The Block 2021 winners revealed: Mitch and Mark take home top prize as Ronnie and Georgia come last

Ronnie and Georgia – who won the most challenges throughout the season and favourites to win — have come last in a shocking turn of events. And it may be due to a crucial error they made ahead of auction day.

Siobhan Duck

6 min read

November 7, 2021 - 9:45PM

News Corp Australia Network

Defying their critics – not least judges Shaynna Blaze, Neale Whitaker and Darren Palmer – Mitch and Mark have won The Block 2021, selling their house for more than $644,444 above its reserve, as Tanya finally came clean on cheating.

Nobody walked away empty-handed on auction day as all five houses on Bronte Court, Hampton, sold.

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Scenes as teams learn of the auction results. Picture: Supplied

In a surprising turn of events, series favourites — Ronnie and Georgia – who won the most challenges and rooms throughout the season – placed last.

Although they still made $296,000 from the experience, the Western Australian couple were visibly unhappy with the result.

Ronnie and Georgia talk to Shelly after their auction result. Picture: Supplied

Ronnie stormed off the set when screen foes, Tanya and Vito’s 1950s-style house collected them a profit of $400,000. The father-of-three refused to return to watch the rest of the auctions unfold or to see close friends Mitch and Mark win the series.

Mitch and Mark are blown away during their auction. Picture: Supplied

Confident that their house was going to attract huge bids, Ronnie and Georgia (who had the power to determine the all-important auction order) had decided to even the playing field by auctioning the properties in order of house number rather than using a more strategic play.

This saw their house auctioned first, where — true to past form — there was lacklustre bidding.

Choosing to be auctioned first may have been a mistake for Ronnie and Georgia. Picture: Supplied

Tanya was thrilled her house attracted such a huge price tag, earning them $400,000 in winnings laughing that she had feared it was going to be a “burn the witch moment” where she was penalised at auction for her role in this year’s cheating scandal.

“I still have regrets,” she said of her behaviour on the series.
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“I still wish I did things differently. But hey, I can’t be mad at getting paid $400k.

“I mean, obviously, I’m worried that people are going to be like: ‘they don’t deserve it!’

Nervous times for Tanya and Vito. Picture: Supplied

“There’s always those people in the back of your head. But one thing I can tell those people is we worked hard.

“There was no-one else here building this house except Vito and me and our team. So, to walk away with this reward just renders us speechless for the first time ever.”

Tanya and Vito during their auction. Picture: Supplied

She was forced to come clean after Josh and Luke dobbed her in for snapping a picture of the whiteboard while they stood guard. Tanya said she wished the twins had given her a “heads up” that they were going to tell the truth rather than leaving her to be ambushed with their confession by the production, but she has no hard feelings.

“I had so many moments where I had wanted to come clean — we all did — but you sort of dig yourself a bit of a hole and it’s hard to get out,” she explained before adding that she also wonders if the production schedule was left out on purpose to tempt contestants to cheat and create drama.

The twins and Tanya and Vito say they’ve put the actions of the past behind them. Picture: Supplied

Despite controversy and chaos that her actions caused other contestants, Tanya said the group had put the past behind them.

“Yeah, we’ve banded together and I’m happy to report we’re all friends,” she said.

“I think that they understand the fact that people make mistakes. People do dumb things, but it doesn’t mean you’re a dumb person. And we’re just so happy for one another. Yes, there was drama and I hope the audience enjoyed watching that, but the bottom line is we work so hard, and everybody deserves maximum coin.”

The teams watched the auctions from Kirsty and Jesse’s backyard. Picture: Supplied

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And that was certainly true for Mitch and Mark who, after facing consistently harsh criticism and low scores from the judges, leave the season $744,444 richer and in a new car.

The winning duo. Picture: Supplied

They plan to splash out some of their winnings on their new homewares store where Mitch will be selling his own range of designer shirts.

The fan favourite’s house was purchased for $4.04 million by Danny Wallis, who also snapped up their party pad at The Oslo back in 2019.

Wallis, a colourful character that is a regular fixture at The Block auctions, picked up three houses on Bronte Court.

The serial Block house buyer also shelled out for Kirsty and Jesse’s house — which fetched the biggest price on the day going under the hammer for $4.4 million — and Tanya and Vito’s place.

Danny Wallis with Scott Cam at the Block 2020 finale.

Scotty Cam congratulates Mitch and Mark on their huge result. Picture: Supplied

Mitch and Mark, who came last when they first appeared on the show in 2019, while delighted and emotional about their win, said they understood Ronnie and Georgia’s disappointment.

“[We feel for them] because they’re our friends,” Mark said.

“But also, because they put themselves first [in the auction order] so everyone could benefit. So [our auction results] felt mixed.”

Mitch added: “I felt really uncomfortable because we didn’t expect to win and we wanted to see Ronnie and Georgia or Kirsty and Jesse, who we have become very close with, win.”

Kirsty and Jesse’s house sold for the highest price. Picture: Supplied

Ronnie and Georgia had originally intended to go second, after Kirsty and Jesse, but the inflated reserve prices and advice from their agent David Wood changed their mind.

“We’ll have every buyer in the room and they’ll know if they don’t get this everything else is a compromise,” he told them.

Georgia was worried nonetheless.

“By going first I guess what you’re doing is having the biggest pool of buyers in the one room at the one time but you could have nervous buyers. It could be a huge mistake,” she said.

When the couple return to their fellow contestants with their $296,000 profit Shelley Craft tells them “thanks for taking the hit and going first”.

Bidding was slow not only on Ronnie and Georgia’s property, but also in the last auction of the day at Kirsty and Jesse’s house, which was the only property with a reserve price set above $4 million.

The remaining four houses, which sit on far smaller blocks and are all single storey dwellings, all had the same reserve price of $3.4 million.

Twins Josh and Luke were in tears after they collected a tidy profit of $530,000 for their house, saying they were “gobsmacked” by the results.

“Now it’s worth it,” Josh said.

Twins Josh and Luke were stoked with their result. Picture: Supplied

“No regrets. You know, obviously we copped a bit of stick throughout the show. I mean, sometimes that was deserved. Sometimes it wasn’t. For us to get a good result, means a hell of a lot to us to keep our head held high and it’s worth it.”