The Block judge Darren Palmer on this year’s shock auction result and his ‘beautiful’ new design partnership
The Block judge Darren Palmer gives his verdict on those brutal auction results – and what future contestants need to do to avoid the same fate.
Last month’s Block finale was a tough watch for fans of the hit reno series, with team after team crashing out at auction, either crawling just above their reserves or failing to sell at all.
One month on from the carnage, news.com.au spoke to one-third of The Block’s judging team, design guru Darren Palmer, to get his thoughts on exactly what went wrong.
“I can tell you who doesn’t definitely doesn’t have any say in the final results: The judges. If you ever want to know who’s going to win, don’t ask us, because auctions are unpredictable,” Palmer said.
He confessed he didn’t have any sneaking suspicion during the season that things would go south for any of the teams come auction day.
“No, I don’t think you can ever know that stuff,” he said.
WA couple Britt and Taz won the season with an auction profit of $420,000, plus $100,000 prize money, taking them to $520,000.
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That’s an impressive win, but incredibly, it’s less than last year’s fifth-placed team won at auction.
The teams in spots two and three were a long way behind: Sonny and Alicia made $120,000 at auction, and Robby and Mat made $109,999. That’s at least better than Han and Can and Emma and Ben – both their homes were passed in at auction, with no update yet as to whether they’ve sold.
Palmer chose his words carefully when asked to give some advice to future Block contestants hoping to avoid the same fate after months of hard work.
“A specific buyer is going to have specific desires and specific requirements. You can take a punt, but advice would be to thoroughly research what the market is, then make sure what your selling is comparable to what’s actually selling in that market,” he said.
And while he hadn’t been able to predict the grim results at auction day, Palmer said one thing was clear: Britt and Taz’s victory was well-deserved.
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“They played a really a long game – design decisions, colour palate were consistent across the house to deliver a consistent mood. They did all the things you would advise somebody to do if they were designing a house from scratch. I don’t think they really missed a beat.
It was a really well considered, consistent house.”
Palmer’s latest venture in his own design empire has seen him team up with Shark for the launch of their TurboBlade Ultra Powerful Bladeless Tower Fan. He said he was passionate to share the “beautiful, super-functional” product in time for another hot Australian summer.
“The need to cool yourself in summer in Australia is a necessity, it’s just a part of life,” he said.
“But a basic pedestal fan? They’re ugly, they take up space, and they make noise.”
It seems The Block could take some credit in this increased interest in making every item in the home aesthetically pleasing. After 21 seasons as one of the biggest hits on TV, the show has more people than ever thinking about how to make everything in their homes more beautiful.
“I think what The Block has done very well is educated the Australian populus on good design,” Palmer said.
“I think now in Australia we are more educated on good design than most places I’ve been in the world. I’d say people are more conscious of what their spaces look like, and they have lots of good reference points on aesthetics.”
The Shark TurboBlade Ultra Powerful Bladeless Tower Fan is available now for RRP$399.99 at www.sharkclean.com.au and leading retailers.
Originally published as The Block judge Darren Palmer on this year’s shock auction result and his ‘beautiful’ new design partnership
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