Block stars’ ‘gross’ text exchange

I’ve shown you mine, now you show me yours.

That’s the approach Robby and Mat are taking to Ben and Emma’s plans to build a rival wine cellar now that they’ve finally tasted victory.

Having pocketed a whopping $80,000 last week – after securing two perfect scores, a room win and the Open for Inspection prize – perennial bridesmaids Emm and Ben were riding high (literally).

While they were whisked away in a helicopter for a luxury night in the foothills of the Grampians, Robby and Mat told the remaining teams they planned to call a body corporate meeting to demand Ben and Emma open up their books before beginning their build.

It was more a bit of tit for tat than actual interest in the couple’s financials, given Robby and Mat had been made to detail their money situation when word got out about their OG cellar.

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Han and Can react to their sacked builder Ben turning back up on site.

Conversely, Han was playing her cards very close to her chest. When she and Can learned their sacked builder Ben had returned to The Block to work for Sonny and Alicia, they were not happy.

“I’m a bit shocked about that after the way that he spoke to me,” Han said, implying that their ex-builder had been abusive.

Asked to be more specific about what had gone down, Han offered: “The texts that he sent after we sent him some lovely texts were quite gross actually. It’s highly upsetting. To me it’s extremely brave-faced to show up after talking to someone like that.”

Offered the opportunity to share these “upsetting” and “gross” messages, Han politely declined.

“I don’t want to even revisit it,” she shrugged. “I have grieved it. I am done with it.”

Ben, on the other hand, was only too eager to share the exchange.

Denying any sort of hostile text interaction, Ben said: “That’s all news to me. About a week ago I got a long-winded text from Hannah saying she felt really bad about how things had gone down and that they missed me and that they would love me to come back and I was very amicable in the way I replied.”

After showing the texts to production, Ben admitted he had called their new builder Shannon a “w***er” but claimed he’s never badmouthed Han or Can.

Things haven’t exactly been going swimmingly under Shan’s leadership. The girls failed to finish their room last week and this one has also gotten off to a bad start now too (and not just because they now have to awkwardly deal with seeing Ben on site).

Mat’s reaction to the budget for this week.

This week the contestants have $20,000 to complete five spaces.

Nobody was happy with the task ahead. Or the budget.

“Last week had me shaking in my boots and this week has me quivering in my corduroys,” Can moaned.

Mat added: “This just in, we are f**ked!”

With cabinetry being installed on Wednesday, all the teams were working towards waterproofing by Monday (instead of the usual Wednesday deadline). All the teams that is, except Han and Can, who were oblivious to the new deadlines.

Apparently, foreman Dan had briefed Shan who didn’t relay the info to Han and Can.

Scrambling to get things moving, Han begins snapping at Can. Then things go from bad to worse when it dawns on Han that they don’t have enough insulation.

Complicating things further, Han had made some practical changes to their lay-out, including adding a door to the laundry so that people can walk straight outside to the washing line and increasing the size of their pantry.

Great in theory except that she hadn’t accounted for the fixed drains and now the waste plumbing would be directly under the pantry walkway rather than in the powder room.

Foreman Dan chided Han for not clearing her plans with him, and, in typical form, Han said it was all a “stitch up” before heading his advice.

Han fires up at Dan earlier in the series.

Not even celebrating Can’s birthday could put a smile on either lady’s face.

A birthday grinch, Can couldn’t wait for her day of days to be over.

And, in fairness, I would also be glowering if I was presented with the sort of celebratory “cheeseboard” Han served up.

Han declared it a “beautiful cheeseboard” but, unless you are living in 1985 or Kath Day Knight, cabana and cheddar squares on a plastic plate is not beautiful. It’s not even a cheeseboard. It’s an insult to charcuterie.

Also feeling the pressure as the only team still yet to secure a win, Sonny and Alicia started scrapping far earlier in the week than their usual Saturday afternoon showdown.

Strapped for cash and short of time, the pair are aiming to finish their spaces rather than to pull out all the stops to make their garage or pantry fancier than they need to be.

“We don’t need any pomp and whistle,” Sonny said, mixing his metaphors. “It just needs to work.”

Taz hoped to similarly scale back after biting off more than they could chew last week.

Gun-shy, the downcast cop explained: “We’ve got five rooms to do this week so I thought we might tone things down a bit, maybe we just chill out. Maybe we will compromise on a couple of them just to get them finished and Britt was like, ‘Nah, let’s smash it!’”

MISSED AN EPISODE? HERE’S ALL OUR RECAPS SO FAR

Episode 1: Why no NSW applicants were good enough for The Block

Episode 2: The worst day on The Block

Episode 3/4: ‘Tear them off’: teams forced to rip tiles from walls

Episode 5: Judges feedback leaves one contestant vomiting

Episode 6: Dan and Dani’s heartbreak

Episode 7: The big problem with the Block house designs

Episode 8: Robby and Mat’s drunken blunder

Episode 9: ‘An up-market nursing home’

Episode 10: Can faces the wrath of Han

Episode 11: Han micromanaging from her sick bed

Episode 12: Sonny cops a spray from Alicia

Episode 13: Brutal feedback leaves Block team confused

Episode 14: Han and Can are in trouble with Dan, and other contestants

Episode 15: Han explodes at Dan in shocking tirade

Episode 16: Defiant Han gets epic dressing down from Scott Cam

Episode 17: Two teams are smashed by hyperbolic judges

Episode 18: Two teams start the week devastated by judges’ feedback

Episode 19: Copying scandal erupts as Alicia and Sonny point the finger

Episode 20: Ben and Emma drop good news into tense Block week

Episode 21: Ben and Emma and Sonny and Alicia cop the wrath of the judges

Episode 22: As Sonny and Alicia despair, Mat summons his inner Mean Boy

Episode 23: Han and Can all but quit the spa room challenge

Episode 24: Ben and Emma finally crack after yet another loss

Episode 25: Britt and Taz make a major blunder

Episode 26: The girls fire their builder

Episode 27: Ben and Emma hatch a sneaky plan

Episode 28: Britt’s decision to freeze out her former bestie has Alicia on the warpath

Episode 29: ‘Basic’, ‘no heart’, ‘not elegant’ – judges pan some teams’ kitchens

Episode 30: Block stars ugly showdown

Episode 31: Greed and cheating accusations at body corp meeting

Episode 32: Team unleashes on ‘dog act’

Episode 33: Three teams fail to finish in bruising week