The Block Sky High – Sun 6:30pm, Mon-Thu 7pm, Ch9
http://homes.ninemsn.com.au/theblock/
It’s the run down to the wire as tonight the Blockheads experience the delivery of their first room(s). 3 days remain and they think it’s all sleep-ins and clean sheets. Boy have they got a surprise coming their way…
Forgetfulness, chipped teeth, twisted ankles, widended doorways (or even no doors), upset Keef, puzzled Posh – just another day on the Block. Today there’s bathrooms to tile, skirtings to paint, and a peace accord to establish in Syria.
The cupboard people are in and ALL FIVE systems have to be installed today BEFORE 3pm, and that’s not gonna work for Matt. He’s just not ready. The Twiins aren’t happy either though its of their own making.
It was only matter of time before they used “Elevation” by U2, and why not deliver it with the arrival of Shelley to inspect the sites and put the wind up the Blockheads.
Starting on Level 1 with the Twiins, the girls are counselled not to have bare walls though Herr Neale doesn’t mind a bare naked lady. With everything falling down around them the Twiins head out shopping to resolve the stress and return to installed cupboards (but they can’t agree on the mirror). “Should we dress the shelves?” asks Twiin 1. “Do you want to win any money?” replies Scotty.
Moving on from the ladies on Level 1, it’s time to meet Matt & Kim on Level 2 where they reveal the Jackson Pollock room. “That’s fantastic!” offers Shelley. Matt explains the premise and Shelley is nothing but encouraging… but then she leaves them to all the hard work.
On Level 3 Scotty & Shelley meet Posh & Becs who reveal a large original artwork that will feature in their room. Becs is certain you can’t just stick prints on the wall – but paint is optional. They’re big fans of the show so, you know…
Jarrod & Madi have settled into Level 4 and deliver some “Block humour” for the hosts. Madi outlines the colour palette (uh-oh) and scares Scotty with the fact there are no tiles on the walls in their bathroom yet.
Landing on Level 5 Shelley is straight into a personal question for Trixie about her sisters revealing a connection from her past. They show off their big doors and negative profile skirts, and Scotty introduces Trixie as the chippie (she did two years of a carpentry apprenticeship). She and Scotty share the special handshake and then Trixie reveals her nickname in school was “Flipper” because of how she laughs. They all dissolve into laughter. Just nobody mention her kids.
Shelley doesn’t just appear on the Block for no reason. With 48 hours to go naturally the best thing to do is to distract them and take them off-site. The Blockheads all get a text telling them to assemble promptly somewhere else and prepare for a challenge. Matt reveals he must be an AFL footballer as he mentions the movie “The Shawshank Redemption”.
As always the challenge today is about winning much needed cash… they’re presented with a room mockup with a feature bedhead. The teams have to deliver a feature bed head in six hours (the one in front of them must have taken a good six minutes) and the winning team, as judged by HRH Queen Shaynna of the Block, scores $5,000 AND all the teams have to use the bed head in one of their bedrooms on the Block.
There’s lots of discussion over what each of the teams want to source and with $2,000 to spend on the parts and the bed dressing it should be a fairly straight forward challenge. Until Scotty pops in with some news: He’s got a cheat list of stores that will help them all for inspiration. He’s also hidden five keys in five stores for the safety deposit boxes back on the Block – and inside there are all sorts of prizes. Find a key, open the deposit box, who knows what they’ll score. He even gives them the first hint as to the location of one key… It’s no longer the Block; it’s now some kind of race that’s domestically amazing.
The huge benefit to throwing in a key hunt means the complete distraction from the task at hand. While everyone walks under the Mitre 10 key Posh & Becs are the first ones to spot it and prove their competitive streak by just about killing each other when racing for the key.
The Twiins phoned in their order to Mitre 10 while phoning in their effort for today’s challenge. They’ve headed to Spotlight to look for their key and their bits, while Johnno & Trixie have headed off to another selected store in the hope they’re the only team to come here and so they *should* find the key. Which Johnno does while he’s ignoring the oestrogen-inspired conversation happening re: linen.
