April 25th, 2025BLOCK Watch: Exclusive!
The Local’s editor Donna Kelly chatted with The Block judges – from left, Darren Palmer, Shaynna Blaze and Marty Fox on a recent Sunday – about all things building, judging, contestants and Daylesford.
Donna: Do you ever come across contestants who have no design idea at all?
Shaynna: Constantly. We give them advice, but it just depends whether they listen to it. Because it is quite incredible, you do get people who have no idea but think they do. And that’s quite dangerous.
Some people come on for the wrong reasons of not wanting to renovate, not wanting to learn. Some people come on because they want the exposure. But that’s not many. I feel at the moment everyone has come for all the right reasons and the fact is that they’re really doing incredible work so far.
Donna: The five houses are all the same. Does that make it more difficult to judge?
Marty: It makes it more difficult for the contestants because they’ve got to figure out what they’re doing with the space. But because they’ve got all the same parameters, it’s great for us judges. We’ve enjoyed this so much because you get to see people really testing their thinking on where things should go. I think it’s easier to judge and harder for them.
They’ve got direct comparisons between who makes better decisions based on the location of a wall or a doorway or things that they can control. And when we’re not comparing apples to apples, it makes our job harder.
But they get to have more personality in their spaces and have exactly the same opportunities as everybody else. So if someone does it better, it’s because they’ve made better design decisions. It’s a real level playing field.
Donna: Do you have a Daylesford aesthetic that you’re trying to help them understand? The housing here is very mixed.
Darren: I would say Daylesford has personality. There’s an art-centric element to it. There is dark and colour. There’s a farmhouse element. There is a reclaimed element. There’s an amalgamation of all these different influences. Then there’s also a more modern Daylesford aesthetic as well.
But if they don’t have personality, if they don’t have something that feels like it belongs in a country environment…if they go for a homogenised approach to design here, I think they’re going to miss the market. Personality is the key.
Donna: When you start judging rooms, do you have an idea of who is going to win and who is not going to really make it?
Shaynna: Whether they’ve come in here as never renovating a home or if they’ve come in and they’ve renovated seven, it kind of means really nothing at the end of the day because the pressure of the week and how much work’s done within that week and all the different things that are within their control and out of their control; people crack under pressure.
And that’s why it’s so interesting. It’s the pressure, it’s the time limits, and in this case, this season, how much they can change the room depending on what they’re given. You just can’t pick it. I think it’s also you do get couples that come in and you can tell they have an incredible eye and they’re doing incredible things.
But then you have the people that have no idea, but who are listening. And then they start rising because if you come out really strong in those first two weeks, you’ve got nowhere to go. You’ve got to maintain that stunning sort of execution and personality.
Marty: And then the behind people come up and then all of a sudden it becomes a level playing field. It’s not until you hit about middle you know where they’re going to go. Because if someone’s a sponge and they’re learning, they’re learning from us and the other contestants.
And we’ve seen that more often than not, that they just rise. But next week, we’re halfway. And by halfway, as judges, I do feel that we tend to have our opinions of who’s in that sort of two-horse race. There are a couple of favourites in the mix.
Donna: And finally, how are you finding the town?
Shaynna: I have a place at Kyneton so I know Daylesford really well, and also I’ve had friends that have got married here, friends that have had houses. I feel the energy coming back because Daylesford got really quiet and a lot of things closed, and it was hard during Covid.
But I am just feeling the Daylesford energy, and I feel like what The Block’s giving back is the fact that everyone’s eating here, they’re buying from here. So there is this co-connection between The Block and Daylesford at the moment, I think it’s beautiful energy.
