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'We're nervous.' This year's auction dilemma, plus all the The Block 2020 gossip in one place.

To catch up on all The Block recaps and gossip, check out Mamamia’s recaps, and visit our The Block hub page. 

After three long months of renovations, room reveals and a whole lot of drama, The Block auctions are finally here. And we are pumped.

Tonight we'll get to see which team will be crowned the winner of The Block 2020 and walk away with the $100,000 prize money as all five houses are put up for sale.

Watch The Block 2020 trailer and take a look back at the season. Post continues below. 


Video via Nine.

This year the five teams were tasked with bringing five family houses back to life in the bayside Melbourne suburb of Brighton.

But The Block isn't just about building homes. It's also about all the tension and competition that comes with it. 

Ahead of tonight's finale, we've complied all the behind-the-scenes gossip you need to know in one place. 

There's "fear" that all five houses won't sell.

We finally made it to finale night. But it seems not everyone is confident all five houses will sell. 

Speaking to Nine, the show's executive producer Julian Cress explained that there's a chance that not all the houses will sell due to Melbourne's plummeting auction clearance rates. 

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"Clearance rates are currently running in the sort of 60th percentile in Melbourne. That would suggest that we’re on track to sell three out of five of the houses," Cress told Nine.

"My nervousness and fear is obviously that I want to sell five out of five, because I want all the contestants to do really well."

"So, getting to sell all five, on one day, in this environment is what’s keeping me up at night, but the houses are, I think, the best homes that we’ve ever taken to auction."

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Host Scott Cam also explained that he's "hoping for the best" given the current market. 

"Auction day is one of the most nervous days of my year. I think we are the only show on television that has absolutely no control over the finale. We are just sitting there hoping for the best in the COVID-19 property market," he said.

"They really are the best houses we have done on The Block, four, five and six-bedroom family homes. All the Blockheads have sacrificed so much – this year more than ever. We always want them to walk away with a life-changing amount of money, but we just don’t know what will happen on Sunday."

It turns out a lot of the work goes on behind the scenes.

There's no doubt The Block is hard work, but it turns out most of it is actually done when the cameras stop filming.

"During the day, it's very hard when you have 30 people in one room, and that's when project managing comes in, and as soon as they leave, we're up for the next 12, 13, 14 hours a night, doing it all behind the scenes," George told the Daily Mail.  

"But in saying that, without a good team, you can't do the show. It's a two-way street."

Speaking of work, couple Jimmy and Tam told the publication that each team works just as hard as their tradesmen.

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"Believe it or not, we actually do a lot of work. We are nonstop. The times you see us just holding a coffee or whatever is literally our five minutes of downtime when we can get it," said Jimmy. 

"But other than that whether Tam's out shopping or I was on the tools just getting the job done, we were working the whole time. But we do rely on our tradies a lot."

The contestants have never met the judges.

Every week we tune in to watch judges Neale Whitaker, Shaynna Blaze and Darren Palmer score each of the contestants' room reveals (arguably the best bit of the whole show). 

But it turns out the contestants have actually never met the judges. 

"We never actually got to meet the judges because they didn't want bias, but in terms of the foremen, we got along well," Sarah told the Daily Mail. 

Luke and Jasmin respond to the copying allegations. 

Earlier this season, contestants Luke and Jasmin were accused of copying one of their bedroom designs, which later helped them win the double room reveal.

During the episode, judge Shaynna Blaze presented the couple with a picture of a children's bedroom which looked a lot like the room they had just designed. 

The room in question was one from an Inside Out magazine photoshoot, which was created by The Designory and features on their website.

Image: Channel 9. 

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Jasmin explained that the photoshoot was simply the "inspiration" for their room. But Shaynna wasn't having it. 

"I showed everyone that picture while we were filming, saying it was my inspo. It wasn’t a secret," said Jasmin. 

"You’re calling it inspiration. Inspiration is one thing. Completely taking someone’s idea and making it your own is another," replied Shaynna. 

"We’re in a competition, and you won a room where you make money. You haven’t changed it up enough."

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After the episode aired, Luke and Jasmine posted a statement on Instagram, saying it isn't against the rules to take inspiration from other places. 

"Okay.... so our side of the copygate saga," they began the post. 

"We were just working happily on our kitchen when Shaynna popped in to give us a slap on the wrist for copying. Our faces said it all, we were in shock. All week we were showing our moodboard which featured the room from the @thedesignory (among other images). We were open about using it and believed it was all above board." 

They went on to explain that previous Block contestants in 2017 were also accused of copying their kids' room. 

"They got a perfect score and won the room. Then were later accused of copying by other contestants. They were cleared of any wrong doing by The Block, Scotty and judges. At the time, a Channel 9 spokesperson stated 'The only rule is that contestants don’t enlist the help of a professional interior designer. There is no limit on the boundaries to which contestants can take an inspiration image and draw on latest trends for their rooms.'

"So this is our understanding of the show ‘rules’ with regards to copying. Rules, which we haven’t broken." 

The couple added that they know other contestants this season have copied images when designing their rooms. 

"We are all everyday Aussies, none of us experts in design and if we need the help of Pinterest and Instagram then we are allowed to use it freely within show rules, as much or as little as we like."

