Adrian Portelli: Lambo Guy admits he paid ‘too much’ for The Block houses in Hampton East

Businessman Adrian Portelli produced some bizarre bidding tactics during The Block finale. Now that he’s reflected on the purchases, he’s come to a shocking conclusion.

Adrian Portelli spent more than $12m at The Block auctions, and now admits he might’ve overpaid.

Billionaire businessman Adrian Portelli admits he paid too much for the three homes he splashed $12.4 million on during The Block finale.

The controversial car-lover has told News Corp he probably paid $1 million more than he should have for at least one of the properties, but it was worth it for the “exposure and marketing”.

“I’ve bought a ute for $1 million before. Was I overpaying? Probably, but I wouldn’t have gotten the exposure,” Portelli said.

It comes after a News Corp analysis of the winning homes of the series over the past 20 years revealed a high number were now valued at less or the same as what they were when they sold.

RELATED: ‘Didn’t like them’: Block agent reveals what went wrong

Adrian Portelli’s lotto business investigated for allegedly breaking gambling laws

The Block’s extraordinary tax hack

In bizarre scenes, Portelli bid against himself several times during one of the auctions — repeatedly raising the price by $100,000 despite already having the highest bid.

“I’m just a very aggressive bidder, so when I saw Danny was thinking about bidding and Frank was on phone to a bidder, I wasn’t having any of it, so I smacked another nail in the coffin and thought, I’ll bid against myself,” he said.

“I fired the first warning shot at the first auction and then followed through.

“I don’t think there’s any doubts about me now. After all the hate, the criticism, and my name being dragged through the mud... it’s nice to get out there and shut the gates on that.”

Adrian Portelli says its nice to shut the haters up. Picture: Supplied/Channel 9

As for the criticism he received for taking around $100,000 worth of items from the fully furnished Gisborne property he gave away after the last series of the show, Portelli says it has only helped his reputation and cemented the legitimacy of his business.

MORE: How much are the winning Block homes worth now and which have decreased in value?

By purchasing Steph and Gian’s house, Portelli has shattered the suburb record for Hampton East. Pictures: Jellis Craig/Belle Property

“99.9 per cent of people were for us, and we won a lot of fans out of it,” he said. “We ended up having our biggest month ever. Sales went through the roof.

“People question the legitimacy of the prizes, but they couldn’t after that happened. It shows we don’t give all the prizes to our friends like some people thought.”

Portelli said he did “a few polls” of his LMCT Plus members to see which houses they liked the most, and used that as a guideline for the auctions.

Adrian Portelli, pictured on his recent European holiday, says he doesn’t plan on living in any of the Hampton East houses that he bought. Picture: instagram/ @adrian_portelli.

“I knew which ones my favourites were,” he said. “Three was the favourite, followed by five, and house number one,” he said.

He plans to give at least one away through his promotions business.

“I’ll test one out first and see how it goes,” he said.

“I personally wouldn’t live in any of these houses. They’re not on my side of the city.”

RELATED: Real estate TV shows slammed for ‘regrettable’ property advice

Why Danny Wallis is selling his Block home Mitch and Mark renovated

Who won The Block 2023 and why? Fans and experts react

Originally published as Adrian Portelli: Lambo Guy admits he paid ‘too much’ for The Block houses in Hampton East