Right, Let’s Set the Scene
Scotty called this one “the trilogy of trials,” which is a very dramatic way of saying everyone had three separate ways to have a nervous breakdown in the space of seven days. Hallways, the Domain Buyers Jury, and then, almost as an afterthought, because apparently that’s fine now, an entire office AND rumpus room to build from scratch. Nothing like saving the biggest room reveal of the season for the week everyone’s already running on fumes and 10-minute naps.
By the time tools went down, two houses had produced genuine “league of your own” moments and two houses had produced rooms so baffling the judges started reaching for words like “peep show” and “display suite.” And one house didn’t even bother finishing both rooms, which, honestly, feels like the most relatable move of the whole episode.
Final Score Card
| Rank | Team | Score | Judges’ Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 1st (tie) | Maddy & Charlotte (House 1) | 28 | “I don’t think they could’ve made this space pay off any more than what they have.” |
| 🥇 1st (tie) | Ricky & Haydn (House 3) | 28 | “This is what you call league of your own… This is genius.” |
| 🥉 3rd | Courtney & Grant (House 2) | 23.5 | “I feel like I’ve walked into a possible therapy session.” |
| 4th | Kylie & Brad (House 4) | 16 | “This is functionally useless… ten out of ten for creating the most uncomfortable room we’ve seen this season.” |
| 5th | Kristian & Mimi (House 5) | 12.5 | “This has zero connection to the lifestyle outside.” |
House 1 and House 3 tied on the perfect ten and split both the $10,000 Ford cash and, because they both scored a ten from an individual judge, an extra $10,000 each from Arnott’s. Kylie and Brad plummeted from “clear winners last week” to “most uncomfortable room of the season” in the space of seven days, which Scotty himself called harsh. And Kristian and Mimi finished dead last after only handing over one of their two rooms, the judges couldn’t even score the space that didn’t exist.
Key Moments This Episode
- ARGUMENT Kristian and Mimi go to war over whether to sand the hallway early, ending with Mimi hanging up on him mid-call and Kristian declaring, “I’m (BLEEP) done with this (BLEEP) show.”
- DISASTER Kristian and Mimi never finish the upstairs office, they pull the pin entirely and ask the judges to “just judge the downstairs room and forget about the upstairs room.”
- DRAMA Kristian has a full breakdown to Dan Reilly on camera: “I just can’t do it anymore… They’re (BLEEP) killing me,” while Mimi admits, “I find it hard to comfort… how (BLEEP) embarrassing is he, though.”
- DISASTER Kylie and Brad’s mezzanine gets torn apart by the judges, Darren calls it “functionally useless” and says it feels “like a peep show,” and Shaynna cackles her way through the whole inspection.
- RIDICULOUS PURCHASE Ricky and Haydn install an actual coin-operated arcade machine in their games room (“dollar a turn”) purely so future owners can run a side hustle out of their rumpus room.
- DRAMA Marty Fox gets so emotionally invested in House 3’s arcade room he challenges Ricky to a round of the fighting game on camera and hogs the controller.
- ARGUMENT The episode closes on a fresh Kristian and Mimi blow-up post-reveal: “You’re either with me or you’re not with me.” “I couldn’t give a (BLEEP).”
- DRAMA Maddy and Charlotte quietly turn a window into a door for a future external staircase, and the judges call it “a gamechanger” and “genius”, a genuinely smart structural move buried under all the chaos elsewhere.
Maddy and Charlotte: The Guest Retreat That Broke The Judges’ Brains
After coming last in the Domain Buyers Jury with a brutal 8%, Maddy and Charlotte needed a bounce-back week, and boy did they get one. Rather than build a standard office in a holiday house nobody’s going to work from, the girls scrapped it and turned the space into a rumpus-slash-sitting room, then quietly converted a window into a door with plans for an external staircase come Backyard Week, giving the whole upstairs its own private, separately accessible guest retreat.
The judges lost their minds over it. Not for the styling (though that landed too, Shaynna finally admitted they’d nailed her feedback after weeks of flak), but for the sheer real estate cunning of it.
“They have opened up a massive amount of possibilities by changing that window to a door. It’s genius. It’s a gamechanger.”
Marty went full real-estate-agent mode, running through every possible buyer persona, Airbnb investors, downsizing retirees, grandparents, au pairs, who’d want a lockable, self-contained space. Darren was equally sold, calling the room “cute as a button” and praising the lighting plan as the first one all season he’d actually get right. Marty summed up the whole reveal simply:
“I don’t think they could’ve made this space pay off any more than what they have.”
Verdict: a perfect ten, tied for the win, and proof that sometimes the smartest move on The Block is refusing to build the room the floor plan told you to.
Courtney and Grant: The Accidental Therapist’s Office
Fresh off a $10,000 hallway win, Courtney and Grant were the only team brave (or foolish) enough to present their second room as an office only, no rumpus, no flex space, just a desk facing two chairs. The plastering, as always, was gorgeous, Marty specifically called out the curves framing the afternoon light. But the second the judges sat down in the layout, something felt off.
