'Why I will no longer watch this season of The Block.'

On Monday night we stopped watching renovation series, The Bullies…I mean, The Block. 

Sorry, it’s a bit confusing because only six episodes into the latest season my daughter and I had seen more bullying than building, and we’d had enough. 

Days before, my daughter had performed with her team at a cheer competition in the city, and we’d supported hundreds of young women on stage together (it’s truly emotional). That night we’d screamed for the Matildas and jumped around with joy at this moment when we could feel the strength in women united. 

This is a moment in time where everything is changing, especially for our daughters. We are focused on supporting each other, in stamping out bullying and building a culture where we lift each other up.

So it’s beyond me why The Block is promoting a toxic and disturbing bullying narrative as the main storyline for this season, rather than positive role models the whole family can watch and support together. 

It’s a renovation show! When we watch we want to see renovations. We want to see likable couples we can support and follow while they create beautiful rooms and homes.

Apparently though, this is not enough for The Block, it needs negativity, drama and scandal, with the bullying actively supported and promoted on its show and socials. In case you haven’t watched, since the show began, couples Leah and Ash and Kristy and Brett have been targeting vulnerable architect Steph, who is competing with husband Gian. 

After a week of being bullied and gossiped about while she tried to solve multiple problems with the couples’ bathroom, Steph shared that her mental health was not good. She was breaking with the stress of the room and being isolated by the other teams.  

Instead of supporting her, the bullying continued, and Leah and Ash called a completely unnecessary Body Corporate meeting to attack her for cheating — after her dad, who’d come to check on her, helped to pop in a shower screen so Steph and Gian would make the deadline to reveal their bathroom. No one reminded them of the rule, and instead, blindsided them at this meeting. 

It broke my heart when Steph said it was a relief for her to be attacked at the meeting as at least she now knew why everyone had been talking about her.

This meeting was the end of The Block for us. 

Watching Steph in tears, being yelled at and unable to have her say, trying to apologise and being talked over and questioned by an aggressive Leah and her husband was disturbing. Only Kyle and Leslie, the WA couple, spoke up —but they then put themselves directly into the firing line. Anyone who has been in a bullying situation knows how this works. 

Instead of pulling the contestants into line, The Block made it their main storyline, promoting the ‘drama’ and the ‘scandal’ narratives that encourage their contestants to bully.  

They think we want to see bullying and drama and scandal.

We don’t. I don’t think we ever did. 

Most of us have experienced bullying in our lives, and many of us live with the ongoing impacts of bullying — even from many years ago in school. Some of us are being bullied now, or spend our days in a toxic workplace or friend group. Anyone bringing up a child is genuinely fearful of their kids being bullied, left out or not having friends, or being picked on and made to feel like they don’t belong or are not good enough.

This is not the kind of behaviour we want our kids to see. Not only is it upsetting, it’s the absolute opposite of behaviour we want them to replicate. We don’t want our children to copy bullying behaviour or think that by seeing it on TV it’s somehow acceptable. 

We won’t support a show that supports bullies. We won’t support a show that encourages negativity and drama, and showcases women who bully, isolate and undermine other women. 

We want role models not bullies. 

Last night, instead of supporting the toxicity and bullying on The Block, we watched The Voice. It was full of joy, of support, of people sharing their stories and being vulnerable. I cried, we laughed, we were inspired. We can’t wait to watch everyone do well. 

That’s the kind of show we want to watch with our families.

We are better than The Block. 

Evie Farrell is usually travelling and has just launched her tour company offering fun, supportive group trips for women only and mums and kids at www.mumpacktrips.com

Feature image: Nine.