Twiin 2 finds their key in Spotling and they both lose their sunnies while celebrating. Jarrod & Madi are too focused on detail to notice too much, but they eventually open a random container and find it hiding. Matt & Kim give up on the key hunt, allowing Posh & Becs to find the other key and show off an awful lot about it.
Back to challenge HQ for everyone. Three hours to go and it’s all go with the builds, but always time for Posh & Becs to pass judgement on Jarrod & Madi’s build. Twiin 1 is worried how Twiin 2 will go with the staple gun. “Don’t worry, she can handle a semi-automatic.” Yeah, that helps me sleep at night.
There’s gluing, stapling, sanding, panicking, sawing, and great sidebar responses from Kim to silly questions from Scotty. At least he’s helpful for some, showing Posh how to size the right bit for his screws and showing Matt how a bit of rope doubles nicely for a non-existent belt.
It is the challenges that Scotty comes into his own, wandering around like a crazy old man offering advice and random thoughts on everything. He pops over to help Posh & Becs to help them solve the puzzle of the missing bed legs. “We didn’t get any,” Becs offers. “Traditionally, they’re secured to the base in bags so that it’s really obvious to find them and so they don’t get lost AND so that numpty Block contestants can’t miss ’em,” Scotty offers.
Beds are being dressed and put into place, and the skull candle Jarrod & Madi have added to their room is quite the sticking point for Scotty. “Nothing says romance like a skull,” he muses. Madi decides to paint the bedhead and by their own admission it simply goes from bad to worse.
20 minute call from Shelley and it’s on for young and old. Twiin 1 steps in to help Matt & Kim because she can see they’ve still so much to do and she just wants them to finish. Even Posh jumps in to help. Meanwhile the tomb that Jarrod & Madi have completed isn’t pleasing them and they know they painted themselves into their own corner.
Shelley tells Twiin 2 she doesn’t like the lamps so they scramble to come up with an alternate solution. Shelley pitches in to help Johnno & Trixie move their headboard into place. Becs is already making excuses because of lack of planning. “It took two years to plan our wedding, I don’t like to rush things,” she tells Posh. God help them.
Shelley counts it out and it’s challenge over. Everyone’s just glad it’s all over (and not unreasonably so). Let the trumpets sound – it’s Her Majesty Queen Shaynna to pass judgement on the ‘rooms’ they’ve delivered and especially their bedheads.
A challenge is no challenge without judgement. Or pieces worthy of judgement but this time things seem to have panned out nicely. The Twiins are first and HRH Queen Shaynna likes the padded bedhead and offers some great tips for dressing their room with the throw pillows to hand. Problems solved!
Matt & Kim are next and express their feelings on this challenge: hectic and terrible. Queen Shaynna likes the idea but points out most of it is lost behind the pillows on the bed, but some raising would help it standout. Proving to be most benevolent Her Pillowness again offers a lecture in how to dress the bed.
Posh & Becs know their bedhead is messy but some great detail and good colours help deliver a pretty nice room.
Over to Jarrod & Madi and their tomb. They explain their angle and how it devolved to what it is now. “Well, good luck,” offers Shaynna. Uh-oh.
For Johnno & Trixie there’s big ticks for the colour palette, the carpentry and the light, but there’s an erroneous cushion competing with the headboard. Overall it’s not a bad result for the tear Qlder and her beardy.
Queen Shaynna wants to offer two winners because they’re on par and should be congratulated – well done Johnno & Trixie and the Twiins! $2,500 each to both of them AND they get to keep the linen and lights from today’s challenge, and everyone has to use the bed heads as a part of a room somewhere on The Block.
Off the Blockheads trudge, back to further renovation hell as now they only have a day to complete their first room(s) and hopefully win some cash. It all plays out on Sunday with the room deliveries and first judgement. Who will survive? Whose cuisine will reign supreme?!