The Block Sky High – Sun 6:30pm, Mon-Thu 7pm, Ch9
http://homes.ninemsn.com.au/theblock/
A fresh new night with the new promo – and it looks pretty animationally cool. It also assigns colours to our teams – but tonight it’s Keef’s show and he’s here to ensure everyone knows who’s boss.
Look – a tram! We must be in Melbourne (we’ll get that a lot). It’s week 1 so that means lots of sleeping in, complaining about how much sleep the Blockheads aren’t getting, and worrying about putting your make up on. It won’t last. Kim complains about living on the Block like being in jail: “bread and water and maybe the occasional cheeseburger.” I don’t know what prison she’s referring to but to the best of my knowledge you only get the occasional cheeseburger when you’re on the inside if you put out for the prison guards. Just sayin’.
Jarrod’s in full vermiculite removal mode with the “big tool” and it cuts through it like butter. Keef reminds us that the reason to remove it is so the insulation can go in while maintaining the full room height. Jarrod just likes hanging out with big tools.
Keef explains to Matt who looks interested but clearly doesn’t understand anything he’s saying why the insulation is going in. It makes the noise quieter, dude.
Posh & Becs are getting their pipes checked because when the new pipes go on there’s a leak in the floor below and that’s a problem. They can’t dig up the slab to find the leak so a snake camera has to be called in. Another leak has been found somewhere in Matt & Kim’s system too. I guess the teams are about to spend six months in a leaky block…
Posh is stressed about the locating of the leak. He wants to push on but Keef tells him he’ll have to push his tradies back until someone can come in and fix the infrastructure (which is Keef’s problem). It’s all a delicate juggling match – if Keef likes you.
Trixie’s crying about her kids again. It really is just another day on the Block. OR SHE’S THE SOURCE OF THE WATER LEAKS THAT DOWNSTAIRS THINKS ARE HOLES IN PIPES!!! She calls her kids before their first day of school and it’s a touching moment because the music tells us so.
Jarrod & Madi are at the school of Keef learning about membranes and they think he’s insane. It’s a nice moment so it’s sure to turn sour for them.
The internal lift has been decommissioned so it can be replaced – so it’s out of bounds for pretty much the rest of the build. Keef introduces the teams to the external builder’s lift and lets them all know WHEN they can use it. It has to be shared with the primary trades onsite and so there are only specific hours the Blockheads can have at it. “Blah blah blah,” says Becs. Yeah, so this isn’t going to be a problem at all.
There’s even a driver and everything. They all squeeze in and experience the lift – and it’s the Twiins that find it to be the most confronting. “So they twins can chase a man with a gun but can’t handle the lift,” offers Scotty. What insight.
The leaks are spreading. Now the Twiins are suffering the outcome of the leaks on Level 2. Shiran heads upstairs to sort it out in as peaceful manner as possible and it’s tradies negotiating at 20 paces – so it’s all single syllable words and the occasional semi-musical grunt.
Keef’s changed shirts and acknowledges with the age of the pipes all of it needs to be renewed throughout the entire building as a site cost, not one the Blockheads have to face – but they will all have to deal with the delay. Noise restrictions are imminent so it’s all hands on deck by Matt & Kim’s builders to get stuff sorted while they can.
It’s a great end result for all the teams but it’s gonna be a complete nightmare for their schedules.
Becs doesn’t want to do a bathroom again – with four more to go AFTER this one. Johnno reflects on their setbacks and Trixie cries a little more.
Scotty tries to help by putting on the traditional welcome BBQ for the Blockheads. He also throws in a Block Quiz where we learn among other things Posh doesn’t like tomatoes, Matt proposed to Kim in a canoe, and Johnno doesn’t muck around when it comes to women.
Tonight’s soundtrack almost exclusively brought to us by Maroon 5.
Everything seems to be going OK for everyone except for Jarrod & Madi AND Matt & Kim installing their insulation. Watching Matt & Kim work out the ceiling fixing is like having your teeth pulled. Kim’s being “nego” and Matt is keen to push on with rookie mistakes two and three.
Naturally, enter Keef.
There’s one thing you can always be sure about when it comes to the Block – the Blockheads may change but the Blockinator is always there to keep it real (despite what the contestants think is fair). Matt & Kim’s ceiling needs to come down because the insulation has been cut to narrow. The good thing is at least Kim’s up with some high quality cussing to express what she really thinks.
Kim now looks like a grown-up Bindi Irwin and is happy to recount what’s going on while Matt tries to cool off.
Madi & Trixie leave the tears behind to go shopping for bed linen, forgetting that the $1,000 voucher they were given really should be spread across the entire build not just this one room. Rookie mistake fifty four. Twiin 2 has cornered the market on shop assistants because she can’t make a decision to save her life.
Jarrod reveals his true tradie credentials and a sizeable crack while Matt & Kim press on trying to resolve their ceiling issues. Kim delivers the message and Matt takes it like a man. Jarrod still can’t get the jetdryer working.
Johnno’s opening up the doorways and adding in lintels with doors removed to open up their rooms. Whatever they’re doing is working, unlike Matt & Kim’s insulation installation, which has taken them ALL. DAY. At least Kim has learned: “We’re never doing it ourselves again ever.” They’ve called in the pros who has knocked it over in no time.
Jarrod still can’t get the jetdryer going. Until he reads the instructions right.
VERMICULITE-GATE!
Posh has ignored Keef’s call to get rid of the vermiculite and is finding the plasterboard isn’t staying up because the insulation is pushing it down and the screws aren’t long enough. So maybe Keef was right in the first place, eh Posh? So, once they get the longer screws, they then use a metric million of them to hold the sheets up and… what do you know, Keef doesn’t like the look of it and he’s well chuffed to remind them that everyone else removed the vermiculite and it was easier for them.
Twiin 2 has twisted her ankle somehow and as expected Twiin 1 thinks she’s being overly soft – and she did it on the way to the dentist to fix a chipped tooth. She realises she’s living and working on a building site for the next 3 months, right?
Posh & Becs like to relax by trying on moustaches; the Twiins wind down with their night time beauty routines. Just another day in what was billed as Block-agra Falls and pretty much ended up in gyprocking hell. Tomorrow the Blockheads get to meet Shelley Craft, and where there’s Craft there’s much-needed cash…