Gutted The Block contestant Dee Jolly says Prahran was always an ‘iffy’ and ‘risky’ suburb of choice.
DEE Jolly says Prahran was always an ‘iffy’ suburb for The Block and sheds light on rumours contestants are wanting to sue Channel 9 for compensation.
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THE BLOCK’S Dee Jolly says Prahran was always an ‘iffy’ and ‘risky’ suburb of choice.
Speaking exclusively to Confidential, Dee said she and husband Darren Jolly are gutted after only taking away $10,000 following a controversial end to The Block Glasshouse auctions.
She said all the couples generally thought the reserves for the apartments — theirs was set at $1,380,000 — were too high for the area.
“I think Prahran is a bit of an iffy suburb,’’ Dee said.
“The reserves were a bit cocky, to be honest.
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“It’s surrounded by some really great blue chip suburbs, but it’s a risky suburb like Richmond was.
“So I think the reserves, I would have liked to have seen them much more conservative because of that.
“I think the building also wasn’t the most attractive prosect and all very risky because of those things.
Jolly said she does not expect any compensation from the producers or Channel 9
“I think it’s a business, I would never expect that, I understand how the world works,’’ she said.
“Of course that would be lovely and we would all love that, but it’s a business and the chances of that is zero, that’s all I can say.”
And despite rumours swirling of contestants suing Channel Nine for compensation, the network has revealed it won’t cough up.
“While we hope that all contestants walk away with a financial reward for the time and effort they commit to The Block, it is the buying public that determines the outcome of this program,” said Michael Healy, Director of Television for the Nine Network.
“I’d like to thank the contestants for their remarkable achievements in producing these incredible apartments, as well as the very talented crew who produced this series, which has been a massive ratings success.”
Jolly also thought the results were just bizarre.
“It was a bizarre result,’’ she said.
“You have two apartments who kill it, and three just die, it’s just not what nobody would have guessed.
“One apartment that did well was facing the south with all that noise, and the other had no external windows.”
All The Block couples watched the show from The College Lawn in Prahran last night, and there were tears.
“It was really horrible for everyone, even the guys that did well,’’ she said.
“It was so hard for the boys, it’s was like being at a wedding when the bride’s father has just died.
“It was so hard for them to celebrate and they were crying as well and gutted for us, the mood was just really extreme.”
She told the Herald Sun that they are just trying to take everything in, after the disappointing end to their experience on the show.
“We are reeling, we just did not expect that, none of us,’’ she said.
“Money doesn’t define us, it’s not the reason we did the show and it’s not going to ruin us or anything like that, but it’s certainly disappointing.
“We worked really hard, and I think with me and what the viewers have seen of me on the show, I’m very passionate about what I do, and I hold myself to a really high expectations.
“Daz completely flogged himself on the show and took pride in what he was doing.
“So to have nothing much to show for it at the end, it’s really upsetting and devastating.
“You would hope your hard work would pay off.
“Essentially we spent three months building an apartment, agonising over everything we did for nothing.
‘We are grateful for the opportunity and the experience was great and I’m sure great things will happen for us, but we would have liked to have some sort of rewards for our hard work.”
What’s next for the Jolly’s?
They are tipped to join the next series, but nothing is signed on the dotted line yet.
“There are rumours at this point, and we’ve had conversations, but nothing is locked in,’’ she said.
“We are just looking at starting our own business, obviously we are excited at this point.
“We haven’t got any further then that.”