuesday night, Sunday Night winner Dani faced off for Immunity Pin #2 against Celebrity MasterChef winner Eamon Sullivan. In what some would call a one sided and unfair challenge, Dani did in fact win a second immunity pin, making MasterChef history!

On Wednesday, Kate, Michael & Hayden faced off against Alana, Ellie & Dani in a first class challenge of the lounge type; taking over a shift in Sydney Airport’s Qantas First Class Lounge. Neil Perry & Alan Joyce guest starred as judges in a challenge that saw Kate, Michael & Hayden of the blue team lose out to the red team and enter Thursday’s elimination.

Not much to say on Thursday except the fact that the stench of another MasterChef favourite leaving the kitchen was in the air. Hayden somehow managed to plate up a dish worse than Michael’s and Kate’s, sending the fan favourite surfer home.

Another MasterClass ended the week.

Top Design continued along ok. Suffering a drop in ratings, it seemed this show did nothing to improve on its first episode with a drawn out elimination process, too much focus on the planning of the room and not the actual implementation of the design, and somewhat choppy camerawork. Mary was sent home as this week’s eliminated contestant.

Australia’s Got Talent sent its first five contestants into the grand final; those being Jack Vidgen, Team Rocket, Ben Price, Instant Bun and David De Vito. From there, the last nine semi-finalists took to the stage in an epic performance that in my opinion has topped all others.

On The Amazing Race Australia, I was a little peeved that after a race through Jerusalem, there was a non-elimination pit-stop; however no doubt there will be many out there that are thankful that model’s Sam and Renae survive to see another week.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record; next week is just going to get BIGGER! Firstly, one team off The Block will become $10,000 richer after finishing what will be a gruelling week. I wonder what room will be next to be renovated?

With that, Top Design also continues on into its third week with another contestant facing the axe; but if this show doesn’t improve, it could be Top Design facing the axe altogether!

Australia’s Got Talent goes into its first part of a two part grand finale, by announcing the names of the final five acts to advance. What follows is sure to be a fanfare, and a brilliant beginning of the end of a truly top rating realty drama!

The Amazing Race heads to Sri Lanka where ahead of its grand finale, will DEFINITELY cut another team member loose. The three remaining teams then go on to battle it out in the grand finale.

On MasterChef, the road to finals week officially begins with five amateur cooks fighting for a place in that coveted week of competition. In the process, they will cook from home and meet some amazing chefs but on Thursday, ONE will leave to create a final four! It is sure to be riveting viewing.

…but maybe not as riveting as TEN’s new hopeful; The Renovators! This series is to debut TOMORROW with a lot of expectations weighing down on it due to it being a new take on a saturated genre, following off the back of MasterChef and pretty much following in the cooking show’s footsteps.

So, that’s what’s happening lately in reality television; I’ll be blogging throughout the week, but due to the amount of reality on, there may be some pre-emptions:

SUNDAY- No pre-emptions

MONDAY- MasterChef, The Renovators and The Amazing Race Australia blogged and should be up same night however The Block may be delayed until Tuesday afternoon.

TUESDAY- I will try to avoid any delays, but if any show will be delayed, it will be The Renovators.

WEDNESDAY- I have no choice but to make it all same night.

THURSDAY- No Pre-emptions.

FRIDAY – No Pre-emptions.

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 hearing about the budgetary issues of the contestants until the cows came home yesterday, tonight’s Scotty’s challenge special should hopefully break things up a bit because I can tell you, for the ratings this show is getting, it just hasn’t captivated me as much as it should have over the past week.

We begin the episode with a storm and I swear the bolt of lightning behind the houses was fake! Either way, the rain is sure real and it’s coming down quite hard and for the double storey houses without roofs, it’s getting into all of their rooms!

The contestants continue to complain about their money and I guess it’s an important part of the show, but it sure is a boring topic.

Anyway, the contestants all get a text message meaning they all have to go to Scott’s workshop for yet another challenge.

When they arrive, there are benches full of old looking items. The sisters think it will be a market style challenge.

Tomorrow morning, at 6am, they will be opining market stalls in Melbourne’s biggest market (I missed the name). There will be two teams going head to head. Josh & Jenna and Polly & Waz will form one team with the sisters and Tania & Rod forming the other. They will be selling their hearts out to raise as much money as possible. Everything they earned will be going to the Salvation Army.

They will go to the Salvation Army, collect as much stuff as they can and sell it all. The team who makes the biggest profit wins. And here comes the product placements in the form of an online website plug for Gumtree where we can look out for bargains like the contestants have.

This website will donate $5000 to the winning team ($2,500 per pair) and with that happy news, they all drive towards, not the Salvo’s, but to the block!

Scott tells them they have to pick something up at their houses and they all go to stand in front of their gates. They all confusedly stand in front of their gates, waiting for their door to open and as Scotty calls ‘Come on out’, the doors open to reveal, after a break and a huge recap, the four teams who were eliminated in week one! Wow, what the hell are they doing there?

Chris from team Chris & Carrie teases that their house may not be their house for long! But he can’t reveal too much!

The contestants are shocked with Waz thinking they’ve all been given the boot, but most contestants are happy.

Scott calls them all out and tells them that the eliminated contestants will help the teams raise money.

Each eliminated pair will be put on the team which contains the pair who won against them in week one, so Shannon & Aaron and Chrissy and Toby will join Josh & Jenna and Polly & Waz with Chris & Carrie and Laura & Emily joining Katrina & Amie and Rod & Tania.

So the team who wins the challenge will also keep their old competitor pair for two days! This could solve heaps of problems, but for me, it’s just great to see Laura & Emily back on our screens!

The contestants all move off to brainstorm names and selling ideas. Both teams seem to function well and it could be a tight contest.

Both teams have been lent a van which they can fill with Salvo’s items for the sale. Team members from each team rush into the store and pick up whatever they can with Rod & Tania even taking a display stand of brochures! Chris follows suit and begins to take odd things as well.

For some reason, Carrie takes a pram!

Tania grabs a heap of clothes while Chrissy has her hands on suitcases. With a minute to go, Josh grabs some books with Chris grabbing CD’s. Jenna thinks they will kill it in the competition.

Meanwhile, Polly & Waz head to Mitre Ten to find a microphone but the man tells them that they can just make one.

So, Polly with a microphone isn’t the smartest idea and her constant ‘screaming’ soon gets on the nerves of Aaron.

Meanwhile, it seems Katrina, Amie, Laura and Emily just go out for some coffee and snacks. They then go to a clearance store to pick up heaps of freebies in what seems like a smart idea! They load the small corolla’s up before leaving.

After a break, we arrive at Market Day and the contestants all arrive at just later than 5am in the morning with all teams complaining about the early waking. They all get to the market place and are stunned to see people already set up.

