Twenty years after Nine first launched The Block, the home reno show is returning for its 19th season.
The August 6 launch will be two decades after the first series popped up on June 1, 2003. The first three series were in Sydney ocean-from suburbs. Since then all but one series has been set in The Block’s spiritual home in Melbourne. Most often south-eastern suburbs which is where The Block Charming Street is set.
Along the way, the series has become the world’s richest reality show with over $32m being won by contestants.
Much of the success of the series is due to the fact the co-creators – Cavalier Television duo Julian Cress and David Barbour – continue to guide the format. They have been joined along the journey by Nine executive producer Justin Sturzaker.
The Block’s co-EP and format co-creator Julian Cress
Top: 2023 judges Neale Whitaker, Darren Palmer, Shaynna Blaze and Marty Fox
Commenting on the show’s staying power, Cress told Mediaweek: “Who’d have thought? I remember talking to you at Mediaweek when we did the first series. I don’t think either of us thought at the time we’d be talking about making a 20th series two decades later.”
Casting The Block never ends
Cress: “Casting the houses is one thing, but casting the people is the most important thing we do. We spend as long casting the contestants as we do making the show. It takes about six to seven months to make the show from beginning to end. It takes us just as long to find the five couples we want for each series.”
The casting means running The Block is a process that never stops. “We start casting while the previous season is still on the air, using it as a springboard to remind people to put their applications in.”
Scott Cam with the cast for The Block 2023
You need luck securing the properties
“We cast the net very wide to find property. To be honest we then just cross our fingers. It’s not easy finding five houses in a row. We have been incredibly lucky over the years. Our property sourcing is done by our architect Julian Brenchley. He’s come through year after year as he understands exactly what we need to make the show. He and I spend a lot of time looking at properties and talking about them.
“When the right things come along, it’s about developing a creative story that goes with it that will capture the imagination of the audience.
“What was really appealing to us about Charming Street [Season 2023] is that these houses were relatively untouched since the 1950s. These are the sorts of properties the average Australian family is looking to renovate to try and improve their life for their family.
“As a DIY renovation project, these houses are right in that sweet spot for what many aspire to or have already done themselves.”
Cress and Brenchley were excited that some of the houses presented exactly as they were originally built. “A couple of them were even still decorated with Nana’s furniture.
“The houses are exactly like what some of the viewers would have had when they first bought a house and renovated it. Others will think it’s just what they would love to do. Or some who are just happy to sit back and watch a bunch of people argue about it for 12 weeks” [Laughs]
One of the Charming Street properties
The secret sauce
“Part of the secret success of The Block, and why we are still going 20 years later, is that we have never done the same thing twice. We are always looking for something that is a little bit different to engage us and to deliver something that is interesting and exotic for the audience.”
Meet the couples: One from each mainland state
There are a few previous seasons that have boasted a couple from each state and it happens again this year.
Those couples are:
Sisters Eliza and Liberty Paschke (personal assistant, 37, and integration producer, 34, VIC)
Parents Kyle and Leslie Cottone (firefighter, 36, and teaching aide, 34, WA)
Parents Leah and Ash Milton (first aid officer, 31, and builder, 36, QLD)
Married couple Kristy and Brett Beames (project manager, 34, and safety officer, 34, SA)
Newlyweds Steph and Gian Ottavio (architect, 27, and start up worker, 27, NSW)
Cress: “We literally had tens of thousands of applications. That was off the back of an auction last year where one team did make record money. The others didn’t. The people who are coming onto the show do so with their eyes wide open. They could make hundreds of thousands of dollars. Or nothing at all. But they still give it everything they’ve got.”
Cress noted it’s just coincidence that most couples are of a similar age this year. “We tend to look for people who fit into our demo. We will cast generally from 25 to 54. This year the best couples we found did tend to be of similar ages.”
Meet Steph and Gian
Cress was bubbling with enthusiasm about their 2023 teams. He told us about one of them: “Our youngest couple is very interesting this year. They have actually been together as a couple since they were 13 years old. High school sweethearts who have never had another partner. Stef is also our first architect. We thought going in it would be an interesting mix and it really proved to be. She came with a very different energy to anyone we have ever had before.”
Steph and Gian go to work
You want conflict? Get ready…
The series’ regular viewers should again be happy with the mix this year.
“The headline for this series is ‘human drama’, something we always set out to produce,” admitted Cress. “What we landed on this year were five couples who have an incredible amount of competitive energy and spirit they brought to the series.
“The purest form of The Block is when you have a group of 10 people who come together and play a game of Monopoly with real money. The way a very competitive group of friends or family would play Monopoly. Everybody is trying to win at all costs and everybody really goes for it. That is the series we have this year.
“Viewers will see a lot of personality politics come into play. There were friendships that were made and then broken. It really was a rollercoaster of emotion from beginning to end.”
Commercial partnerships
The Block has really become the poster child for commercial integration. Something Nine pioneered when the series was given a lifeline in 2010 when it returned after a hiatus.
“So many of the show’s sponsors we have had for a really long time,” said Cress. “People like McDonald’s and Mitre 10 come back year after year which is very flattering to us. This year there are a few new partners including Commonwealth Bank.
“When there are new opportunities they don’t last long. There always seems to be somebody waiting in the wings to take on a major sponsorship.
“The ability to produce a show like The Block is reliant on commercial partnerships. There is no way we could afford to deliver a series on this scale if we didn’t have people like Ford and Comm Bank helping us make it.”
Contestants arrive in the sponsor’s product
Lessons from 2022 auctions
People watch The Block for a variety of reasons. Whatever the reason, there is always something bubbling away. Especially on auction day, the climax of every season and the payback the creators give viewers for their loyalty.
On that score, 2022 was extra special. The winning team made more than any team has ever walked away with. The others? Not so much. That fired up some viewers who thought the reserve prices were all wrong.
“Even in hindsight it is very hard to judge reserve pricing,” said Cress. “Last year one team made $1.7m and another team made $20,000. What does that tell you about the reserves?
“We’ve never promised anything more than a competition where somebody gets to win $100,000. As long as all the teams know that is the case then we are ok.
“It doesn’t seem to matter where we set the reserves, there will always be somebody who says we got it wrong.
“None of us have any control over what happens on auction day. Just have a look as Scott Cam’s face on auction day and he is just as nervous as anyone, including me and the contestants, despite having done it so many times.”
Neale Whitaker takes a break
Host Scott Cam, his presenting colleague Shelley Craft, and the judging team of Neale Whitaker, Shaynna Blaze and Darren Palmer make the viewers feel right at home every season. This season Whitaker only appears in a handful of episodes.
Cress: “It was a big blow to find out that Neale would be unable to do all the judging this year. We totally understand why and that he needed to take a step back and concentrate on the health of his partner David.”
Cress said having agent Marty Fox as a replacement has been good in that it brings real estate experience to the judging process. “Having someone who is in the business of selling property brings a very interesting perspective. The Block is about renovating, but it is a real estate competition.
“The first, and only judge, on The Block for a number of seasons was John McGrath, CEO of McGrath Real Estate. Marty brings a different kind of energy to the show and he has a very experienced eye. He is very confident in his opinions and he has a lot of them.”
See also: The Block Finale 2022 – Oz and Omar set a new record as two teams get nothing