The Block contestant Josh Packham slams ‘unfair’ auction result

One of last year’s Block contestants has publicly slammed the show, declaring the competition “unfair” after last night’s auction result.

A contestant on last year’s season of The Block has slammed the show in the wake of Sunday’s chaotic finale, declaring that Nine “got it wrong” and that the competition itself is becoming “unfair”.

Last night’s season finale was a rollercoaster ride, with the winning team scoring the biggest-ever prize in Block history – almost $1.7m – while two failed to sell, and another couple earned just $20,000 over their reserve.

All three Block houses that sold were bought by the same man: Multi-millionaire and serial Block buyer Danny Wallis. He had been locked in a bidding war with fellow millionaire Adrian Portelli for Omar and Oz’s home, which drove the price sky high and gave the boys their record-breaking win.

Wallis himself even admitted after the auction that he had “probably” overpaid for the property.

Josh Packham via his Instagram.

Danny Wallis broke his own Block record, spending $14m this year.

Josh Packham, who came second in last year’s Block season alongside twin brother Luke, called the auction results “crazy”.

“To walk away with nothing, or close to nothing, after giving up three months of your life and working so hard … I couldn’t imagine it. Major, major condolences to those three couples,” he told his followers on Instagram overnight.

“Obviously, Channel 9 got it wrong. They were looking for too high of reserves in this current market. They should have known it was too high for what it is, in Gisborne. If you’re going to spend that much, you at least want privacy, you don’t want to see other houses, so they got that wrong too,” he said, referring to the five luxury homes’ proximity to each other on their parcels of land outside Gisborne, Victoria.

The contestants were all furious when the reserves were announced.

All the contestants had fumed over their reserves of $4.08m during last night’s finale, having expected them to be set well under $4m. Several complained to Scott Cam that they simply did not have any interest in their house above the $4m mark.

Packham and his brother were one of only two teams in the 2021 season whose houses were not bought by Danny Wallis. The eccentric IT entrepreneur – worth an estimated $120 million – has now purchased three Block properties a year for three years in a row, and has become very much a featured player throughout Block seasons as the contestants try to woo him ahead of auction day.

Omar and Oz are each now more than $800 richer.

“It’s not really a fair competition anymore – it’s about what Danny Wallis is looking to purchase. He’s very important to the show: He bought three properties on our season, and if he didn’t bid on them they could’ve gone for way closer to the reserve, so he did a huge favour for our season,” said Packham.

“But it’s sort of becoming an unfair competition now because there’s a recipe – it’s very obvious if you want to win The Block, you need Danny Wallis to bid on your house, and you need a very strong underbidder. If Danny Wallis wants your house, he will keep bidding no matter what: He will go up to six, seven, eight million if necessary, I guarantee you. ”

Josh and brother Luke came second last year, earning more than half a million dollars. Picture: Supplied

Packham also questioned why millionaire raffle organiser Adrian Portelli, who was the underbidder for Omar and Oz’s house and greeted them with a hug when he arrived, had bid up to $5.5m but then didn’t participate in the remaining four auctions.

“It would make sense to have a raffle for a Block house, that would be really cool. However, he bid 5.5m for that house and then walked away. He could’ve bought any of the other houses for 4.2. Massive question mark: Why?” asked Packham.

Portelli has hit back overnight at the speculation about his role in Oz and Omar’s auction.

“Believe it or not but if you’ve got two people that genuinely want the property a bidding war will happen,” he said.

“I’m happy to show my bank account for anyone that suggests these were dummy bids.”

And the Block winners also refuted speculation that Portelli was only there to drive up the bids, saying he was a serious contender to purchase their home.

“We actually reached out to a mutual friend (who) suggested that he might be interested, and he wanted to come have a look at the house. And when he did come, he absolutely loved it,” Omar told Fitzy and Wippa on-air this morning.

“At the end of the day, he (was willing to pay) $4.5 million. If Danny doesn’t show up, he buys the house for four and a half million and we (would’ve) walked away with $420,000.

“But when Danny came in, everyone seems to get out of the race after that.”

Originally published as The Block contestant Josh Packham slams ‘unfair’ auction result