Block buyer Danny Wallis reveals why he bids to the cent

Serial Block buyer Danny Wallis has explained his penchant for confusing, to-the-cent bids that leave other bidders exasperated.

It’s one of The Block’s biggest mysteries — even labelled a “nuisance” by some real estate experts — but now, eccentric IT entrepreneur Danny Wallis has explained the reason behind his oddly specific bids come auction day.

The Melbourne businessman — who has an estimated net worth of $120 million — has become synonymous with The Block finales, having scooped up three of the five properties for the second year running.

Splashing a combined total of $12.2 million, not only is it his sheer extravagance that captivates viewers — it’s his penchant for bizarre bids.

He bought Mitch and Mark’s house for $4,044,444.44, Tanya and Vito’s for $3.8 million and one cent, and Kirsty and Jesse’s for $4,401,523.67.

Danny Wallis scooped up three houses on The Block for the second year running. Picture: Channel 9.

According to the Melbourne businessman, he does it simply to get people talking.

He told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell today he just wants to be “part of the theatre”.

“They say auctions are meant to be theatre, so you can’t just let the theatre go to the auctioneer,” he explained. “You’ve got to be part of it, also!”

It’s not the first time Wallis has made his love of auction showmanship apparent.

Millionaire Danny Wallis admitted he throws out the quirky bids to be part of the ‘theatre’ on auction day. Picture: Supplied.

Block viewers with long memories might remember Wallis’ flamboyant antics during the 2012 South Melbourne season of the show, where he purchased one of the properties for $1.4 million while flanked by women in T-shirts emblazoned with his company’s logo.

It was that stunt coupled with his confusing bids that saw him labelled “a bit of a nuisance” by Block buyer’s advocate Frank Valentic at the show’s 2019 auctions.

But Wallis had some choice words of his own: He insisted he never even watched The Block and complained that the auction had been “slow” and “stupid.”

“I’ve never been at an auction where people get five minutes think time,” he said.

“Danny is a local businessman here in Melbourne … We’ve seen him at a Block auction before, and he has a tactic of confusing everyone in the crowd,” Block presenter Shelley Craft explained during the 2019 finale, after Wallis offered a bid that left the auctioneer flummoxed: $3,308,050. The auctioneer quipped that it was “$3,308,000 and half a litre of petrol.”

Wallis dropped a bombshell in a radio interview after last year’s Block buying spree, revealing that he hadn’t even fully inspected the three houses he bought.

“I don’t actually like going in a lot of houses I buy, because I don’t like seeing what people live like. I just buy them on the outside,” he said.

He also revealed he only watches the Sunday night reveals on The Block, and doesn’t bother with the other episodes, hinting he’s not a big fan of the show.

“I don’t watch it, I find it a bit … yeah. I just watch the reveals.”

For the second year running, Wallis will donate one of his purchases to charity – Tanya and Vito’s home will be gifted to My Room Children’s Cancer Charity, where it’ll be used as accommodation for children battling cancer and their families.

Speaking on 3AW this morning, Wallis said he decided to donate another Block house after learning that the property he gave the charity last year is “always booked out”.

“I bought a couple of them so they could have a choice,” he said.

As for the third house purchase?

“It was a bit of fun! I didn’t want Frank to get them all so I had to get some,” he said of the other big bidder at Sunday’s auction.

He added that the two properties not donated to My Room will be rented out by his sister.