OzTvJunkie

I didn't watch last night, but have read enough in the papers today to know what happened. The people I feel sorriest for are Michael & Carlene. D&D keep harping on about giving up family time etc to be there, but they at least saw their children quite often during filming. M&C didn't see theirs once, (I might be wrong and the kids came visiting once), and they both worked extremely hard for the time they were there. To only make $10k must be heartbreaking. I'm very pleased Chris & Jenna did really well, and very happy the boys won. I don't think their valuer got anything wrong. He valued the apartments at what they are worth, and 3 of them sold for almost the valuation. People might choose to pay over the odds because they desperately want a place, but it's only really worth what a valuer says it's worth or what someone is willing to pay for it. And there were only 2 desperate people bidding on the 5 apartments, who happened to buy the first 2. Everyone else were very happy to only pay the value of the apartment, and nothing more. People can blame the valuer all they want, but at the end of the day, if the property isn't in a good location, it isn't going to break records when it's sold. That's always been the property rule - location location location!

And once again, an unfinished room beats out TWO finished ones. What's with that?

I know, I was meaning things that contestants say about the others, and then claim they were edited badly. Steve (from All-Stars Block) is the greatest example of the show editing a contestant to look incompetent and lazy. That was incredibly poor. There was talk & rumours he was looking into suing the show for making him look one way when he wasn't, but nothing seems to have come of it.

I'm not sure how iron-clad the contracts are - although I'm sure they'd be pretty tight, as channel 9 (the channel that makes The Block) would not put themselves in any danger of being sued by any of the contestants over content or editing. The contestants might have a whinge publicly through other media, but the producers & the station would be fairly untouchable legally, I would imagine. Although it's well known that if someone on a reality show comes across as mean etc, the producers tell them to say it's the editing that made them look that way. Of course, the editing can't put words in your mouth, or make you have a lousy attitude towards others.

I'm not sure where the hatred stems from with Dee. She really seems to hate Max & Karstan A LOT on the show. Do you think it's jealousy that they have the best situated apartment? Or the fact that they don't play the game with Dee and just ignore her? Keith needs to be shot for what he did last night. It's not the contestants fault that Dee & Darren decided to stay behind and bitch about Max & Karstan's extra room, rather than head upstairs to see the new apartment with everyone else. They really didn't make many styling choices, other than paint colour & having timber floors - which Dee would have been on board with anyway. It was interesting watching it last night with my son, who never watches the show. He was on D&D's side, when the contestants were trying to pick the rooms and M&C wanted to change. I argued a little against this, but mainly left it alone. Then as the program went on, he was more & more shocked at her attitude, so he watched the argument again about the room picks and said - hang on, she's picked the one she wants and is trying to bully everyone into being happy because she doesn't want to change, and is hoping if she does it quickly enough, no one will look at the other rooms and have time to think about their decision, and she'll get her own way. Wow, what a manipulative bitch. He's a bright boy. *proud*

I didn't know they hated the trend or that there were hinges. Silly me for assuming Carlene & Michael were happy with the trend. The judges inconsistency in judging rooms for the sake of rooms, rather than the couples styling, is pretty much gone now. They definitely seem to hate everything Max & Karstan and Chris & Jenna do, without judging it on it's own merits. And an unfinished room should always be at least 2 points lower than the rest, purely because it's not complete - not matter how much you love the colour of the towels.

Well you were right about Chris & Jenna with their zero's, Kromm. I don't blame them - they had to do something to be able to pay their trades and finish off their apartment. As Carlene said, I was surprised more there weren't more zeros from others. Dee & Darrens whinge about no money seemed like bad accounting to me - they've won 3 out of 7 jury prizes - one in the week they also won the judging - and how many challenge wins? It's ridiculous. I think Dee honestly thought she was going to be this years Kyle & Kara and win every challenge - but she'd do one better and win every room too. I think she honestly believes that her styling and presentation is so good & top notch that no one else can beat her. And when the judges disagree, she argues & throws a tantrum like a 2 year old because she didn't win. It's quite pathetic to watch - although talking about Shayna not being in the same room as her at the wrap party is quite worrying and if I were the producers I'd be uninviting Dee & Darren to the party quick smart, unless Dee stops threatening her. I'm not surprised about the judges scoring the ensuite with no door higher than Max & Karstan's room. No doors on ensuites is a very trendy thing, and a lot of people aren't bothered about them. Personally I couldn't imagine anything worse, privacy in the bathroom is a good thing sometimes.

