The Block returns to Channel Nine and 9Now on Sunday, August 8th for its 17th season.
The Block: Fans v Faves brings three unsuspecting couples face to face with two sets of very experienced returning, all-star couples.
At stake is $100,000 for the winner of The Block, plus whatever profits their home can make on auction day. All that’s standing in the way is five dilapidated houses and three judges who will score the room reveals as they’re delivered each week.
The Block cast 2021
Returning to judge The Block this year are:
Shaynna Blaze
Melbourne’s Shaynna Blaze is one of the busiest television personalities in Australia.
As well as doing her 13th season on The Block in 2021, Shaynna appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice Australia and won it, defeating Ross Noble in the finale. Along the way she raised more than $470,000 for her charity, Voice of Change, the best fundraising effort in the show’s history.
“I think I put myself out there on more of a personal level this year,” she said. “It’s been wonderful. I have come out of this whole experience on The Block with some amazing memories and friendships that have made it all totally worth it.”
Every Sunday, Shaynna looks forward to seeing fellow judges Darren Palmer and Neale Whitaker. Their friendship makes the job enjoyable for her, even if they don’t always agree.
“We know we can get out what we need to say, and nothing will upset our friendship,” she said.
Shaynna aims to keep her comments insightful and direct. This might upset contestants at times, but she knows she is on The Block to do an important job.
“On Sunday you turn up not knowing what to expect. You feel like you’re standing on the edge each time, working out where you’re going to be taken.”
Shaynna Blaze
Neale Whitaker
Eleven years ago, Neale Whitaker was taken to lunch in Sydney by The Block’s executive producers, Julian Cress and David Barbour, and offered the job as a judge on the show.
“If they had said to me at that lunch that I would still be doing the job 15 seasons on I would have laughed at them. I love the job and I could not have possibly known it would have such longevity,” Neale said.
Neale too is excited by the unpredictability of having five houses in the hands of contestants who were not given architectural plans before renovating.
“It’s a real voyage of discovery for us as judges because we know that the contestants are in the driving seat when it comes to the actual layout,” he said. “Because of that, some weeks the judging has really thrown us.”
Neale travels to Melbourne from his country retreat at Berry in New South Wales every week to join Shaynna and Darren on The Block. A brand ambassador, interior designer and magazine publisher, there isn’t much he hasn’t done in this industry.
Neale moved to Australia in 1999 from the United Kingdom and became an important player in magazine publishing, editing Belle and Vogue Living.
Neale Whitaker
Darren Palmer
For the past nine years Darren Palmer has enjoyed travelling from Sydney to Melbourne to be a judge on The Block. Not only does he get to see Shaynna and Neale, he also gets to judge rooms every week. This season on Bronte Court in Hampton is no different.
“People don’t realise it is actually Sundays we are here on The Block every week for three months,” he said. “For me it just gets better and better because the rooms get better and better, and these are the most interesting renovations on The Block so far.
“We are not just talking about the same things we have talked about on every other season, which are the choices people make in terms of furniture and inclusions. We are also talking about what they have done architecturally with the houses, which I think is very clever.”
Darren lives with his partner Olivier in Sydney, and while he has a busy lifestyle it’s important to him to keep it balanced. “I really do have a work and life balance,” he said. “I prioritise my family above everything else and my health.”
Darren Palmer