Both teams are situated next to each other, so Polly quickly whips out her megaphone and attracts a bit of attention.

Rod’s way of attracting people is dressing up in a clown uniform and going around with a few balloons. Chrissy for one is quite impressed with his efforts. He is in the heat of things, able to attract people with children to their stand.

Team one immediately notice that Rod’s stunt is dragging customers his way, so go to drastic measures to expose themselves to potential buyers, including ditching the marquee.

But team two don’t just have Rod the clown, Laura and Emily have invited their emcee friend and his PA system to keep them all coming. The added team member really aggravates the other team as their stall becomes empty; void of customers.

To revolt, Chrissy and Jenna decide to unplug the microphone from the PA system with Rod commenting on Team one’s clowning around, haha. Loving this episode so far; but is it too predictable?

After a break, there is yet another recap before returning to the markets for the action. There are three hours left and Katrina & Amie are very happy with their efforts.

Team one as a whole are not having much luck at all. They all have a team meeting before Scott tells them to get out of their stall and FIND people. They heed his advice and decide to go out to sell raffle tickets.

Scott Cam is on hand for any auctions to take place. Team one helps out team one with their raffle auction with great success. With one hour to go, it’s time for the teams to step up to the plate and WIN THIS THING.

They all go hard and by the look of things, they are all just pooped and spent. Time is soon up and Rod explains that he is all clowned out.

Both teams have a lot of money and are both happy with how much they raised for the Salvation Army. As they calculate their money, Scott is surprised at how much they have all raised.

He then calls them together before congratulating them and telling them what is on the line.

The winning team has raised $479 more than the other team, as announced by Scott, to the surprise of the contestants.

Somehow, team one are able to pull of the win and I cannot believe that AT ALL! All four pairs are happy, but this does mean that Laura & Emily and Chris & Carrie are to leave again.

Overall, the cast rose over $3,000 for the Salvation Army, plus the $5,000 donated by Gumtree.

That’s a job well done in by books.

After the break, we join Scott as he and Shelley go around inspecting all the rooms thus far this week. First up is Josh & Jenna and after looking at the crazy week they have had, the host’s walk in and are happy with the space that they have.

Jenna tells them about her artistic ideas for the room before they look at their ensuite bathroom with Shelley absolutely loving it. Shelley just can’t get over it actually!

Next to be inspected is Katrina & Amie’s upstairs room. They immediately notice that work hasn’t begun on their stairs, but stuff is happening in their master bedroom and ensuite bathroom. First to the ensuite, and the hosts are equally impressed however Shelley doesn’t exactly like the look of just one basin.

Scott loves the shampoo shelf before they move onto the bedroom.

Not much work has happened but Shelley is happy that they are wallpapering!

They both promise that a lot of work is in store for tomorrow.

Next up are Polly & Waz and after yet another look of their week that has been, the hosts come in to inspect their master bedroom. Scott and Shelley are impressed at the fact they have build their own shelves. They also love the pair’s cityscape theme but Scott is thankful that they will be having help from the other couple as they have too much to do!

Rod and Tania are next and it isn’t a big recap at all before the hosts come up to inspect their rooms. First up is the ensuite bathroom and Scott loves the glass and notices Rod’s stash of tools.

They go out to look at the Master Bedroom and with all the glasswork, Rod jokes to Scott that he will be putting mirrors everywhere by the study, to Scott’s surprise and imminent relief.

After the break, Polly & Waz and Josh & Jenna get their prize; help from their eliminated competitors. Polly & Waz gets Chrissy & Toby on the job with Aaron and Shannon on the job for Josh & Jenna.

The twins Laura & Emily and Chris & Carrie leave the block for probably the last time (and only time I just remembered) and don’t seem to miss it at all.

Aaron gets on the paint roller as Jenna has a bit of a nap. Meanwhile, Chrissy begins painting for Polly & Waz with Polly barking orders at her that would be SO annoying. Yet again, she just reminds me of The Circle’s Chrissie Swan!

Toby begins to paint the awnings and edges and something he does seems to capture the laughter of Waz.

Meanwhile, the losing teams of Rod & Tania and Katrina & Amie get on with their painting without any help. They contemplate the twin’s commitment to the challenge considering they really wanted to go home, haha.

Anyway, Katrina is ‘happy for the winning teams’… not.

So with that, the episode is over, and finally, a wonderful episode returning to the previous glory this show was showing before this week. Loved the humour of the episode more than any other episode and absolutely LOVED seeing the eliminated contestants return for an absolutely brilliant challenge.

A MUCH better episode and one Nine can pat themselves on the back with!

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.0/10

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!

I won’t explain too much, but looking at the promos, the only good thing about tonight other than the challenge would have to be a BIG dummy spit with Josh against foreman Keith. I must say, if that Keith guy just toned down a bit, I may not have been on Josh’s side!

Apparently, today marks the half way mark and with contestants already tired, bills begin to pour in and people are getting aggravated.

We get a bit of a recap of Josh & Jenna’s triumph over the challenges and the backlash to this- and Jenna’s backlash to the backlash! Jenna is annoyed that people aren’t supportive of their wins, making her curse them and want to win more! So I thought this recap was going somewhere, but from this recap, we just go straight into budgetary issues of the contestants! Whaaa-? Doesn’t make sense.

Apparently, Josh & Jenna have no more money and the other teams, particularly Polly & Waz, are a little confused at this, but with the bills coming in; they are in fact, in a bit of a budgetary pickle. Yet, Polly & Waz are able to afford builders, tilers, and other tradies within the $3,500 budget, causing Polly to brand them cheaters, but Polly & Waz explain that their tradies work at a reasonable wage and their main builder Shiran, has contacts that can work on command.

I think this entire scene is trying to increase the amount of bickering going on in the episode.

We FINALLY get to the part where we see how far each team has come with Polly & Waz well in budget and feeling confident yet again.

In Josh & Jenna’s house, Josh takes out a wall showing all these different model airplanes and decides to keep it and turn it into an artwork piece. We look at their master bedroom and it looks like an interesting design including lights on hooks and a standalone mirror. I don’t know if I like the idea.

Meanwhile, Josh is trying to keep out of the room as the amount of tradies in there is not only causing a space problem, but also a huge tension storm! He can’t seem to co-ordinate them properly.

We return after the break with a recap of Rod & Tania’s win on Sunday, but Scott tells us that this win has been short lived with their plasterer leaving the scene after finding out that he would be plastering on level two. They enlist the help of some young tradies (including their son) who agree to work for lower pay, despite the fact they don’t know how to plaster!

Katrina & Amie are not happy with the fact that they have a family member helping them when they had to struggle through a week of tradie walk-outs. Anywho, they are both out window shopping and they find some fittings and fixtures, but seem to struggle a bit with money. They end up agreeing to create their own bed head.

