The Block cheating scandal: Hidden camera footage exposes Tanya

The Block’s biggest scandal just exploded, with an emotional tell-all interview and some jaw-dropping hidden camera footage.

The key players of The Block’s dramatic cheating saga were exposed in Tuesday night’s episode, as it emerged that contestants Tanya and Vito knew a whole lot more about the scandal than they had been letting on.

And in shocking hidden camera footage that aired in the episode’s final moments, the couple could be seen conspiring to get their story straight before they fronted up to producers.

Tanya has since spoken to news.com.au in an explosive interview, claiming she may have been “set up” from week one.

The scandal first kicked off on Sunday night, when it was discovered controversial twins Josh and Luke had seen a photo of The Block’s top-secret production schedule, giving them inside knowledge to plan and execute their rooms in advance. In Tuesday’s episode, Tanya and Vito finally came forward to address their involvement in circulating the photo.

But despite Tanya eventually calling for a sit-down confessional to reveal “her truth” once and for all, incriminating hidden camera footage hinted she and Vito were weaving a complicated web.

Tanya and Vito pretended to know nothing about the schedule photo when asked several times throughout the week.

Tanya and Vito had previously stayed quiet about the mysterious snap taken inside Scott Cam’s private office, claiming they knew nothing of the schedule leak behind the twins’ win on Sunday.

But when the tough Block bosses Keith and Dan came down hard on Josh and Luke’s builder Ryan — who admitted to receiving the photo from his teammates — Luke called for the lies to end.

“Vito, we need to resolve this now. It’s all going to be fine, but they’re nailing me and Ryan. It just has to be resolved. We have to do it now,” the fiery former Love Island star told Vito, who called his wife and told her to return to site immediately from a shopping trip.

“I’m not taking responsibility, Things have gotta be sorted out, you know what I mean,” a distressed Vito told her.

Vito did his best to distance himself from the situation.

Returning to the work site, Tanya asked to face the camera with Luke, talking to one of the show’s producers to discuss the origin of the offending image. The producer noted it was a “highly unusual” request.

“So basically, the boys last night inspired me to come forward. That was really brave of them to ‘fess up and talk about what happened with the schedule scandal,” she said, referring to Monday night’s tense ‘winners are grinners’ dinner.

Tanya, who said staying quiet had been “eating her up inside,” claimed that she received the photo via a text message from an unknown tradie working on-site, who told her he thought she would find it useful for the weeks ahead.

The producer asked if Tanya had received the text to her ‘Block number.’

“Yes,” she responded, before correcting herself: “No, it was my personal phone number.”

Tanya didn’t seem to have her story straight.

She said she showed the photo to her husband, who wanted no part of it, then texted it to Luke to ask if it had been widely circulated. He said no.

“So that is the truth, Luke got it from me, but I got it from an ex-tradie from The Block,” she said, adding that within 48 hours she deleted the photo and text message entirely.

Tanya swore she was just trying to protect the anonymous texter.

“I could have kept the number and I could have kept the photo but I just couldn’t do that, honestly I really couldn't,” she said.

“I deleted the photo initially because I was like ‘I don’t want to be a part of this and I don’t want the person who sent this to me to be implicated by this’. It’s just been a ripple effect.”

Tanya appeared to become teary as she revealed how the lies had been ‘eating her up inside’.

Noting that Tanya and Vito had lied on camera throughout the week, claiming no knowledge of the photo scandal, the producer asked Tanya how The Block could be sure she was now telling the truth about the origins of the photo.

“It’s just been something that I’ve been thinking over, and when I saw the boys come forward I though, you know what, I’ve got to come forward and share my truth,” she said, as her husband became agitated at the line of questioning.

“You’re not under a criminal investigation here Tanya … it’s an interrogation,” Vito said, ending the interview and storming off with his wife.

But it didn’t end there.

Suddenly, the episode flashed back to secret camera footage from The Block tea room, recording Tanya in a conversation with her husband from earlier in the day.

Unbeknown to Tanya, her conversation wasn’t so private.

“I’m going to tell the camera what happened about the tradie sending me the photo. It was a number I didn’t know, and I deleted it straight away,” Tanya was heard whispering.

“The thing is … it was my Block number, yeah,” she said, contradicting what she told producers.

Then, she lowered her voice to drop the biggest bombshell of the episode, advising her husband: “You’ve got to always have the same consistent story...”

The saga is set to continue on Wednesday, as the other contestants learn of Tanya and Vito’s involvement in the scandal and all teams unite for a body corporate meeting that descends into a slanging match.

Originally published as The Block cheating scandal: Hidden camera footage exposes Tanya