‘Nothing bugs me more’: Scott Cam’s big new Block rule

The Block host Scott Cam has given contestants a few surprises, designed to eliminate a few of his biggest Block pet peeves.

The Block host Scott Cam gave contestants a few welcome surprises during Monday’s episode, that he explained were designed to eliminate a few of his biggest Block pet peeves.

Meeting with the five teams as they decided which of the five houses on offer this season they each wanted to renovate, Cam revealed that there would be a few changes to the show’s rules this year.

Change number one: He would pay for all plumbers and electricians on The Block. He explained this was an attempt to have more control over contestants’ spiralling budgets.

“No more will contestants be blowing their budget with sparkies and plumbers hanging around, waiting for you guys to get ready,” he said.

Scott Cam reveals some new rules this season.

“If you’re not ready for them, they’re just going to move next door and you’ll lose your spot. Nothing bugs me more than contestants wasting coin like that.”

Except, he went on, for “contestants that cheat” – which brought Cam to the next big change this season: For the first time, teams were given access to the show’s full, 12-week production schedule in advance, so they’d all know from the start of the build what rooms they’d be doing each week and could plan accordingly.

The teams reacted with amazement as Cam wheeled in the schedule on a whiteboard, encouraging them all to take photos.

The Block’s production schedule is usually a tightly-held secret from contestants, who are typically kept in the dark about the order of what’s to come so that they can’t work ahead.

But it was also at the centre of one of the show’s biggest-ever scandals, when 2021 contestant Tanya Guccione was accused of sneaking into a production office and taking a photo of the schedule, giving her an upper hand on her fellow contestants. She denied the accusation all season, before finally confessing at the finale.

Ta-dah! The show's full, 12-week schedule.

Cam first let slip this major change to the show’s rules during a radio interview last week.

“We’d never do that before. But it’s such a big build that we thought, we need to give them a heads up so they can plan for the future,” he told 2DAY FM’s Hughesy, Ed & Erin last week.

Meanwhile, The Block judge Neale Whittaker spoke out on social media after Sunday’s season premiere to express his frustration at the edit he’d received.

Whittaker will take a step back throughout this season, as filming took place while he nursed his partner through a period of ill health – but viewers watching Sunday’s show saw Whittaker tell his fellow judges he’d be “breaking up the band,” without explaining the reason why.

“There’s nothing more frustrating than an unexplained decision or an incomplete narrative – especially where health and family are concerned, “ Whittaker wrote on Instagram after the show.

“I broke the news to Shaynna and Darren that I would be unable to join them each week and explained my reasons. It was an emotional conversation for all of us. Unfortunately those important reasons didn’t make the cut.”