We have a look at their plans thus far, and although they look good, their bill comes in at over $3,100. They ask Keith for help in getting a better deal and he tells them to call him and negotiate.

Meanwhile, Josh is not happy with his tiling bill as the blokes that did it did not work hard at all.

It turns out to be $6,000; a figure that bewilders even their enemies, Polly & Waz.

He doesn’t know if the bill can be negotiated but the contestants nor Keith are optimistic that he can get a better bill. Keith does however think the price is way too high and advises him to argue the bill. Apparently, after the break, Keith won’t be so kind to Josh as Josh does something to piss him off! But what in the world did Joshy boy do?

So after the break, Rod and Tania are out buying a bed for their master bedroom, but aren’t having good luck. Jenna is also out shopping for fittings while Josh is at home working on the room.

Meanwhile, Katrina & Amie are ringing the plumber to negotiate the invoice with some promising news. Polly & Waz has nothing interesting going on in their lives with Waz’s biggest concerns being Polly’s nail biting; but when he confronts her, it seems a little scripted.

Katrina & Amie bring their pillow in to their room shrouded in secret, and they love the fact that it has a cockatoo on it; hoping it shows their ‘cocky’ side… get it?!

Meanwhile, the windows for the upstairs master bedrooms have arrived. Meanwhile, Josh and Keith begin their biff with Keith annoyed that Josh thinks the rules don’t apply to him. Also, Keith needs his plumbers to rough in gas lines through the house and with them being paid by Keith; Josh doesn’t seem to move his plaster for them to get through despite the small job it would be for Josh to do. The plumber not doing anything is already costing Keith $1,000.

He confronts Josh about moving the plaster but Josh thinks he doesn’t have time. Keith doesn’t take this as an excuse and becomes frustrated with Josh continuously declining to do it on Keith’s demand. Josh wanted notice, but Keith says he has given notice.
Keith also claims that on a normal job, anyone who doesn’t comply with him would be fired and Josh asks him quite cockily if he will kick Josh off the show! What a retard; just bloody move it!

I think it is Josh’s word against Keith but Josh seems to think Keith’s management skills isn’t good and Keith tells him not to ask for any more favours!

After the break, we get a recap on everything that resulted in nothing happening, so Keith and the plumbers decide to move it against Josh’s notice. Josh still thinks he is abusing his power. Josh finally comes to help and in future Keith wants Josh to be quicker with Josh wanting him to be more organised.

Josh continues to be a smartarse and Keith calls the plumbers out! No hot water for Josh! He makes a smartarse remark of Keith not getting Scotty Cam’s job with that attitude. Haha, what a tosser.

Polly & Waz are shopping with the sisters catching up with them (scaring Polly in the process) and they discuss the budgetary issues of Josh & Jenna who now have budgetary and management issues!

They think they are going to run into debt and they decide to watch their finances.

They sit down to get things into order and are waiting on a bank statement to shed light on the dilemma.

Katrina & Amie are also sorting out their finances, receipts covering a flustered Katrina. Even with the cheap fittings, they will only have $2,000 LEFT to complete the whole remainder of The Block! They need to return some things, or face going home.

But, if they win the week, Polly & Waz will be going home, with $1,400 left. So now both teams’ backs are against the wall!

They just hope they can win the week.

To end the episode on a high; we look at the team’s thoughts on the block thus far. Also, Josh & Jenna get their bank balance back and find that they have a heap of money!

Katrina & Amie finish their $60 bed head and hope it wins the week.

Also, in a bit of a horrible product placement moment, Josh & Jenna decide to order ‘healthy food’ from Woolworths and the camera man even shows us through the process on how to order online! Seriously, getting the contestants to do this defeats the purpose of ‘reality’!

Polly & Waz get their hot water going, the first team to do so, and are very happy.

So it seems in the last five minutes, more stuff has happened than the other 55! This is of course with Polly & Waz getting hot water, Katrina & Amie finishing their bed head and Josh & Jenna ordering healthy food in the name of product placing! The rest of the episode was based around boring budgetary issues and a pointless and arrogant argument! To be honest, for the content in the episode, I don’t see the need for a whole hour! It needs to be shortened and while the ad breaks were OK, the content was far from. I concede that this episode was worse than yesterday’s.

Courtney’s Verdict: 3.9/10

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!

Last night, sisters Katrina & Amie won Shelley’s wallpaper challenge giving them a huge prize with a huge twist; $3,000- coming straight from the contestant’s bank balance! But what team (or teams) will they choose? It’s going to be a saucy episode!

We open the episode with a montage of Melbourne before we go into Katrina & Amie’s house for their day-after thoughts on their win yesterday. They are still in quite good spirits. Polly & Waz on the other hand are hoping the sister’s don’t take their money away as that will only leave them with $50.00 in total over the remainder of the competition.

Josh & Jenna won an extra $10,000 over their two wins but with bigger rooms, they think it wouldn’t be fair to take it all off of them. They say that if they do, it will be all out war.

Rod & Tania are also quite nervous that they are in the firing line.

Meanwhile, big bad foreman Keith has come over to Josh & Jenna’s house and has noticed a huge pile up of rubbish in their front yard, and he wants it cleaned up! Josh plans to clean it up and Keith seems happy but tells him not to forget.

Josh gets on to clean up the mess with Jenna helping him. They seem quite happy when they do it and it all seems to be working out well, but time is ticking down.

Meanwhile, knowing they will soon be richer, Katrina & Amie head down to a wallpaper shop to buy some expensive wallpaper. Hmm, maybe the challenge rubbed off on them. I must say, the wallpaper in this room looks divine.

We return to Rod & Tania’s house where again, they are doing most of the construction work themselves. Tania is not happy that she’s the only woman working when the rest are out shopping, hoping that the sisters don’t take the money off of them.

When we return from a break, we are reminded for the third time about Katrina & Amie’s win before we head into the corporate body meeting where they are about to make their decision. Katrina tells us that she is being fair today and holds no regrets as they want to build a room with as much money as possible.

We hear some final comments from the contestants as to why they may not take the money off of them (and an argument yet again from Jenna & Josh) before Katrina & Amie rock up and the contestant’s plead to the sisters with Polly & Waz’s sob story making Jenna & Josh angry (BTS of course). After dragging their decision out for about 10 minutes, we finally find out they have decided to, after 30 more seconds of deliberation and an ad break plus some more last minute comments from Polly & Waz (Polly saying if ‘they did come back and do that (take the $3,000 from them) suggesting that they won’t do that) take $2,000 from Josh & Jenna and $1,000 from Tania & Rod as this is the ratio in winning money these two teams have won (Josh & Jenna winning 2 weeks and Rod & Tania winning 1 week and are therefore charged $1,000 per week).

