The Block finale: Here’s how each team fared at auction

WARNING: SPOILERS. One team are instant millionaires, while two have gone home empty-handed: This is the most chaotic finale in Block history.

Nick Bond

@bondnickbond

5 min read

November 7, 2022 - 7:05AM

The Block finale: Here’s how each team fared at auction (The Block)

One team are instant millionaires, this year’s favourites have earned a comparatively tiny amount – and two teams went home with nothing at all in what has been the most chaotic finale in Block history.

Friends Omar and Oz emerged as the winners of The Block’s ‘Treechange’ season, earning by far the biggest win in the show’s near-20-year history with a profit of $1,686,666.66 for their luxe home in Gisborne, country Victoria.

Rachel and Ryan were the only other contestants to win a sizeable amount of money, taking home $169,000.50.

It was a crushing end to the season for some contestants.

Judges favourites Tom and Sarah-Jane were on a winning streak all season, but it didn’t count for much at auction day as they made a profit of just $20,000 (and ninety-nine cents) for their 12 weeks of hard labour.

But at least they fared better than Dylan and Jenny and Sharon and Ankur, with both their houses being passed in at auction. They’re both still on the market.

And if those unusual profit amounts didn't already give it away, yes, serial Block buyer Danny Wallis did feature heavily again at this year’s auction – in fact, he bought all three of the houses that sold. One can only imagine what the result would’ve been if Wallis had’ve been busy on auction day.

All five teams were given the same reserve to clear of $4.08 million, with the houses on the market for a price guide of $4 to $4.4m. Nobody was particularly happy with their reserve, with all teams hoping expecting they’d be under $4m.

The contestants were shocked by their reserves.

“This reserve would be great if we had buyers willing to pay between 4 and 4.4, but we don’t have those buyers. There’s a lot of interest, but no interest at the 4 million mark,” Rachel fumed.

There were even uglier scenes after Tom and Sarah-Jane revealed the auction running order, with Omar and Oz in particular fuming that they’d been selected to go first.

“I hate them, straight up,” Omar said to Oz afterwards. “I can’t stand his little bald head.”

Here’s how the auctions played out:

Omar and Oz

Omar and Oz are the biggest Block winners ever.

With the order chosen by Tom and Sarah-Jane, house five’s Omar and Oz went first at the auction. It proved a costly mistake for Tom and Sarah-Jane, because Danny Wallis bought the boys’ four-bedroom, 10-acre property for $5,666,666.66.

That massive purchase instantly made them the most successful contestants in Block history by quite a margin – the only other team to scrape past the million mark have been Jimmy and Tam in 2020.

If splitting the cash evenly, both Omar and Oz will go home with more than $843,000.

Scott Cam was flabbergasted at the incredible first auction result, announcing of the boys’ massive profit: “Someone at Channel Nine is going to lose their job.”

Eccentric multi-millionaire Wallis later even conceded he “probably” overpaid for the property.

“I probably spent too much at the first auction, but was surprised to pick up two more homes at what I feel was a bargain price, so I guess it all evened out in the end for me at least,” Wallis said.

His unusual antics during the auction included his usual dollars-and-cents bidding style, and pausing the auction at one point to confer privately - with his dog.

Tom and Sarah-Jane

You have to feel for Tom and Sarah-Jane.

These two barely put a foot wrong all season, with the judges lapping up the style of their Gisborne property. But in hard-to-watch scenes, their home sold to Danny Wallis for $4,100,000.99, giving them a profit of just $20,000.

It’s the lowest profit a Block house has made since 2014, and the down-to-earth couple were both clearly gutted at the result.

“It wasn’t in our future,” a weeping Sarah-Jane said after the hammer fell. Tom said that, while he didn’t expect to make a huge amount of money on The Block, factoring in the time away from their jobs they’d be leaving with a “massive loss.”

Watching on, all the other contestants looked stricken.

“I just feel crushed without you... You didn’t deserve that. We deserved a lot more. I don’t know what’s going on,” said Scott Cam.

Rachel and Ryan

A tense wait – but Rachel and Ryan did well.

Really, the finale’s only other success story: Sydney parents Rachel and Ryan, who were hastily drafted in at the start of the season when another couple dropped out, sold their home to Wallis for $4,249,999.50.

They got a profit of $169,000.50 to come in a very distant second place. It’s a healthy result – but when you consider that even last year’s fifth-placing contestants made almost $300k, it’s clear this has been a tough year for The Block.

Sharon and Ankur, Dylan and Jenny

Sharon and Ankur watch the auctions.

Dylan and Jenny look on.

It hasn’t happened on The Block in over a decade, and tonight it happened twice: The final two houses up for auction were passed in after failing to attract bids above their reserve.

Both Sharon and Ankur and Dylan and Jenny’s auctions petered out with the same top bid of $4,075,000.

Host Scott Cam was furious with Sharon and Ankur’s real estate agent, after he kept the auction open even as bids petered out just under the reserve. One more small bid, and they would’ve had to sell the property with a miniscule profit.
“Pass it in! What are you doing, pass it in!” Cam yelled as he watched the auction play out on a screen.

And after that, a stunned Dylan and Jenny watched as the registered bidders for their auction never materialised - and were again left powerlessly screaming at their real estate agent when he took his time at passing it in, leaving them at risk of a Tom and Sarah-Jane type result.

All is not lost for these two teams: Having been passed in at auction, both homes are still on the market. However, the disappointing auction result may not bode too well for their eventual sales.

Host Scott Cam called this year’s finale “bittersweet”.

“We had one incredible high and some crushing lows for our Blockheads, who all worked the hardest I’ve ever seen to deliver these houses,” he said.

“As we’ve seen many times before, we’ll continue to negotiate with interested buyers to sell these homes, which are still on the market. I’m gunning for a positive result.”

The Block’s co-creator and executive producer Julian Cress said the mixed results reflected a “a very volatile real estate market”.

“While we had many registered bidders, clearly something has spooked the market. But we believe the properties are of incredible value and we think they will find new owners very soon, to deliver a well-deserved reward for our contestants’ hard work.”

PREVIOUS BLOCK WINNERS

2003 – BONDI – Adam & Fiona, $256,000

2004 – MANLY – Jamie & Andrew, $178,000

2010 – VAUCLUSE – John & Neisha, $305,000

2011 – RICHMOND – Polly & Waz, $115,000

2012 – SOUTH MELBOURNE – Brad & Lara, $606,000

2013 – ALL STARS (BONDI) – Phil & Amity, $395,000

2013 – SKY HIGH (SOUTH MELBOURNE) – Alisa & Lysandra, $395,000

2014 – FANS v FAVES (ALBERT PARK) – Steve & Chantelle, $736,000

2014 – GLASSHOUSE (PRAHRAN) – Shannon & Simon, $435,000

2015 – TRIPLE THREAT (SOUTH YARRA) – Darren & Deanne, $935,000

2015 – THE BLOCKTAGON (SOUTH YARRA) – Dean & Shay, $755,000