Carlene sounds normal to me. We don't really have regional accents like the UK or the US, our accents run on a sliding scale of "ocker" to "posh". Ocker being Paul Hogan, posh being Nicole Kidman. (I'm sure someone else will be along soon with someone more appropriate but I was trying to think of someone non-aussies would know). It all depends on what your parents, & friends, sounded like growing up. Are you serious? We don't know the final results of the audit thing? Wow the producers have really gone looking hard for drama this year, haven't they? I suppose when their chosen scape goat won last year, they thought they needed to up the ante.

That's what I meant about gracefully. They may have thought the judges were against them, but they could see the other rooms were well done, and never called the other contestants names. I only saw bits & pieces of the kitchens, but I agree with you about the boys. It's actually quite impractical, which I was hoping Shayna might have noticed - there was very little bench space and they wasted what was there under the window by putting a stove top at the front of it. I liked what I saw of Chris & Jenna's and Max & Karstan's. I didn't see Michael & Carlene's or the D's. What's happening with the auditing? Has someone really been cheating?

I caught the very end of last nights episode - cannot believe Dee was whinging that they didn't win. To call the show unfair, talk about her design eye, and question the integrity of the judges was totally uncalled for. She has more front than anyone who has ever been on this show before. At least the twins accept losing gracefully.

I'm so glad I've gradually lost interest over the past 2 weeks. I tuned in for judging on Sunday night, and agreed that Chris & Jenna's used waaaaaay too many tiles (and not good ones at that) but I loved their stairs. Michael & Carlene's stairs looked like a jail cell. I'm so happy the buyers like everything different to the judges. Just proves that rooms shouldn't be won on cushion or sheet choices, but on the way you've used the room & the execution. Max & Karstan's apartment is the most neutral of all the apartments, and very easy to walk into a stamp your own style into it, without spending a fortune.

I'm starting to get a little bored with the show, and was a little over the drama of "phone-gate" so didn't watch the contestants scoring. Who won? Did the boys score everyone zero? What will the producers do if everyone just starts scoring everyone zero?

I'm pretty sure the boys give all the other teams zero tonight in the hope they'll win the five thousand. The trouble with doing that though, is it'll only work once. Next week the others will start scoring the boys zero and they'll never win another runners up prize again. I'm surprised no one has ever done the phone trick before. I'd be interested to hear the comments they make that don't make it to air. Just to see how picky & or how much time they spend in the room "critiquing" everything.

I felt sorry for Dee & Darren tonight - but loved Darren's decisive "we're going" to the producers as it shows he's not just a timid brow beaten man. We desperately need a builder on the judging panel. Chris & Jenna hit the nail on the head tonight when talking about the judging. "they are only interested in styling & cushions, not on the execution or architecture". To compliment a black stripe on the sheets of one room was telling, I think. The whole "phonegate" saga was a big pile of nothing. It was cheating - as then Simon & Shannon would hear the unedited version of the judges rather than what the producers want them to hear, and so they need to have had some points removed for trying it. They really seem to be the team that are playing the game the hardest and will do whatever they can to short change the other teams to give themselves an advantage. There's competitive and then there's bad sportsmanship which is what the boys are displaying.

Ooh, seems this week the contestants judged each others rooms before they saw the scores from the judges - so no more second place gets the prize. This might be interesting, although I think the producers are using it as a way to add drama. I'm liking this years contestants overall, they might be having spats with their partners etc, but the producers are digging hard to create drama and the contestants don't seem to want to buy into it, which is brilliant.

I loved how Scotty put up their scores for each others rooms, not just the total. Dee has been outed as a competitive cow with her 7's & one 8 for the bathroom that everyone deemed dangerous. Her smugness as they awaited their win (because they came second) was almost palpable through the screen. I would have loved to have seen the other teams award it to Chris & Jenna or someone else to see her crestfallen face. The bathrooms were spectacular though. I'm loving Chris & Jenna too, as they don't seem to take themselves too seriously. Their win was deserved, although I would worry about smacking into the glass wall constantly. I loved the boys vanity unit. The wood with white basins was beautiful. I definitely think they could have squeezed a bath in, but understand why they didn't. If they had, I think they might have won.

