Unseen photo reveals deep divide among this year’s Block contestants

A previously unseen photo reveals what was really going on behind the scenes of the latest controversial season of The Block.

There were tense scenes early in Sunday’s Block finale as the five teams met one last time ahead of their auctions – and a newly released photo from that day suggests this year’s Blockheads are very much divided into two camps.

Contestants Rachel and Ryan have shared the photo below, taken shortly after each team’s reserve price and auction order was revealed.

“Probably our second most stressful day on The Block (after auctions) but we still got together and went out to our favourite Gisborne restaurant and laughed until we cried. #family,” they tagged the photo.

Three out of five teams stuck around for a long lunch after their reserves were revealed.

Well, not all of them got together – while Tom and Sarah-Jane, Rachel and Ryan and Dylan and Jenny are all shown cuddling up, glasses in hand, Block winners Omar and Oz and controversial contestants Sharon and Ankur were nowhere to be seen.

Rachel, Sarah-Jane and Jenny got together after reserve reveal – without Sharon.

Scenes from that day that were aired in Sunday’s finale suggest some of the couples made much closer connections than others – and that there is outright hostility between some contestants on this year’s Block.

Early in the finale, the teams met up on site for one last look around The Block before auction day.

“Love you all! Do us a favour: Don’t call me, I’ll call you,” Oz instructed the other contestants as they said their goodbyes.

“We won’t, buddy,” Rachel shot back.

Then the five teams met up again, this time to learn their reserve prices and the order of the auction.

Having won the right to choose the order for auction day, Tom and Sarah-Jane didn’t mince their words when it came time to reveal their selection.

Tom explains the thinking behind the auction order.

“It’s tough, because there’s some that we’ve bonded with more than others – and in my opinion, some that deserve a lot more than others, because they’ve worked a lot harder,” said Tom.

This was surely a dig at Sharon and Ankur, who were dogged by accusations all season that they weren’t working hard enough on their house.

Sharon and Ankur didn't look happy.

Tom then shared their picks for auction order, revealing that Omar and Oz would be going first. Of course, that move ended up backfiring spectacularly for Tom and Sarah-Jane, who walked away from the season with just $20,000 to Omar and Oz’s near-$1.7m – but at the time, the latter team were furious at being “thrown under the bus”.

“I won’t come. I won’t go to auction. You think I’m joking? Watch,” Oz said as they hurriedly left the venue.

Omar and Oz were fuming.

“They want us to lose, (because) they hate us the most,” Omar said as the boys sped away from the meeting.

“F**k, I hate ‘em, straight out. Can’t stand the little baldy,” he fumed, referring to Tom.

They may not have made lifelong friends on The Block, but Omar and Oz did emerge as the biggest winners in the show’s history, going home with almost $850,000 each after serial Block buyer Danny Wallis snapped up their home for well over $1.6m over reserve.

It was a brutal contrast to the rest of the contestants this season, with Rachel and Ryan coming a very distant second with a profit of $169,000.50.

Tom and Sarah-Jane emerged as the surprise losers of the season, with a profit of just $20k for three months’ hard work, while Dylan and Jenny and Sharon and Ankur are still in limbo - neither of their homes passed reserve at auction and are still on the market.