We hear a few after-verdict comments with Polly & Waz happy, Jenna & Josh bitter (VERY bitter) and Rod & Tania quite happy with the decision, calling it fair.

So with Jenna & Josh sniping off at the camera and Rod & Tania being very supportive of the decision, it’s easy to see who the bigger team is. Seriously, Jenna needs to grow up, she says herself- she isn’t angry that they are taking $2,000, she is angry that they took nothing from Polly & Waz, but even Rod & Tania know it is fair.

They also said a few weeks ago that they would happily like to send a competitor home, so I guess she is just annoyed that their decision is keeping Polly & Waz in the competition.

After a break, we get a recap of events, seeing Rod happily getting up and joking about having to make up $1,000 and he goes around asking for $1,000. He then goes to withdraw the money and hands it over to the girls in very good spirits.

Josh & Jenna are in no hurry to give them money, but as the sisters need to pay some tradies, they go over to hurry the couple along. Josh says the $10,000 hasn’t come in, but it has, so they head down to grab some out and with Jenna hoping the fact that they can’t get $2,000 out at the same time, with only $1,000 being able to be withdrawn at a time, will save them from paying it all now, but the sisters realise they have 2 cards, and can withdraw $1,000 each. Ba Booowwwm.

Jenna is unhappy with the verdict, planning to sob story her way through the last few weeks of competition, hoping no one else will take money off her and win the whole thing in the end.

With a few video diary entries ending the episode with MORE views on the twist, we just have to wait for tomorrow for another fix.

So another The Block episode done and for some reason, despite the half hour episode, Nine have managed to cram the episode full of ad breaks, constant drawing out of events, recaps and stupid opinions from contestants about the twist being reiterated over and over and over again. In fact, it seems that the half hour episode was based around 5 minutes of actual action which involved the sisters announcing something! Not happy at all, and a very boring episode all round.

Courtney’s Verdict: 4.5/10

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!

With judgement on the laundry and bathroom over, the contestants will tonight move on to room four, but they may not like this week any more as they renovate upstairs (except for Jenna & Josh) in the master bedroom, ensuite and walk in wardrobe. It all starts off with a challenge before we get into another gruelling week of The Block!

We begin with a quick recap before Scott stands out front of Luna Park, telling us about the $10,000 on offer for this week’s winners. So after conquering the hardest room of the house, how will the contestants muster up the energy to work on an entire level?

Well Josh & Jenna, who have a double fronted house, don’t have an upstairs area and will therefore be working in a completely different layout to the other teams.

After a hard week last week, they move into the room with more arguments as to where things will go. Luckily, it isn’t too vicious, but this usually unbeatable team came last, last week and will need to get a leg along to work off the ‘chump’ T-shirt.

Polly & Waz are the first double storey house couple to move upstairs to see what they will be working on. They are working on whether they go all out on the room to hopefully guarantee a $10,000 win, or play it safe and save money for next week.

Rod & Tania walk upstairs happy with what they have to work with and they don’t seem to argue as much as Josh & Jenna. Rod knows there’s a lot to do inside a week, but they seem happy for now.

The sisters, who had a really bad week last week, now move upstairs but they were able to scrape a BIG something out of nothing, so they should do alright last week. Katrina thinks she is much more organised this week than last week with Amie also quite optimistic about the week and the budget.

They have a few ideas, but know there is a lot riding on this week and it has to be theirs to win.

Scott groups them up for today’s challenge and wonders if they are in shock from their job this week. They are actually all in denial. Scott shows them their big job ahead, making a point that this will be the biggest week ever (in terms of ground covered). So this week’s challenge is also a beauty.
They all head downstairs and to the challenge site where Shelley is waiting for them!

The contestants all arrive at a dock with Shelley waiting for them down the path. She tells them that like always, this week they will teach them new skills. Who likes to hang wallpaper?

The contestants are a bit daunted by the challenge with Waz saying he’s been too busy.

As it turns out, they will all be wallpapering a huge mobile billboard. Jenna & Josh, who wallpapered in their last house, know how many hours it took.

Shelley tells them that they have an hour to wallpaper and after that, they will be driving somewhere in the mobile billboard!

And what are they fighting for? $3,000! And you better believe it, these cash strapped contestants need all the money they can get.

The contestants begin their challenge by deciphering their wallpaper sets into a picture (the different pieces of wallpaper are pieces of a larger puzzle). Each contestant’s set of wallpaper have their faces on it! So there will be big heads of each of the contestants on the billboards.

The contestants begin to work out their puzzle and because it is such thin paper and it is quite a windy day, the puzzle pieces are just blowing everywhere.

On Polly & Waz’s team, Polly is putting glue on the wallpaper as Waz slaps it on the board.

Tania & Rod have never wallpapered before and are having troubled but the only team that seems to have had some experience on wallpapering, Josh & Jenna, are arguing again with Josh wanting to get the job done and Jenna wanting it to be done perfectly.

On Polly & Waz’s team, their first piece of wallpaper sticks together! How the hell will they get out of this one? Bloody wind!

Somehow, they manage to pull it apart with Shelley saying ‘shit, that was close’. Haha, her funniest quote to date.

The sisters on the other hand have go their first piece done and have a good routine going but Rod & Tania are having the same problem as Polly & Waz with their wallpaper and Rod is getting quite annoyed.

They have 40 minutes to go and there really isn’t much happening however most teams have at least one side done.

Jenna & Josh have a routine going, but there are still a few quarrels here and there. Polly & Waz on the other hand are well into it!

With half an hour to go, the contestants must now be half way done, but they aren’t! They need to get a move along, and with the added pressure, there’s a few comments from Jenna & Rod, not too happy with their partners.

Polly & Waz have now got their heads up with Shelley telling them to take a ‘good look at themselves’, haha, love it!

The sisters have messed up Amie’s head on the billboard with a piece of wallpaper a little out of place.

Jenna has found a huge bubble in a piece of wallpaper and wants to redo it to Josh’s dismay. There’s a bit of a scuffle before Jenna just rips it off for some reason.

When we return from a break, we get an aerial shot of how everything is going and it seems to be all running quite well with wallpapering nearly done.

The sisters aren’t stressing at all, singing songs probably copyrighted by Play School, explaining the relaxed atmosphere.

Polly & Waz, while not intending to wallpaper their rooms, need the money and get right into it.

The sisters are now rocking out to Party Rock Anthem as the glue seems to make them go crazy.

Rod & Tania are picking up their pace now with only 15 minutes to go to get their job done. With five pieces to go, they have 3 minutes per panel, but they might not have enough time!

The sisters even just try to get them all on fast and not too careful.

Polly & Waz are taking 5 minutes per piece but have quite a bit to do, so they need to hurry up. Meanwhile, Josh & Jenna are nearly finished with a piece or two to go. They notice that Polly & Waz’s board is a bit behind, but in better shape.

