‘It worked’: Adrian Portelli’s secret plan with Block winners

Adrian Portelli has confessed he hatched a secret plan with this year’s Block winners to ensure their victory on the day.

The Block’s serial buyer Adrian Portelli made some eyebrow-raising admissions about how he orchestrated his clean sweep of this year’s auctions on-air today, confessing it all “worked according to plan”.

Speaking to Nova 100’s Jase & Lauren today, Portelli, who bought all five houses at auction for a total cost of more than $15 million, revealed that he’d secretly worked with this year’s winners Maddy and Charlotte in the hopes of delivering them the win.

The sisters went last on auction day, and Portelli bought their home after placing one single, giant bid in the briefest of auctions that made the sisters instant millionaires.

Earlier in the episode, Maddy and Charlotte stayed out of a lengthy debate between the other contestants about auction running orders because they had already announced that they wanted to go last on the day.

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Portelli revealed that it was all part of a plan he’d cooked up with the sisters, to give them a big win to finish the season finale.

“We hand-selected the auction order to make sure the girls went last. So we can get them to win,” he revealed.

He explained that he first decided to buy all five properties when he visited the site on the potential buyer’s open day and “saw the compound itself with all the amenities.”

Knowing that he wanted to buy all five homes, Portelli then had to decide which one he paid the most for – essentially choosing this year’s winner. His partner and mother of his young son, Karlie Butler, had the final say there.

Adrian Portelli hatched a plan …

… and Maddy and Charlotte were the big winners. Picture: Channel 9

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He confirmed that Butler had basically told him, “I like these girls, you make sure they win.”

“That’s pretty much how it happened,” he said.

But healthy bidding at the first auction of the day made him realise he’d have to dig a little deeper if he wanted to orchestrate a win for Maddy and Charlotte: “Courtney and Grant’s went for $3.3 [million] and I’m like ‘Oh s**t, I wasn’t expecting that.’

And dig he did: Portelli bought the sisters’ house with a single, $3.5m bid, a full million dollars higher than the only other bidder at their auction.

Portelli explained why he and his girlfriend had taken such a shine to Maddy and Charlotte: “They came in late, they were the underdogs, they were picked on. They were bullied.”

And he confirmed that none of the other contestants were in on the plan to have Maddy and Charlotte go last to give the show a big finish: “No, no. It was just the girls. How good is that? The girls that are the most sweetest and innocent, were playing the game the best.”

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The sisters’ win also acted as Portelli’s big finish on The Block, with the billionaire businessman insisting he won’t be back for next year’s auctions after spending tens of millions on Block properties over the past three seasons.

Meanwhille, Portelli’s company LMCT+, an online marketplace and rewards platform, has gone live with its next big raffle – a monumental giveaway of all five of the properties on ‘Block Island’ he just bought.

Dubbing it “Australia’s biggest giveaway ever”, the giveaway promises “one lucky winner will get the keys to not one, but five luxurious homes within this [Phillip Island] complex. Or, if you prefer, you can walk away with a staggering $8 million cash prize.”

Maddy and Charlotte might owe Portelli’s partner Karlie Butler a drink. Picture: Jason Edwards

Speaking on TheKyle and Jackie O Show this morning, Portelli said he wasn’t “much of a fan of Phillip Island”, so preferred to give all five houses away to everyday Australians.

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 ‘It worked’: Adrian Portelli’s secret plan with Block winners