The Block 2026 Judges: Darren Palmer, Shaynna Blaze and Marty Fox

Three judges, zero patience for a badly scaled sofa, and a combined side-business portfolio that now spans an Italian villa and a Dubai office tower. Meet the panel standing between five exhausted couples and a reserve price.

Who Are The Block 2026 Judges?

Darren Palmer, Shaynna Blaze and Marty Fox are all confirmed back on the panel for The Block 2026 at Mount Eliza, judging every weekly room reveal alongside hosts Scott Cam and Shelley Craft. Here’s what they’re bringing to the job this year, besides opinions about your joinery.

Darren Palmer

Interior stylist and property presentation specialist, and one half of the panel’s least construction-focused act, in the best possible way. When he’s not walking through freshly built ensuites telling contestants their tapware “doesn’t sing,” Palmer has spent the past year renovating a derelict property in Sicily for a new Channel Nine series, 1 Euro House, filmed under Italy’s one-euro-homes scheme. He was already posting from the site by late 2025 and is confirmed back for Mount Eliza on top of it.

Shaynna Blaze

The longest-serving member of the panel and, alongside Palmer, the other styling half of a “renovation” show that mostly rewards good styling. Best known outside The Block for fronting Selling Houses Australia, a series built entirely on turning hard-to-sell homes around without touching a stud wall. Also co-starring in 1 Euro House in Sicily, which makes 2026 a genuinely big year for a woman who is somehow still finding time to judge five kitchens a week.

Marty Fox

The panel’s real estate agent, and the one whose entire job is telling contestants, out loud, what a buyer would actually pay for the room they just built. Founder of Whitefox Real Estate, which opened a Dubai office in late 2025 chasing $500 million in first-year sales, with a London office and a US research trip also on the cards. Somehow still turning up every Sunday night to tell someone their pendant lights are hung too low.

What Are They Actually Judging?

Short version: not the renovation itself. Two of the three judges built their careers in styling, not construction, and the panel’s real job every week is scoring whether a room would make a buyer want to live there, the same skillset a professional home stager uses on an ordinary house that isn’t attached to a TV contract. We’ve written the full breakdown, including what that means if you’re staging your own place rather than a Block build, in What The Block Judges Actually Score Every Week.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are The Block 2026 judges?

Darren Palmer, Shaynna Blaze and Marty Fox make up the judging panel for The Block 2026, alongside hosts Scott Cam and Shelley Craft.

Is Shaynna Blaze returning to The Block in 2026?

Yes. Shaynna Blaze is confirmed back on the judging panel for The Block 2026 at Mount Eliza, alongside filming her new Channel Nine series 1 Euro House in Sicily with fellow judge Darren Palmer.

What do The Block judges actually score?

The panel primarily scores styling and saleability, whether a finished room would appeal to a real buyer, rather than technical construction quality. Two of the three judges have backgrounds in interior styling rather than building.

Is Marty Fox a real estate agent?

Yes. Marty Fox is the founder of Whitefox Real Estate, and his role on the panel is to assess the commercial saleability of each room from a buyer’s perspective.

Page update log: 11 July 2026: Page created to cover the confirmed 2026 judging panel ahead of the season premiere.