Rod is also having troubles, not able to put a piece down properly and costing time.

Gosh, another ad break, really annoying now!

When we return, Shelley gives us an update on where they are all up to at the 10 minute mark and in my opinion, this wouldn’t be needed without that ad break. Seriously, this challenge is dragging out quite a bit! Does it need to be an hour long?

Josh and Jenna finish before Polly & Waz get their last piece on. The sisters have two pieces left with Tania & Rod still a bit behind.

With two minutes remaining, the sisters finish and Rod & Tania paste their last piece with Shelley asking whether it will be champ week for them (as opposed to chump week). With a minute to go, they try to straighten out their last piece and after adding some more glue; they only JUST get the piece in! I must say, for a mundane challenge, that was a suspenseful ending!

They quickly finish off with a bit of cleaning before Shelley calls tools down. Polly & Waz think they’ve done a good job. Shelley tells them that it is time to go for a drive to find out who will win the $3000.

They all get in and drive through Melbourne (I guess to promote the series coming to Melbourne, no doubt) and it seems like more of a behind the scene’s of a promotional run than a challenge.

They turn onto a highway, and stuff gets serious! Oh, another ad break!

After the break, Shelley admits it was shameless self promotion, haha. Anyway, the contestants arrive at a racecourse (I reckon it is probably a famous one I’m not getting right now) where Scott and Shelley now go to judge the wallpaper job by counting up the imperfections on each panel. We hear a few comments and thoughts from the hosts before they come back to reveal their verdict.

The winning team who gets $3000 are Katrina & Amie (and if we look back at a few cutaways, we can see this happening). This would be a huge confidence booster to the hardened team.

Scott then tells them that he doesn’t have $3,000 on them, so the sisters will be getting their money- FROM THE NEIGHBOURS!

What- what an awesome twist! I love it, and they have 24 hours to wonder over it. Each team don’t think they should be targets with Josh & Jenna thinking they shouldn’t go for the team with the most money! Why not? Because it’s you? NO WAY!

If the girls take the money off Polly & Waz, Scott tells us they will be packing their bags and going home! I don’t think this REALLY going to happen.

So a pretty good episode capped off with a brilliant twist at the end, but this show lacks the quality of filling time. There’s too many ad breaks, too many cutaways and too many recaps. Seriously, I have nothing against one hour timeslots, but FILL IT with something, or discard it! But other than that, I enjoyed this episode thoroughly.

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!

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.5/10

With a brand new Sunday timeslot, The Block is about to get bigger! Tonight, the contestants have their hardest rooms to date completed and judged before our very eyes. If you ask me, if anyone pulls off a good score; I’m going to be damned surprised!

We begin with Scott telling us that the renovated houses are taking shape with the house extensions done, exterior dressings underway and upper levels on the mend. The contestants begin to choose their exterior dressings and some of them look very good.

But now we head inside where the contestants are working on the most ‘gruelling and expensive rooms to date’.

Josh & Jenna are hell bent on winning this week which will be the third week in a row. Their main goal is ‘eliminating’ a contestant by plunging them into debt. Their mirror cabinet however, is causing them a few headaches, not fitting in the room. Jenna will continue to paint walls while others deal with it! Ok, Jenna, good luck with that!

Polly & Waz however seem to be cruising along, happy enough to be singing along to music and getting a move along.

The problem stricken sisters who have managed to do a turnaround, now have a full team of workers, leaving them time to do their hair and buy some shoes! Ok, girls, way to take advantage of a good situation. In their sake, I think they deserve it!

Meanwhile, the Rod & Tania problem of fixing their floorboards ready for the mammoth bath seems to not be too much of a problem with the bathtub going in anyway. All looks good at Jenna & Josh’s house as well as a few tweaks sees their cabinet finally fit into the room.

We look back at the sister’s problems and eventual breakdown earlier in the week before we see them now cruising along nicely.

And remember the boy’s making that bet that the team who lose this week’s judgement day will have to wear a ‘chump’ t-shirt? Well, it’s still on and the contestants are all convinced they won’t be wearing it!

Meanwhile, Polly & Waz are out shopping, and with attention to detail, they are making sure they buy the perfect stuff. When they drive home, sleep deprivation sets in with the couple unable to find their way out of the car park easily and Polly spilling a drink uncoordinatedly.

Meanwhile, at 5pm with an hour left before curfew, Polly & Waz finish their structural part of the room and are now onto the ‘final stages’. The other contestants now battle it out to get it all done but with high spirits.

We hear some final thoughts from the contestants as the sun sets and judgement day looming!

Near midnight, Jenna now realises that people have been walking on the new tiles without care, making them dirty. No Jenna, the tradies don’t care at all!

After the break, we move into competition day and it’s an early day for some people as they put the final touches to their rooms. Some contestants have only had an hour or two sleep with Jenna feeling sick as she finishes the ceiling.

With 30 minutes remaining, the sister’s are now putting in their new appliances into their laundry with the dryer not really fitting. Polly & Waz are just cruising with the buffing of the floor the last thing to do.

Only a few minutes left and the contestants are all just cleaning and perfecting their rooms as Scott comes and announces TIME UP! But not before another outburst from Jenna.

They all come out of their houses and stand before Scotty who works out who is chirpy and exhausted! He appreciates the tough week, but it is now over, and they must now move of to the warehouse as judging takes place.
Neil and John rock up and first up is Jenna & Josh’s house. We look at a recap of their problems (including their wrong plans) before seeing a nice before and after montage and the judge’s rock up.

They like the mirrors of the bathroom and the storage is great but their presentation is not good at all with dirt on the shelves and a light not fitted properly.

They also love the bathtub but there are a few crusty edges. They also like the mirrors, the tile colour, basin, toilet and shower calling it a modern room saying the couple have a good eye.

Next up are confident couple Polly & Waz; but will their confidence translate into points?

It sure looks good, but to the judges. They find a note that tells them that the house WILL have a bath, but in the off suite so they shouldn’t expect one. They say it’s not ‘wow’, but it is good, saying it is their best room of the competition. They love the cupboards and presentation but the pot plant in the corner does not go down well.

After a tough week, it is time for the judgement of Katrina & Amie. Can they prove their old tradie wrong and deliver a good room?

They enter and immediately call it great. They call their laundry signature and neat and love their quirkiness.

They don’t like the placement of the cupboards and also find a hinge missing! Again, it isn’t a ‘wow’ room but there are a few good points, including the bench top. There’s a checkered towel and black wall that doesn’t go well and in the bathroom, there is another plant that doesn’t work well.

They also find their mirror kickboard which confuses them, but overall, they score well on design.