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View this post on Instagram









Okay.... so our side of the copygate saga. We were just working happily on our kitchen when Shaynna popped in to give us a slap on the wrist for copying. Our faces said it all, we were in shock. All week we were showing our moodboard which featured the room from the @thedesignory (among other images). We were open about using it and believed it was all above board. In 2017 Block contestants went through a similar ordeal with their kids room. They got a perfect score and won the room. Then were later accused of copying by other contestants. They were cleared of any wrong doing by The Block, Scotty and judges. At the time, a channel 9 spokesperson stated “The only rule is that contestants don’t enlist the help of a professional interior designer. There is no limit on the boundaries to which contestants can take an inspiration image and draw on latest trends for their rooms”. So this is our understanding of the show ‘rules’ with regards to copying. Rules, which we haven’t broken. We know that other contestants this season have copied images for their rooms. We hope it adds as much value to their house as possible. We are all everyday Aussies, none of us experts in design and if we need the help of Pinterest and Instagram then we are allowed to use it freely within show rules, as much or as little as we like. In House 4 we set out to create an on-trend home and there will always be current design trends that feature in homes built at the same time, by people who scroll the same feeds as us.

A post shared by  Luke and Jasmin (@lukeandjasmin) on

Shaynna also responded to the copying allegations on her Instagram, asking fans not to "direct any negativity towards Jasmine on social media, and instead let's all take a look at our own appreciation of design and other designers, and our personal understanding of the difference between imitation and plagiarism".

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We're living in the world of Instagram and Pinterest so it's inevitable that sometimes the lines blur between 'taking inspiration' and direct copying. It's imperative that we all consider other designers' intellectual property rights when we are designing for profit, which is why I had to have tonight's difficult conversation with House 4 about their kids room and its many similarities to a room designed by @thedesignory for @barefootescapes. Please don't direct any negativity towards Jasmine on social media, and instead let's all take a look at our own appreciation of design and other designers, and our personal understanding of the difference between imitation and plagiarism. @theblock #9theblock

A post shared by  shaynnablaze (@shaynnablaze) on

Rules they have to follow.

As you will have noticed, there are plenty of rules the Blockheads have to follow while they're building their houses, especially after the COVID-19 restrictions were introduced.

But according to Nine Now, there are 10 rules that we might not be aware of as they aren't usually discussed on camera.

  • No help from any outside designer.
  • All painting must be done by contestants.
  • All trades must be paid the award rate.
  • All trades must be inducted.
  • No more than 50 per cent discount on any trades goods.
  • No working ahead.
  • No power tools after tools down.
  • No power tools on Sunday or public holidays.
  • Contestants must hire their own trades.

The only time that contestants are allowed to get someone else to organise their trades is when they pull the hipages lever.

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Also, they aren't allowed to use the same tradies two seasons in a row. Meaning, if you want to use last year's electrician, you can't. But the one from two years before, that's fine.

What happens after the auction.

It looks like the Blockheads need a little help after the auction.

Speaking to Woman's Day, a tradie has shared that after the houses are sold, they need to go back in and correct many of the mistakes made by the amateur contestants.

"As soon as the homes sell, we're told to go in and correct all the mistakes that were made," the source told the publication.

"It ranges from waterproofing, installing appliances, even repainting."

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"There's always so much we need to correct. There's no way that they can complete these rooms to a liveable standard in the amount of time they're given, particularly the bathrooms," the source continued.

"Just one coat of waterproofing needs at least a week, and these guys are meant to complete everything within that time frame."

And although the rooms are judged by Shaynna Blaze, Neale Whitaker and Darren Palmer, they're looking at aesthetics rather than functionality.

"The judges come in and judge on aesthetics, but if we walked in and pointed out numerous problems within the rooms, they'd all probably get the lowest scores from us in terms of functionality," the source added.

A contestant is rushed to hospital. 

Just three weeks into filming, one Blockhead was reportedly rushed to hospital with a serious medical emergency that jeopardised production. 

“[The contestants] had just done an all-nighter,” a source revealed to New Idea.

“And at the time, Melbourne had had a fair bit of rain, so the surfaces everyone was walking around on were uneven.”

According to the source, the combination of fatigue and slippery surfaces caused one contestant to fall and severely injure themselves.

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“Everyone was extremely worried, especially Scotty and Shelley,” the source said.

This is the first serious injury seen on The Block despite the physically challenging nature of the show, forcing producers to evaluate their safety procedures.

Image: Instagram / theblock 

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"It was a sad thing to happen," the source said.

The team Blockheads have excluded.

Despite putting on a friendly face for cameras, apparently the Blockheads aren't as close to each other as they seem. 

According to Woman's Day, Brisbane frontrunners, Jimmy and Tam have been feeling rather ostracised from the teams after winning several challenges.

"They're definitely being excluded from the group," a source told Woman's Day.

"The couples are trying to play happy families while filming, but it's like walking on eggshells with Jimmy and Tam behind the scenes."

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It comes as the teams believe the couple's 1950s home is an easier build than their earlier styles.

"There's really a bit of pent-up animosity towards them – they feel Jimmy and Tam have been given an easier hand with their build," they added.

"They just don't think they should have won so many room reveals."

Jimmy and Dan's on-set blow up.

Now it just wouldn't be The Block without Keith calling out a team for breaking rules, would it?

But in an interview with New Idea, Jimmy explained that he and a fellow contestant got into a fight after South Australian team, Dan and Jade, dobbed him in for a construction fault to Keith the Foreman.

“It wasn’t so much that I was angry at having to fix it, but more the fact that he (Dan) had dobbed on us," Jimmy said.

“Keith marched in and pulled us up, so there was a little bit of conflict between Dan and I, just for an hour or so.”

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Although Dan denies having told Keith about their construction fault, in an interview with New Idea he spoke on the high-pressure situations that often come with working on The Block.

"There are moments that creep up on you and sometimes I would have to walk away from the situation and take a big breath because otherwise it can feel like everything is tumbling around you and crushing you," he said.

“You get plenty of challenges thrown at you when you’re on The Block, that’s for sure. So I would just walk away from the situation.”

The Block finale airs tonight at 7pm on Channel Nine. 

Feature Image: Channel Nine.