The Block 2024 episodes 34/35 recap: Mimi naps while Kristian works, causing them to raise the white flag on finishing their rooms

One controversial contestant finds stamina when there’s a party, but takes to her bed when there’s hard work to be done, leaving her husband defeated and near breaking point.

Siobhan Duck

6 min read

October 10, 2024 - 8:45PM

It’s party time and that means a visit from some familiar faces.

First up Neale Whitaker returned to judge the hallways. And then serial bidder Danny Wallis and Adrian ‘Lambo Guy’ Portelli showed up to cast their votes on this year’s renovations at a party for 100 prospective buyers.

After admitting he was sceptical about The Block moving to Phillip Island this year, Lambo Guy was impressed by what he saw, singling out Mimi and Kristian’s place as his favourite.

His chief auction day rival, Danny, also had his eye on House Five, admiring its size and floor plan.

‘Lambo guy’ abandons mansion plan

Danny Wallis whines about land tax

Deep pocketed Danny Wallis and Adrian Portelli take in the properties.

I guess this puts Kristian and Mimi in a good position for auction day, if they can get their act together to finish.

The couple have spent most of the week in the doldrums. The exhaustion and strain had pushed Kristian to the brink and Mimi has had very little time or sympathy for his plight. After mocking him in front of the entire building site (and a national TV audience) for breaking down, Mimi has now left the shattered Kristian to soldier on alone while she is out cavorting or napping. Again.

And she was once again blaming her childhood for her behaviour, this time explaining her parents had never shown her affection or told her that they loved her.

“But since I have been on The Block they have been calling and saying ‘I miss you’ and ‘I love you’ so they are growing and I am growing and I think I am slowly learning to be able to do that for Kristian as well,” she said.

Mimi's parents arrive on site from Adelaide to cater her party.

They might not say ‘I love you’ a lot but Mimi’s parents are certainly willing to go the extra mile to show her, driving all the way from Adelaide to help cater their buyers’ party.

All the teams pulled out all the stops — and in the case of Courtney and Kylie, the same one-sleeved, burgundy frock — to impress the buyers.

But everyone’s approach to partying varied. Courtney and Grant went for champagne and canapes as well as a charity art auction. Ricky and Haydn had a DJ and dancing girls. And Mimi and Kristian had Vietnamese food catered by her parents.

“Guys they were amazing parties and you should know that, if all goes belly up, you’ve all got careers as party planners,” a dapper Neale told them all ahead of announcing whose function and home had won the popular vote (and the $50k).

With 29 per cent of the vote, Ricky and Haydn took out the win. In close second was Mimi and Kristian with 27 per cent, Kylie and Brad had 19 per cent, Courtney and Grant got 17 per cent while sisters Charlotte and Maddy managed just eight per cent of the vote.

“Winning that $50k meant we went from pushing barrows ourselves to finishing strong,” an elated Haydn said.

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And yet, pushing barrows might still be on the cards given their landscaper — the second one they have hired after the unpaid bills’ “scandal” — had suddenly quit.

Ricky believed this landscaper had also been scared off working on their garden by Courtney and Grant dragging their feet on settling an account with the local glazier, a move that has given the show a reputation for not paying its bills.

Despite their garden dramas, the boys celebrated being the hosts with the most until the wee hours with Mimi as their wing woman. Interesting that she can find the stamina to pull an all nighter when it involves booze and party games but not when it’s about helping her husband complete a room.

The results of the vote didn’t leave everyone in a party mood. Sisters Maddy and Charlotte were flattened to find themselves the least popular house.

Brad was also drained after tying one on the night before. Recognising he would be “no use” to the builders, Kylie invited (read: instructed) Brad to accompany her on the two-hour drive to pick up a TV cabinet.

To her chagrin he slept the whole way, rousing himself as they pulled back into The Block to chow down on a bag of cold McDonalds (the breakfast of champions for hungover folk and a fantastic opportunity to squeeze another plug in for the fast-food outlet).

Courtney has a cry in the car.

Courtney, meanwhile, was in full wallow mode, weeping in the car while listening to Chasing Cars (the mopey song typically heard playing whenever someone carks it in Grey’s Anatomy) before calling her mum for some nurturing.

“You’re renovating a home but mentally, you are drained,” she explained.

You’d have thought Courtney would be buoyed by yet another win. Neale Whitaker had earlier declared their hallway the best on site, netting the couple another $10k.

It was almost a waste to have Neale back to judge something as boring (and mostly devoid of lamps) as a hallway.

“How do you make a hallway interesting,” Shelley asked Neale. Good question. They certainly aren’t compelling enough to justify an entire room reveal episode, as they have done in previous years.

Let’s face it, as long as there’s a few paintings and a mirror, a hallway in its very nature is rarely memorable. It’s a space designed to walk through not linger in.

Neale wasn’t enthused by the yellow doors in Haydn and Ricky’s place, asking if it was undercoat.

“It’s totally the wrong colour,” he said.

He was likewise underwhelmed by Kylie and Brad’s palette, saying the choice of black in the hallway (along with the random beanbags strewn on the floor) was a misstep. Not to mention a trip hazard.

Kristian raises the white flag on finishing this week.

An emotional Kristian (who failed to finish his hallway for judging) was given a pep talk from Neale, reassuring him that he could see potential in his efforts.

Sadly, even Neale’s reassurance wasn’t enough to get him to the finish line for judgment day on Sunday.

Realising they were up against it — and with Mimi constantly opting out of helping to nap —Kristian raised the white flag and told Dan he would only present one room on Sunday.

The question now is, will Mimi get out of bed long enough to help finish that?