OPINION: 'The Block has rolled out their villain edits on Leah and Kristy. But what role do we play?'

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I'd bet every dollar I have that Leah and Kristy never imagined they'd be pinned as villains on the 19th season of The Block. 

Because behind every application is likely the same wide-eyed, hopeful contestant, who is thinking of fulfilling their lifelong dream of competing on the much-loved show.

Like most of them (I'm guessing), they come to play, to test their competitive spirits and themselves – but mostly, they come to win a hell of a lot of money.

The drama, the rivalries and the exhaustive bickering? They're not here for that. They don't go on the show to be portrayed like Tanya and Vito from 2021, or Simon and Shannon from 2014, or Ronnie and Georgia from 2017.

Painted as the villains.

But that's what happens, whether they like it or not.

Unfortunately for Leah and Kristy, they've gotten the short end of the stick this season and have become the ones towards whom Australia is turning up its collective nose.

Watch the moment Kristy was caught lying on The Block. Post continues after video.

Aussies have loved reality TV for as long as it has existed. We relished Big Brother Australia, and decorated our homes with hearts for every Bachelor finale. Then we loved The Bachelorette, too, and of course, Married At First Sight.

But we've also learnt lessons since those days of reality TV in the early 2000s.

We know bullying fat people into losing as much weight as possible in three short months is entirely unethical. We've come to realise that three bachelors are definitely not better than one, and that sometimes, we don't want to watch people piss in a pot.

Now, I'm wondering when the 'Villain Edit' – which consumers absorb just as readily as the creators behind the curtain put it out – will die off.

It's a technique used by reality show editors and/or producers to help shape the viewers' perspectives on a particular participant.

Take Olivia Frazer, who was positioned as a villain during her season of Married At First Sight Australia – a show that follows a specific formula created by reality TV. Which is, find a hero and a villain and throw them in as many uncomfortable, awkward or unnecessary positions as you can. 

It's not always nefarious, though. Sometimes they want to make a contestant look ditzy, or silly, or smart, or brilliant. Whatever sells will work.

On The Block, creators developed their own secret sauce to keep the ratings high. Find a villain in your average, regular couple and then find a hero in the larrikin or easygoing renovator who doesn't mind getting their hands dirty and takes criticism on the chin.

And for a really long time, this formula has worked, helping make The Block one of Channel 9's best-performing reality TV shows. 

We all loved it when Mitch and Mark got called out in 2019 for creating drama and spreading rumours on the show.

We all leaned in when Sarah Vale (from 2016's season) FaceTimed her fake "wallpaper lady", who she was really only using to get outside advice.

Listen to The Spill, Mamamia's daily entertainment podcast. Post continues after audio. 

Sure, there's something a bit iffy about stringing stories together. Taking words out of context. Making an exhausted, sleep-deprived Blockhead's words mean more than they may have in the moment they said them.

We can judge the makers behind the curtain for giving us a storyline that can sometimes feel cheap – yet many of us still hang onto every word. 

We continue to tune in and scowl at Leah and Kristy for making throwaway comments they probably forgot about as soon as they said them – but we come back every week. Because, let's face it, we love the show. Every bit of it.

For Leah and Kristy, though public vitriol has become so intense that the show's Instagram comments have been disabled.

And it makes me wonder: what part do we, as viewers, play in the cycle? 

Are we victims because we were "convinced" to hate these women through clever editing?

Or are we just as bad because we consumed every second of it?

I'm not blaming the viewers (and I am one – I am obsessed with The Block). I'm not even taking reality show creators to task because, let's face it, they have developed a formula that really, really works.

But if these shows dropped their villain edits – and failed to attract viewers – that says a lot about human nature.

Feature Image: Nine.