Shelley Craft’s brutal Block diss: ‘F**king disaster’

The Block presenter Shelley Craft has taken a surprising jab at last year's most controversial contestants, Sharon and Ankur.

Longtime The Block presenter Shelley Craft had some surprisingly strong words about a couple of last year’s contestants during a radio interview today.

Speaking on Hit Breakfast with Maz & Matty, Craft was asked about the comparative lack of renovation experience among this year’s crop of contestants.

While there are a builder and an architect among their ranks, several teams this season have virtually no reno experience at all.

Craft said the show’s producers generally cast for “characters,” rather than previous experience.

“I always thought the best team would be an accountant and an HR manager, because you have to be able to manage your money and manage your trades,” she said, revealing her own personal pick for a successful Block couple.

Craft singled out two of last year’s contestants as being “an absolute f**king disaster.”

“[But] we sort of had that last year and it was an absolute f***ing disaster. That was the worst team that there is, it’s not the recipe!” she continued, to laughter from the radio hosts.

“We’re really after great people that are happy to give it everything they’ve got, and we’ve got five teams this year who are ready to give it a red hot crack.”

The “disaster” Craft is referring to is of course last year’s most controversial couple, lawyer-turned actor Sharon and her accountant husband Ankur, who copped a fierce backlash from viewers over their apparent negative attitudes while filming TheBlock.

Controversial 2022 Block contestants Ankur and Sharon.

The couple clashed with their builders, foremen Keith and Dan and host Scott Cam, and repeatedly declared on camera that they wished they’d never signed up to do the show.

The couple even had their finances frozen by Scott Cam due to their apparent inability to manage their budget. They later said they felt “ambushed” and were upset at how they’d been portrayed on the show. Cam later said in an interview that he thought the couple had “made [the experience] harder” on themselves than it needed to be.

Despite that drama – and their house being one of three passed in on auction day – Sharon and Ankur ended up with the season’s second-highest earnings, eventually selling their house for a profit of $170,000 over reserve.

Also doing the Block radio rounds today, Cam told 2DAY FM’s Hughesy, Ed & Erin that the bad vibes last season were not just confined to Sharon and Ankur. He said everyone found it difficult, battling the elements during the show’s first rural shoot.

Scott Cam on radio today.

“It was a tough year last year in Gisborne. We got in and got it done, but it was cold and wet – it rained for 60 days out of 90,” he said. “Constant drizzle … that breaks ya.”

Radio host Dave Hughes noted that he saw some of last year’s contestants at the Logies over the weekend, and felt some seemed like they had “PTSD” from their time on the show.

“It was just tough conditions. Our crew carrying cameras 300 metres between houses, in mud, in the middle of nowhere … morale was low within the crew, including me,” said Cam.

“But this year’s been fantastic – we’re back. There’s a footpath to walk between [the houses]! Great contestants, great location, great weather – it’s reinvigorated everyone.”

Airing from Sunday, this season of The Block returns to inner city Melbourne, as the five teams renovate 1950s brick homes in Charming Street, Hampton.