EMOTIONAL and exhausted, The Block Glasshouse contestants have lashed out after a “depressing” finale which saw a bittersweet ending to a gruelling five months of filming and non-stop building.
And despite rumours swirling of contestants suing Channel Nine for compensation, the network has revealed it won’t cough up.
“While we hope that all contestants walk away with a financial reward for the time and effort they commit to The Block, it is the buying public that determines the outcome of this program,” said Michael Healy, Director of Television for the Nine Network.
“I’d like to thank the contestants for their remarkable achievements in producing these incredible apartments, as well as the very talented crew who produced this series, which has been a massive ratings success.”
Two of the five teams, Dee and Darren and Michael and Carlene, left almost empty-handed, pocketing just $10,000 in an “awful” anticlimax.
“We’re devastated,” Dee told Kyle and Jackie O this morning.
“It was a completely unexpected result for all of us.”
The outspoken Blockhead revealed the financial toll taken on the couple since filming, saying the pair are “in the red” since filming began six months ago.
“Not only did we not come away with anything but people have to understand we all put our lives on hold,” she said.
“We started filming in April, we’re in October, none of us have earned any money.
“Michael and Carlene and Daz and I all have mortgages, it’s an expensive exercise to take the risk and go on that show. It’s really not a great scenario.
“We’re in the red from it.”
“It’s a huge show, it’s rated very well. They get a lot out of it and we’ve given a lot, all of us.
“It’s a business for them, I get that.
“We just have to move on, other great things will come out of this for us.
“We just have to focus on what comes after it.”
Rumours of losing teams planning to sue Channel Nine for further compensation began to swirl this morning, but winners Shannon and Simon Voss have said outspoken pair Darren and Dee “should be alright”, considering Darren’s former AFL career.
“There were tears all around. It is gutting,” winner Shannon Voss said this morning.
“Hashtag awks. That was hard, you want to scream and shout, but at the same time you don’t want to look like d**ks. We were celebrating on the inside.”
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News.com.au has crunched the numbers, and for 70 days on the job, seven days per week (over 10 weeks) at 16 hours on the tools per day, Dee and Darren & Michael and Carlene were paid a measly $10.71 an hour each.
That’s almost $6 less than Australia’s minimum wage, at $16.87/hour.
The figure is based on the couple’s $10,000 prize money plus $700 per week earnings that Nine pays each contestant while on the show.
This is in comparison to brothers Simon and Shannon, paid $200.44 an hour each, based on $335,000 profit, $100,000 winner’s cheque and $7000 each from Channel Nine.
So unhappy were the couples with the live auction result, the show’s after-party for contestants and crew was cancelled, with contestants feeling flat and underwhelmed.
“It was a quiet beer,” Voss confirmed this morning.
“It wasn’t an over the top celebration. They were pissed off. And we were stoked.”
Meanwhile, Dee gave more insight into the events after the fact, saying the group “had a room at a hotel nearby” due to Channel Nine’s imposed lockdown.
“We had a party planned, obviously it was a bit of a fizzer, but we did all get together and have drinks and dinner together.
“We are all really close and great friends, we wanted to celebrate for the boys and Chris and Jenna (who came in second place, taking home a profit of $310,000).
“We had all our family and friends around and I think that’s the only place we could be in that moment.
“We take nothing away from them at all.”
After a “bizarre” auction, which saw the most uneven result in the show’s history on last night, losing teams demanded Channel Nine to pay up, or face a “raid” on their much-loved apartments.
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Hothead Blockhead Deanne Jolly, who along with husband Darren took home a disappointing $10,000, threatened to “take the f*****g Bromley’s [artworks].
“It’s a bad tale all round,” she said.
“It would be stupid to do The Block under these conditions and in this time frame.”
Voss confirmed the outburst on the Today show this morning, calling it “the quote of the year”.
“They were pretty dirty, as I would be,” he said.
“I think she’s got the Brommy under one arm mate, she’s running.”
“You dont want to put months of work in and get ten-grand from it.
“They were pretty dirty, but Daz (Darren) has played top grade AFL for the last 15 years, he should be alright.”
Meanwhile, Maxine Stokes, who along with husband Karstan were left shortchanged, said “all of us are coming back here and we are going to raid it.”
“Me crying will probably get you all another Gold Logie”.
Speaking on Kyle and Jackie O this morning, winners Simon and Shannon told Kiis FM contestants receive a weekly fee of $700 to appear on the show.
“That’s got to cover rent, and car payments, and all that kind of stuff,” Shannon said.
The mentioned they would be “gutted” if they shared a similar payout like that of Dee and Darren and Michael and Carlene.
“It was awkward when we won so much & they won bugger all.”
Asked if they would donate any of their winnings to the losing teams, Shannon said, “It would be a nice gesture, but it’s a competition. We’ll take that money and run.”
The Block Glasshouse was a ratings winner for Channel 9.
The final was split up to three different programs: The Block Glasshouse - Winner Announced averaged 2,764,000, The Block Glasshouse - Auction, averaged 2,327,000 and The Block Glasshouse - Grand Final, averaged 1,796,000.
THE BLOCK GLASSHOUSE RESULTS
Shannon and Simon Vos (apartment sold for $1.9 million) - $335,000 profit, plus $100,000 prize money
Chris and Jenna Susetio (apartment sold for $1.81 million) - $310,000 profit
Maxine Stokes and Karstan Smith (apartment sold for 1.71) - $40,000 profit
Michael and Carlene Duffy (apartment sold for $1.39 million) - $10,000 profit
Deanne and Darren Jolly (apartment sold for $1.38 million) - $10,000 profit
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