November 4th, 2025Block Watch

While The Block was a fun ride for Daylesford and the region, the auction on Saturday, October 25 was pretty cringeworthy to watch.
With high reserves, contestants and real estate agents alike were left reeling.

But there is always a winner and West Australian cops Britt and Taz, pictured above with host Scott Cam, took the top prize, leaving $520,000 richer.
Britt and Taz’s home sold to an unknown buyer through an advocate for $3.41million.
Controversial buyer Danny Wallis, who likes his auction bid to end in wacky cent figures, go figure, bought Robby and Mat’s house for $3,099,999 leaving the pair to split the profit of $109,999.
Sonny and Alicia’s place sold for $3.06million, giving them a $120,000 profit on top of the car they won.
Emma and Ben, and Han and Can, both had their properties passed in after vendor bids. House 1 and House 2 have returned to the market and will be sold via a private sale campaign.
Speaking to The Local before the auction, executive producer Julian Cress said all of the houses looked absolutely amazing at the end of the show.
“It was a mad, mad dash to the finish as always, but all of the contestants did an incredible job and they looked great.
“I think the contestants have done such a fantastic job. The homes are amazing, they’re as good as anything I think that’s ever been on offer in Daylesford.
“The challenge, of course, for us is trying to sell five of them in one day at auction. I’d have to think that while you could do that in Brighton because there are so many more properties for sale, but when have five houses ever sold in one day in Daylesford? Never. I guess that’s the question.
“We set ourselves a very hard target and I think that’s where all of our nervousness will come in. It’s got nothing to do with the quality of what we’re offering to the market.
“It’s just the fact that at any given time, there are only so many buyers for houses in Daylesford. But if a team does not sell on the day they can still make a profit and sell the house subsequently on the market, which is something that happens in real estate quite often as well.
“We’re not kidding ourselves and just assuming that they’re all going to sell on the day. But you hope for the best.”
Julian said there had been a 100 per cent clearance rate on auction day plenty of times. “Obviously, that’s what we’ll be hoping for everyone and that they all do really well. But I don’t think it would reflect badly on anybody if we didn’t get 100 per cent on the day. It’s a big ask.”
Julian said everyone had loved being in Daylesford for the show.
“Not just the contestants, but all of us, the whole crew, all the producers, camera and sound guys. All of us moved there for three and a half months. And everyone had an absolute blast living in and among that wonderful community.
“The welcome that we got from the people of Daylesford was extraordinary. And I’d like to think that we returned the favour. I’ve certainly had lots of local business people tell me that they’ve seen a lot of traffic coming to town, tourists who are visiting Daylesford because they’ve enjoyed watching The Block this year.
“Daylesford certainly has captured the hearts and minds of our audience. They’ve loved the show. It’s rated very strongly. And I think the fans of The Block have really enjoyed watching the show set there. And equally, I think they’ll enjoy Mt Eliza as well.”
Julian said the program had just celebrated its 1000th show.
“Honestly, we never expected to get to 50 shows, let alone 500 or 1000 episodes where we are now. We’re grateful for every time we get renewed for another series. We’re all very grateful for the opportunity.”
Living away from family and friends was always challenging, Julian said.
“Certainly, it’s a big sacrifice. For the contestants and for our crew too. But on the flip side, everybody also just enjoys the opportunity to immerse themselves in a new community. And it has its real positives as well.”
And did they ever work out the Daylesford vibe?
“If they sell to a local, then you’ve got to presume that they got Daylesford exactly right. I think all of the houses have different appeal in different ways. And to give you an idea, we had about 650 local people come through a couple of weeks ago as a thank-you to the local businesses and families and people that supported us throughout the program.
“And I’d say about 80 per cent of them told us that they really liked house number two, which was Han and Can’s house.”

Words: Donna Kelly | Image: File