Fresh off an unfinished bathroom win that had the rest of the site fuming, Courtney decided the way to secure a third victory was to channel her inner drill sergeant — this time turning her iron fist on her own crew.

In a desperate bid to manage the chaotic conga line of tradies cramming into the master bedroom, Courtney banned her carpet layer from going to lunch with the rest of the team. Like a high school teacher scolding a kid for asking to use the bathroom during a test, she berated the poor guy, demanding to know why he hadn’t eaten earlier. Her defence? Staggered lunch breaks keep the assembly line moving, so the hungry carpet layer would just have to starve a little longer.

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Courtney tells her carpet layer he can’t have lunch.

Foreman Dan eventually caught wind of the dictatorial drama and promptly overruled her, stepping in to restore basic human rights. To rub salt in the wound, Dan later pulled Courtney aside to lecture her on having way too many trades crammed into the room at once — a critique she met with classic defiance, pointing out that it wouldn’t be so crowded if people were allowed to eat at different times.

The cold shoulder from the other contestants was still frozen solid, with everyone still seething over Courtney and Sev taking top honours with an incomplete space. Sev admitted the ill will was getting to them: “It’s quite distressing and upsetting. But it also makes you want to strive for an ‘I told you so’ moment and try and get three from three to make Block history.”

Dan overrules Courtney on her policy of starving her tradies.

Honestly, being ostracised is a tiny price to pay when you’re sitting on $250,000 worth of state-of-the-art kitchen appliances — especially since every team that has snagged the massive kitchen upgrade since 2020 has gone on to win the show.

While Courtney and Sev were busy running their hands over luxury fridges and ovens, the other four teams were tasked with designing their kitchen spaces, with each team assigned a specific high-end brand. Desperate for a win, everyone spent the week trying to figure out how to clone Courtney and Sev’s praise without burning through their entire life savings.

Crippled by self-doubt after narrowly missing out on a win, Jolene decided to abandon her “safe and boring” playbook. Her strategy for redemption? Slapping down some fancy feature walls and dumping a heavy dose of bush colours into the master bedroom to bring the outside in.

Jolene discovers her original ideas aren’t so original.

Tayla was convinced she’d hit design gold with an eleventh-hour plan to shove a fireplace into her curved wall (conveniently forgetting that curved walls and bedroom fireplaces haven’t been revolutionary since 2018). Her triumph was short-lived, turning into fury when she discovered Courtney and Sev were also putting a fireplace in their boudoir.

Chantel wasn’t having much better luck in the originality department. She was convinced her Venetian plaster and arched wall were going to set her apart, only to discover arches are about as rare as a high-vis vest on site — and that Adam and Jolene had the exact same “groundbreaking” idea. And Tayla was also using Venetian plaster in her space.

Tayla notices another bedroom fireplace is going into another house.

To make matters worse, Chantel was still operating as a solo contestant while Wyatt nursed his infamous sore tooth. Wyatt’s primary contributions to the build this week

consisted of curling dumbbells, twirling his brand-new moustache, and showing absolutely zero sense of urgency as they fell further behind.

“We have so much time. You don’t need to finish to win,” Wyatt shrugged, clearly still holding a massive grudge over Courtney and Sev’s victory.

When he finally got the offending tooth yanked, he didn’t return to the site ready to swing a hammer. Instead, he brought the bloody molar back in a little baggie to show everyone, casually threatening to turn it into a piece of jewellery or a decorative mantelpiece feature. Chantel giggled along, but you could tell she was a tad concerned he was serious.

Lisa faces the fact they’re way behind, again.

Over in House 3, Lisa and Rosco — still traumatised by their own bathroom disaster — decided to sprint in the exact opposite direction of Wyatt’s glacial pace.

They went all-in on a massive design play, opting to lime plaster their entire bedroom. The process takes two full days, requiring military precision. Naturally, the universe intervened, their plaster delivery ran late, and their flying head start evaporated into thin air.

Just as the collective panic was reaching a nice simmer, Foreman Dan dropped a bomb: because of an upcoming public holiday next week, everyone had to start working on their ensuites this week to avoid losing a crucial day of construction.

The news hit Wyatt the hardest — not because of the extra workload, but because a public holiday meant the gym would be closed.

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

Episode 1: First tears shed on season 22 of The Block

Episode 2: ‘I will shut you down’

Episode 3: ‘I won’t help them again’

Episode 4: ‘You will only last five weeks’

Episode 5: Block couple ready to quit after scandal

Episode 6: ‘Everyone is in on it’: Chantel and Wyatt cry foul

Episode 7: Gloves are off as Courtney accuses Rosco of treachery

Episode 8: Dan fuming as Tayla barely lifts a finger

Episode 9: A huge prize causes bitterness in one contestant

Episode 10: Jolene and Tayla fume over controversial bathroom win