After the break, we get a really unnecessary recap of the episode thus far, but now Rod & Tania, the last room, is about to be judged!

They had a few problems this week with the foreman, as we see in a recap, but will this translate into a poor room, or will Rod escape having to wear a chump T-shirt?

The judges enter and call the laundry ‘cool’ and ‘swish’ and are enjoying the storage. They also like the disco lighting near the mirror in the laundry.

They call the bathroom a ‘strong first impression’, loving the impact of the bench (which has a very modern wavy design to it) and they also love the storage, floor tiling and bath.

The orchard they have is also not a hit, with pot plants obviously not being a judges favourite. With that, judging is over and they debrief with Scott where we find out one team has received the highest score of the season!

The contestants enter the warehouse in front of the blackboard and Scott also enters. He tells them that judging is over and the judges have been impressed and amazed. He congratulates the contestants on this; saying their rooms have been stylish like the Toyota Corolla (I know they are providing the $5000 prize, but really guys, a product placement that obvious is not good).

So to the scoring and first up, design.

He gives each team a few of the comments from the judges before scoring them. There’s an ad break between Josh & Jenna’s comment announcement and scoring which is a bit out of place but in the end, they score a seven out of ten.

Polly & Waz also get a seven out of ten with Katrina & Amie scoring the same- wow, a close competition. The sisters incorrectly think 7 is the highest score achieved yet but I do recall one team getting 7 and a half.

With such a good review, Rod & Tania get a score of seven (I really don’t get that at all; they get really good reviews from judges and the others get way worse comments and still only get a seven).

With all teams now tied, Scott turns the board to mark the execution and add up the scores. He mutters a few judging comments with a bit of a funny cheek as he does it.

After the break, he flips the board around to show that for execution, Josh & Jena got 5, Polly & Waz and Katrina & Amie got 6 and Rod & Tania scored the highest score to date; an 8. This means:

TANIA & ROD: 15

POLLY & WAZ, KATRINA & AMIE: 13

JOSH & JENNA: 12

…and Josh & Jenna will be wearing the ‘chump’ T-shirt! Tania & Rod are happy to win with Katrina & Amie feeling good after a crap week.
We hear some final comments before Scott reveals, he has ordered ‘I am a chump’ and ‘I’m with chump’ t-shirts finished.

Now for next week, and he tells them to sit down. Next week, they will need to smash it out and do their entire top level- the master bedroom, walk in wardrobe and ensuite! But for their hard efforts, Toyota will provide a $10,000 prize for next week, double the usual!

So in a move different to what I expected; the contestants are now allowed to go and judge the other team’s rooms for themselves with a few positive comments and a few negative comments (namely Rod & Tania’s sinks which has the water splash on the bench and drain out the back).

So a pretty good episode, definitely worth an hour on the couch but again, maybe a bit too much recapping, especially half way through the episode reminding us of what we have JUST scene. The look back at the week that was is good, but again, I feel like we see a five minute recap of the first team’s week and a 2 second recap of the last.

Also, product placement guys! Not a fan!

Courtney’s Verdict: 7.5/10

So another HUGE week of reality television has come to a close, and when I thought I was out of the woods; television world told me not to worry, because the onslaught is about to roughen up over the next couple of weeks!

Let’s begin with a recap of the week that’s been by starting off discussing Dancing with the Stars! On Sunday, a three hour finale saw Manu Feildel take the winner’s trophy, beating bookies favourite Haley Bracken and my personal favourite Damien Leith. It was a lengthy affair; and personally, I can’t recall half of the show due to the fact half of it was insignificant! But it does wrap up a controversial year and yes, at times I have been critical of the show pumping itself up as being a ‘controversial’ program using its own footage and footage of Seven public affairs programs to try to back up its point; but all in all, it will be one season to remember!

Speaking of things to remember, it surely was a week to remember for MasterChef as all eight remaining contestants jetsetted off to New York City; what some may call the cuisine capital of the world! There, they visited multiple places on their own to find inspirational aspects from all walks of NY and blend it into a specific dish. This challenge left Sun in lockdown and after having to cater for a massive UN dinner, Billy joined her.

And so soon after Dani won an immunity pin (of course losing it soon after), what do you know, New York worked its magic on Ellie! An elimination regular, she won this challenge of all challenges giving her an immunity pin! With only a few weeks left of the competition, Ellie sure has rocketted up the ranks of MasterChef season three to become a frontrunner for finale.

Then, the most memorable task in my opinion of the entire SERIES; seeing the judges’ faces light up on the big screen in Times Square to announce that all contestants must hunt down a recipe, race back to the Four Seasons Restaurant and cook it! In the mad rush of things, both Dani and Hayden joined Sun & Billy in elimination.

The elimination was held at the iconic Sylvia’s restaurant. Overall, the dishes were all pretty underwhelming (except for Billy’s which was praised highly by Sylvia Wood’s descendents) but it was Sun, after failing to prepare things on time, who was ultimately kicked out on a high.

It was a cruel week, if not a memorable one, but if you thought it could not get any better, think again…

Meanwhile, the ‘finale showdown’ on Australia’s Got Talent kicked off with a mirage of talent including acts such as Instant Bun, Majestic and little Jack Vidgen and those larger-than-life teeth. The nine acts amazed Australia and we are all chomping at the bit to see who made it through!

On The Amazing Race Australia; a trip through the Middle East that saw contestants dig for keys, play Matkok, read their partner’s mind and drive a massive truck was too much for bikers Dave & Kelly to muster, and the iconic team were sent home in fifth place.

The Block fired up for its third week (fourth in total) as contestants tackled the bathroom and laundry; the first ‘wet room’ of the season. What is considered the hardest room in the house, it sure did create tension, not just between contestants, but between tradies and foremen as well.

Josh & Jen won week two before winning both Shelley’s plumbing task AND Scott’s tiling task. This segregated them from the group as the other exhausted contestants gave up on the arrogant team.

Katrina & Amie hit lows after their new plans for a bathroom were scrapped; taking them back to an old plan that detailed a bathroom without a bath! But that was the least of their worries. Further into the week, their tradie staged a strike after not being paid, leaving an unfinished room for the girls to find. Later in the day, the girls also found out that they had been slugged $7,000 a week by the unruly tradie before a wet sealer who was supposed to finish off the base of their shower rejected to do the job on the grounds that the room wasn’t ready for it.

Now a day behind schedule, the girls broke down. The week did get better for them as they mustered together a new team of professionals who in turn called their own professionals to help. What a relief, but can they get it all done on time?

The week ended in an Unlocked special which saw contestants enter OTHER contestant’s homes for the first time to see their progress. Utilising judge’s comments and personal tastes, they all gave a critique on each other’s rooms. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as negative as I’d thought it would be with most contestants happy, if not surprised or delighted at their opponent’s room styles.