“I feel like I’ve walked into a possible therapy session.”
Beyond the interrogation-room vibes, Marty flagged a bigger structural problem: to build the ensuite a few weeks back, they’d nibbled space off what should have been a second living room, leaving the house with effectively one main wing in a supposedly grand property. “Categorically, that’s an issue from a real estate perspective,” he said, and it stuck.
The rumpus room next door redeemed them somewhat, Darren loved the art, Shaynna called it “style in spades,” and Marty reckoned it would shoot the best of any room this season. But acoustics undid the office again: with the low ceiling booming sound straight down into the lounge below, the judges pointed out the “quiet, private” room was actually the loudest in the house. A rare stumble for the reigning curve queens.
Ricky and Haydn: Rumpus Ricky Delivers the Fun House
House 3 went all in on one idea and it paid off spectacularly: office in the bin, full-blown games arcade in its place. Pool table, Grafico wall art of the Phillip Island racetrack, a wall-mounted surfboard repainted by Clay & Co after Darren wasn’t a fan of the orange, and, the pièce de résistance, a genuine coin-operated arcade machine wired up for real money. “Dollar a turn,” as Ricky proudly explained, so whoever buys the place can run it as a tiny side business.
The judges walked in and effectively stopped being professionals for five minutes. Shaynna cackled. Darren declared it “not Instagrammable, but super rentable.” Marty got so nostalgic about playing pool and Street Fighter with his brother as a kid that he called it the most emotional he’d felt judging any room all season, then demanded a rematch on camera and hogged the controller.
“This is what you call league of your own… This is genius.”
“They had me at Street Fighter II.”
Ricky, Haydn and the judges were even quoted joking about a fantasy score of “10, 10, 10, total of 30”, and while the real scoring doesn’t work like that, the boys still walked away tied for the win with a perfect ten and their first room victory of the whole season. Rumpus of the year, indeed.
Kylie and Brad: From Top of the Mountain to “It’s a Peep Show”
Seven days ago Kylie and Brad were the outright winners of Living and Dining Week. This week they built a mezzanine so confusing the judges genuinely could not work out what it was for. A leather couch sat pressed right up against a glass balustrade overlooking the living area below, paired with heavy theatre-style curtains that could be drawn across for reasons nobody could explain.
“This is functionally useless.”
Once Darren clocked what the curtains-plus-couch-plus-balustrade combo actually looked like, there was no coming back from it.
“It feels like a peep show with these curtains there, you’re sitting right up against the balustrade, peeping on the people down there.”
Shaynna started cackling and pointed out even the cushions had “the peep nature to it.” Marty, meanwhile, couldn’t get past the desk facing a blank wall instead of the view, and Darren delivered the killer line of the night: “Ten out of ten for creating the most uncomfortable room we’ve seen this season.” Even Scotty was reportedly heard muttering “ooh, that’s harsh” off to the side. A brutal, baffling fall from grace.
Kristian and Mimi: The Week That Broke Kristian
This one wasn’t really about the room. Kristian and Mimi spent the week in open warfare over strategy, sand the hallway early or focus purely on the downstairs pool room, with the fight escalating to Mimi hanging up on him mid-call and Kristian venting, “I’m (BLEEP) done with this (BLEEP) show.” Not long after, cameras caught him in genuine distress talking to on-site manager Dan Reilly.
“I just can’t do it anymore… They’re (BLEEP) killing me.”
Mimi’s reaction back at base wasn’t exactly tender either: “I find it hard to comfort… how (BLEEP) embarrassing is he, though.” With the toll it took, the upstairs office/bedroom never got finished at all, they made the call to abandon it entirely and ask the judges to only assess the downstairs “pool room,” which turned out to have originally been designed as a bedroom and looked like it.
“I’m genuinely standing in a display suite… It’s so basic.”
Marty was blunt about the layout too, saying the room had “zero connection to the lifestyle outside” despite sitting right next to the pool. Last place, only half a room delivered, and the fight picked back up the moment the cameras stopped rolling: “You’re either with me or you’re not with me.” “I couldn’t give a (BLEEP).”
How It All Wrapped Up
Maddy and Charlotte turned a spare window into a genius external guest retreat and tied for the win on 28 points. Ricky and Haydn built a full-blown coin-operated arcade and matched them stride for stride, also on 28. Courtney and Grant’s plastering was gorgeous but their office read like a therapist’s waiting room, landing them third on 23.5. Kylie and Brad went from champions to “the most uncomfortable room we’ve seen this season” and dropped to fourth on 16. And Kristian and Mimi, mid-meltdown all week, only handed over half a house and finished last on 12.5. Grab a coffee, get comfortable, and we’ll see you back here for the next disaster.
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