The Block contestants have finally learned the punishment for last week’s cheating scandal. A very soft two-point penalty for Luke and Josh and also Tanya and Vito.
That will perhaps close the storyline on what has been a dramatic week of high drama and high ratings for the show.
With a peak total TV audience close to 1.5m already, watch out for the figures to climb close to 2m in the next total TV data release.
Co-creator and executive producer Julian Cress told Mediaweek on the weekend not to be surprised by how The Block contestants will try to get an advantage.
Here Cress further explains what he tells newcomers to the hit Nine format.
When teams arrive at The Block, the producers talk to them about what life might be like for them after starring on a TV show. “When The Block contestants are accepted, we tell them: ‘You better strap yourself in because this will be the hardest thing you have ever done.’
“People are so excited to get on the show, all they can think about is how much they might be able to make. In order to that, they have to undergo the toughest challenge they will ever face.
“If you talk to any former contestant and ask what it was like to go through those 12 weeks, they will all say it was the hardest thing they have done in their life. But they also call it one of the most rewarding things they have ever done.
“Life-changing money is obviously a bonus. Even if they don’t make much money, they still find the experience rewarding.”
“Two-point penalty, sounds fair!”
The Block contestants: Keeping it real
Cress is comfortable calling The Block a reality show. “We make it more like filming an ob doc in the way we produce it. MasterChef is more formatted in the way it is produced and somewhat regimented. We don’t make our contestants do anything.
“We don’t even make them deliver a room. We only tell them what the deadline is and it is up to them whether they meet it or not. For example, we ask for a bathroom to be delivered at Sunday at 9am. When you do it, and how well you do it, is up to them. We then just follow that as a documentary. We have people around to push them to understand what it is going to take to deliver. But it is up to them whether they deliver and how well they want to do it. That is where the story comes from.”
See also: The Nine executive who predicted how ratings would spike.
“It sometimes starts a bit slower and builds beautifully, and I suspect this year will be no different.”
Don’t blame the edit
Cress said The Block contestants are involved very much in the process and are unlikely to take to social media after episodes air blaming the edit.
“Sometimes people are uncomfortable watching it back, but at the same time, they don’t pretend it didn’t happen that way. It can be uncomfortable for them to relive what happened. Maybe they felt like absolute shit and were lashing out at everyone and they are going to have to watch that unfolding on television.
“That can be quite confronting for people. Across the 50 episodes, it is a bit of a roller coaster and all The Block contestants have their ups and downs. The contestants find plenty of the episodes hilarious to watch.
“They also find it revealing as they operate inside their own bubble, their new homes, a lot of the time. They don’t get to see what the other contestants are going through. When they watch the show they realise just how hard it was also for some of their neighbours as well. That can sometimes bring them together with an even stronger bond.” Something that looks like it has been badly damaged so far in the current series.
Not everybody was happy with the cheating scandal punishment
Impressing the judges
The three judges not only guide The Block contestants on their journey by passing judgement each week, they offer crucial guidance that teams can ignore at their peril.
“There was just one judge originally on The Block,” recalled Cress. “John McGrath did the first two series on his own. For the third series we added Neale Whittaker who judged with John.
“When we moved the series to Melbourne John was not available anymore. We then added Darren Palmer and Shaynna Blaze. They have been with us ever since and are fantastic.”
The Block in 2022 and series learnings
While we asked about 2022 plans, Cress was not about to share if they might be planning a trip to Byron Bay. He did give a little hint though.
“We remain very open-minded about what we do with the show in the future. We are not locked in to being close to the Melbourne CBD.”
Cress is frank that the biggest learning the producers took on from recent series was when they made The Oslo in Grey Street, St Kilda. “We realised early in the filming that we had bitten off more than we could chew. You never know where the line is until you cross it.
That was the hardest series we have ever done and we certainly learnt from our mistakes.
“Having said that, the results of The Oslo series were spectacular. That was due to the immense effort everybody put in to get it over the line. We were exhausted at the end of it and the contestants were completely burnt out. We could never do anything that big again.
“Bronte Court is really a sweet spot for us. It was a great location, a wonderful opportunity for the contestants to interact in the intimacy of a cul-de-sac. The contestants got to interact more than on any series we have ever made.
“The amount of drama that came out of that cul-de-sac over 12 weeks is more than we have ever seen.”
See also: The Block cheating scandal: ‘Don’t be surprised people try and bend the rules’