To the new kid on the block, Top Design, and while it was a rushed and somewhat unneatly packaged affair, it debuted with a simple premise and a fun challenge with lovely results at the worst of times.

The contestant known as Craig will be forever known as the ‘first contestant to be eliminated off Top Design’ as he was eliminated after a challenge involving them all to split up into pairs and renovate a shipping container. His partner for the week, Jo is still in the competition.

Wow, with so much reality, I hope I haven’t missed anything there as we preview what is ahead.

Well, first off, The Block extends to a new night of Sunday at 6.30pm. I look down the schedule and everything else looks the same with hour episodes on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and Shelley’s challenge moved to Monday. I have to wonder if this extra timeslot will saturate the show. Maybe in this whirlwind season it won’t, but it is an ambitious move nonetheless, one that has just crept up out of nowhere.

Can Josh & Jenna win another room, or maybe sweep all three challenges of the week? If so, it will be one hell of a s**tstorm! After judgement day on Sunday, contestants sweep into their fourth room with two more challenges coming from the hosts. It sure will be one hell of a week on The Block.

Looking at MasterChef, and remember when I said ‘if you thought things could not get any better; think again…’ well here it is- it CAN! On Sunday, none other than the Dalai Llama comes to visit the final seven in what could surpass NY Week’s Times Square challenge as the most memorable yet!

Further into the week and former Celebrity MasterChef winner Eamon Sullivan will be facing off against Sunday’s winner that may see that person win an immunity pin!

With all the trimmings of a delicious week of MasterChef, the finale drawing ever nearer and a smaller group of contestants, I’m expecting a whopper week!

Australia’s Got Talent features its final finale showcase as the final nine acts go head to head. I believe FOUR acts from week one go through to the final, although this could be five, can someone clarify?!

On The Amazing Race Australia, another team will surely be lost as the final four become the final three! Can the models Sam & Renae keep the girl flag riding high in the race for yet another week; or are we set for an all male final three?

And of course Top Design is moving into another week as well…. But I don’t know what to add for that one.

Well, another week is upon us, and while it won’t be as hectic as last week, one thing is for certain; shows such as Australia’s Got Talent, The Amazing Race Australia and MasterChef Australia are slowly drawing to a close. The Renovators, Four Weddings, Dinner Date, The X Factor, Beauty & The Geek Australia and Junior MasterChef are yet to start. If reality television is slowing down, I’d love to see the evidence, please!

It’s a bit of a weird one this episode is! Tonight, instead of the usual host check up which occurred last night instead, contestants will themselves judge other contestant’s rooms and deliver their verdict on what they think. If you ask me, I don’t think we’re going to find many positive comments coming out of their mouths.

Shelley seems to be hosting this special and begins by reviewing each and every contestant and the season so far in general. We then begin the ‘open inspection’ with Josh & Jenna’s first week bedroom.
Contestants are definitely surprised with what they have seen with Katrina & Amie and Rod & Tania very impressed with their effort.

Katrina & Amie’s first week bedroom is next and after a quick review, the contestants enter. Tania & Rod aren’t really impressed, saying there is no wow factor. Jenna comments that she ‘agrees with the judges’ about their unfinished wall (which is a brick unpainted wall for effect). Polly realises they have left stickers on their lights and the inspection ends with the contestants finding it ‘bland’.

After the break, it’s time to see the two rooms from week one that didn’t inspire, beginning with Rod & Tania’s. We begin with another review before the contestants walk in and inspect. Josh & Jenna walk in with ‘wows’ with Jenna loving the feel of the carpet. The sisters don’t like the carpet. Polly thinks it is over styled, but loves it. Jenna doesn’t like the colour scheme much.

Last for inspection is Polly & Waz and their bland room which they seem to still love.

Tania & Rod walk in with Tania very happy with it, calling it gorgeous. Both Polly & Waz and Josh & Jenna also love it with Josh saying that with a bit of colour, it would be great. The sisters agree however, with the judges.

Next up is week two, second hand week and we return to see Josh & Jenna’s second room. The contestants walk in with the sisters and Polly & Waz amazed. Polly however can’t find the ‘humour’. Tania & Rod don’t see the humour either but love the room. The sisters even thought it deserved better scores.

Polly & Waz, finishing in second place in the second week are next to be inspected for their second hand week bedroom.

Tania & Rod like the room with the sisters thinking it is much better than what they thought. Jenna & Josh also seem to like it.

Tania & Rod are next to be judged by the contestants and after walking us through their room, we get down to the nitty gritty.

The contestants walk in and Jenna doesn’t really like the carpet but Polly & Waz think it is great. The sisters hope the wall is soundproof because the teen that uses the room will be playing a lot of duff-duff music.

Last up is the sister’s room and we quickly get to the inspection by the contestants with Polly & Waz and Jenna & Josh looking very confused. All three teams are very unsupportive of the room.

Tania ends this segment, talking about the differences between the houses on the block and the choice available to the public.

With that, Shelley takes us to the ad break with the message that a lot has changed this week, and after looking at the scene where Jenna screams at Josh about the tile guy after he gets his haircut is played. What can this mean?

After the break, Shelley sums up the dramatic week that has been and gone. We return to the commotion of the ‘wet room’ week with Rod’s problem with his massive bath on the relatively weak floorboards.

Apparently, according to Shelley, Amie fired the builder that she wasn’t paying but I always thought he quit. So I don’t know what’s going on but right now, they are racing on with their new team to get things done.

Faulty measurements have plagued Josh & Jenna which causes a few disputes but we finish the episode with Polly & Waz’ week which has gone swimmingly. Hopefully this will show in the end results.

So we only have a one day break before The Block returns because from next week onwards, The Block will air on Sunday’s 6.30pm!

To this episode, and really, it was a good idea, but a bit rushed. Too much recapping of the weeks gone by and not enough comments from the contestants. Still, liked to see a lot of positive comments from the contestants, something very unexpected for me, and hopefully The Block will do well in its new 6 days a week format.

Courtney’s Verdict: 8.0/10

So after a very unrelaxing past couple of days for the sisters and an up and down battle for the rest of the contestants; they can all relax and have a bit of fun with another of Scotty’s challenges which never fails to spark a bit of friendly competition!

We start the episode with the contestants already heading off for a secret location. All teams seem to be at their comedic best in the car with the sisters eating their bananas quite dramatically and hoping that Josh & Jenna don’t win another challenge; Polly holding apples up to her ears to imitate someone she has forgotten the name to before falling asleep, Tania baby talking to Rod and Josh picking his nose.

They soon arrive at National Tiles, a place familiar to three of the four teams (excluding Waz & Polly) who have bought their tiles from this place.