I wonder if there is a little bit of the whole "man at work, woman doesn't belong in my workplace" thing going on with Darren too. It's not a misogynist thing, it's a thought pattern where he's used to his wife not being at work, and him making all the decisions etc and getting on with the job - and now he's found himself at work with his wife, and he's having to adjust to being in a team in his work environment with her rather than just working. Adam from this year & Leyton from last year were the same to begin with on House Rules. The girls tend to be really shrill about it too because they're having to remind him they're meant to be a team, and that's exhausting. It's why mistakes like the towel rail happen. I'm not saying she's not a bitch, or a ball breaker, but I'll be interested to see how they progress as his thinking adjusts. Adam & Leyton realised, and I'm sure Darren will too - unless the editing monkey's seize on it and milk it forever.

There do seem to be a few things going wrong on the planners part this year, that hasn't been that apparent in previous years. (Not forgetting Steve & Chantelle having to have an elevator shaft built whilst they were trying to do a bathroom!) I think D&D's apartment is the smallest, and because of that, the rooms are small. I don't understand exactly why, considering they could have just split that side in half evenly between the two teams. Not having a city view didn't harm the twins apartment last year. Although Dee is coming off as a bit of a bitch - with the comments about not winning the contestants judging etc. The couple that came second by one point were the obvious choice to win the second prize. I'm a bit worried about the open shower with the stairs. That seems totally impractical & dangerous to me, but I bet the judges love it. It's interesting watching, although I'm agreeing with the critique that I'd like to see more renovating.

I am! It'll be interesting to see how they all handle what's happening and I'm hoping the mean edit that Steve received last year will not be returning. I'm liking all the contestants so far, although it seems Karlene is a little work shy when they were all cleaning up, but that shopping comment may have just been a throw away and was edited in to make her look bad.

I think I finally worked out what the twins issue was this week - they walked in and took over control of everything, but then expected everyone else to do all the work for them, so they could shop and when they had to actually work themselves, (because Chantelle was ill and builders dust would have made her worse, and the twins weren't going to listen to Steve at all), they kicked off. Example being rendering the fireplace. Steve suggested it first, but they didn't listen, knew better and kept trying to find a solution they came up with themselves, and then had to admit Steve was right. It was quite funny watching that. Don't get me wrong, Chantelle talking about Alisa's family was petty & ridiculous. I would have bit back about that, too. Quite rightly. But the twins can't complain that Steve is lazy because he's not answering to them when they expect him to, especially when they've refused to listen to him all week. He brought together that whole back garden that was amazing after they banished him out there because they didn't want to deal with him. Lysandra's face when any man was talking about what to do was quite telling. She always looked away, looked very bored & you could see she would rather be somewhere else. It happened when Steve spoke, and when the gardening guy was talking too. I do think House 1 did a great job overall, and deserved to score higher than house 2 for the back garden, at least. I don't think there is a "conspiracy of low scores" that the twins believe there is, (I think house 2 was much better overall), I think the twins have to realise the judges aren't always going to favour them like they did last year.

Hello! I had to add an Oz to my name from TWOP to get here. I agree with you both about Chantelle & Steve. Especially Steve. They were made into the laughing stock, through editing and manipulation of footage. It was obvious in week 3 when they were doing the pool area and the show kept trying to insinuate that Steve hadn't ordered furniture he was tasked with, and then the furniture arrived and he said he'd ordered it a week ago. Then they tried to say he'd only ordered a chair or two, when in fact they showed the footage of the contestants placing chairs & a outdoor setting with cushions etc, that had obviously all come from the same store. This season the twins were much more willing to get on with the other teams and have fun, and the new teams were willing to give them a chance to see what they were like, rather than rely on last years show which is a huge difference. I think they learned that it would be a more fun experience if they didn't look at it as a pure competition just to win money & start a career, which is how they seemed to approach last year. I would be very surprised if any other team from Sky High, besides Matt & Kim, spoke to them at all outside of the show. All the teams have said things, all have acted out - being exhausted & tired will do that. And no doubt all the teams have been edited and footage manipulated to show more drama than what happened. It's reality tv.