Insane 30-second auction makes Block history

How to become a millionaire in under a minute. One Block auction in Sunday’s finale went so quickly, even Scott Cam couldn’t keep up.

30 seconds. That’s all it took for the two youngest contestants in Block history, sisters who joined the competition almost halfway through the season, to win the show and become instant millionaires.

Sydney sisters Maddy, 24, and Charlotte, 22 were last to head to auction during Sunday’s Block season finale, and what happened next went so quickly it seemed to take everyone by surprise.

One bidder opened the auction with a starting bid of $2.5 million dollars – giving them an instant profit of $550,000 over their reserve.

Maddy and Charlotte win The Block.

The sisters and Scott Cam barely had time to react to that before billionaire and serial Block buyer Adrian Portelli effectively finished the auction with his enormous first bid: “Three. Point. Five. Million,” he announced, raising his paddle while balancing baby son Mercy in his other hand.

That gave the sisters an enormous profit of $1.55 million – although it seemed everyone’s brains took a second or two to run the maths.

Adrian delivers the winning bid (side note - Danny Wallis looks over it, doesn’t he?)

“What is that?” asked Maddy, before Scott Cam explained what the bid meant: “What? What? … You just won The Block!”

Watching the auction with the rest of the contestants from another room, longtime Block presenter Shelley Craft was visibly shocked.

Shelley Craft: “That was madness.”

“In 20 seasons, we still never know how it’ll go. That was madness,” she said.

The auctioneer banged the gavel, securing Portelli’s win, less than a minute after the auction had begun.

Portelli bought all five houses at this year’s auction, spending more than $15 million in what he insists is his Block curtain call.

And the super-rich 35-year-old has already revealed what he plans to do with the massive property purchase: All five homes will go to one winner who enters a competition run by his online lottery company LMCT+.

Despite a tumultuous season that saw not one but two teams quit, in the end, Portelli ensured it was a lucrative year to be a Block contestant.

Even this year’s fifth-placed contestants, Kylie and Brad, scored $650,000 in winnings – more than the winners got in many previous seasons of the show.

That puts Maddy and Charlotte narrowly behind The Block’s 2023 winners Steph and Gian ($1.75m), and 2022 winners Omar and Oz ($1.68m), on the list of the show’s all-time biggest wins.

This year’s Block auction results

WINNER:

Maddy and Charlotte, house 1: Reserve of $1.95m, sold for $3.5m = $1.65m profit (including $100k prize money for coming first)

SECOND PLACE:

Courtney and Grant, house 2: Reserve of $1.95m, sold for $3.3m = $1.35m profit

THIRD PLACE:

Kristian and Mimi, house 5: Reserve of $1.9m (reduced $50k from Challenge win), sold for $2.93m = $1.03m profit.

FOURTH PLACE:

Ricky and Haydn, house 3: Reserve of $1.95m, sold for $2.7m = $750,000 profit.

FIFTH PLACE:

Kylie and Brad, house 4: Reserve of $1.95m, sold for $2.6m = $650,000 profit.

Originally published as Insane 30-second auction makes Block history