They walk in without any clue in the world, except they know the challenge will involve tiles. As they approach Scott, they see a couple of easels draped in expensive looking red cloth. Scott welcomes them to the huge tiles warehouse. He reminds them that if they are on track, the tiles they bought from this place should be going up today.

He tells them that tiles can turn walls into a work of art before introducing today’s challenge. He tells them that Melbourne is famous for mosaic art, all being made by tiles. He was so inspired, that he had a go at making one last night. He reveals an easel showing a mosaic of The Block logo. Some contestants don’t believe it was his work, but they are surprised anyway.

He tells them that today’s challenge will see them create their own mosaic and reveals the four other coloured easels as pictures showing artistic renderings of each of their houses.

The contestants have to create a replica using mosaic tiles of their house’s photo and put it to auction. The highest earning couple will win either a plumber or a tiler for a whole day! Scott will pay the wages for their choice which will be a very important act for this time in the competition.

The contestants are in it to win it, all of them, even the experienced Tania & Rod and Josh & Jenna. Really, the sisters deserve to win this one.

They are asked to take the tiles they need and take them to the workshop. Their time starts and people begin to collect as many tiles as they possibly could. Polly & Waz funnily enough even take some for their bathroom.

Waz is convinced that his team is winning thus far but with time being called; all contestants soon stop and will have to do with what they have. Next stop, the warehouse- mosaicville for the contestants.

The teams return to the warehouse where Scott tells them that they have to take their tiles off the holder and place them on a BLANK board (not the pre-existing picture). Contestants now begin to smash their tiles, including the girls who have been through a mosaic making phase themselves. They get off to a good start; relaxed and calm, but there is a lot on the line.

Josh and Jenna, who are on a winning streak, want to win this challenge to save as much money as possible and get ahead of the other contestants by tightening the others’ budget.

Polly & Waz, who don’t seem to do the best in these challenges, are happy with today’s challenge as they are a pair of creators. They are on a roll and have quite a few tiles to work with.

Polly is smashing the tiles as Waz sketches up the picture; a combination that surprises Scott.

Meanwhile, Rod actually doesn’t like this challenge, finding it boring. He decides to smash tiles while Tania builds the mosaic.

Katrina has a go at him for his lack of enthusiasm. Meanwhile, the girls are finding this challenge therapeutic however with Amie’s perfectiveness, they don’t know if they can complete the challenge in time.

Meanwhile, Polly hasn’t listened to instructions and while they stick their tiles on their board, Polly has stuck her tiles on the WRONG board despite the fact that he board she was sticking them to (the artist impression board) is right next to the board she had to stick them to! And she stuck at least 20 tiles on the board before realising! Oh gosh, haha.

After a break, Scott walks around his desk with a cup of tea and realises that they may need a bit of colour. He then smashes his cup, scaring the contestants and getting them to join in by throwing the china about. He even juggles a bit.

The contestants use the tools to their best advantage and as the challenge ticks down, the contestants try to get it all done on time. Time is up and their mosaics go up for display. Some look good and some don’t.

Scott judges each mosaic. Josh & Jenna have a great picture, but have used green coloured tiles for the sky, making it look unrealistic. He loves the effort Polly & Waz has put into theirs and the attention to detail. He also liked Katrina & Amie’s and Rod & Tania.

Umm… so I thought the person who got the highest selling bid in an auction won the challenge! I missed a bit of the episode as I was busy doing something and couldn’t make it back in time, but did I miss a cancellation, or what’s going on? Scott just announces that Josh & Jenna were the winners even though their mosaic got the ‘worst’ review from Scott.

Their house looks good, but why the hell did they win this one, Polly & Waz do deserve to win! The contestants were livid with Josh & Jenna realising very quickly, they aren’t very popular. They decide on a tiler and as the challenge ends, the music becomes dark. Jenna says that the teams being unsupportive will get no support from ‘anyone’ if and when they win. Umm… Jenna, they will get support from everyone BUT you guys because I think you two are in the minority here; EVERYBODY HATES YOU NOW. Although personally, I don’t mind the couple.

When Josh goes to celebrate with a dinner, no one wants to join him. They try to be nice when declining his offer, but they are obviously annoyed.

After the break, we return to Katrina & Amie’s building progress. Yesterday, they didn’t have too much luck but today, they have found a builder who may be able to help them out of their troubles.

They run down their design to the builder and while the bathroom should take a week to build, he only has a few days, but he is confident it can work. Soon enough, their builder calls people over to help with other areas of the bathroom and the sisters have a brand new team. It is a breath of relief as they finally get to go shopping.

Meanwhile, Josh goes to get his hair cut and considering Jenna is a hairdresser, this isn’t going to go down well. She’s been at home dealing with the tiles and she is so angry over a problem with the delivery of their tiles, I don’t think she cares about his hair.

Meanwhile, with judgement day soon looming, Shelley and Scott come to inspect the houses thus far (and a day early as well). They go to Rod & Tania’s house first in light of their construction problems throughout the week.

They inspect their work and they are quite impressed with what they have so far. They are impressed with the size of their bathtub.

Scott loves the bathroom despite the struggle undertaken to create it.

They move on to Polly & Waz’ house and so far, they have had a good week which works well for Shelley who notices a lot of good features in their room. They then go off to look at Jenna & Josh’s room.

Scott wonders if their tiler was a great help and they loved their help. They discuss their room with Scott and Shelley and no big complaints from the hosts are always a good thing.

Last up is Katrina & Amie who are in better spirits by the time Scott and Shelley come along. Scott tells Shelley what the room looked like yesterday, but now a lot has changed with the new team forming and taking their room as a job. Overall, they are all happy that the sisters are back and fighting!

Before we end the episode, the boys of the block make a pact that the person who loses this weeks judgement has to wear a T shirt saying ‘Chump’. Um… ok.

With that, the episode is over and I’m surprised to see the hosts looking at the rooms on a Thursday and not a Friday, of course this is because tomorrow, the contestants for the first time get to see what the other teams have done so far.

So overall, an ok episode; unfortunately I’ve missed a bit of it, but I swear Scott said that the mosaics would be going up for auction! I will watch back, but to be honest, I didn’t like the end result and that being Scott choosing a winner. Based on his personal taste? He didn’t even like Josh & Jenna’s sky. He makes up some excuse after declaring them winner as to why he liked their picture better than anyone else. To me, it was just a ploy to get this group to turn on one another.

Still, it was an engaging episode with a lot of things happening (maybe too many things) but complete with suspense, tension, relaxing moments and laughter, who can complain.

Just an end not, so sorry if there are parts of this blog that don’t make too much sense. I may proof read this later if some of you have any complaints, but for this episode, I kept getting disrupted and It’s been a busy couple of days so I’m a little pooped. I was even going to leave the blogging of this until later, but this will be the best time to do it.

Courtney’s Verdict: 8.5/10