The Block 2026 Episode 46 recap: Courtney and Sev battle their landscaper and Jolene

There’s obvious lingering bad blood over last night’s judging, which saw wine racks at dawn as Courtney and Sev drew with Adam and Jolene for the win.

Adam and Jolene got a standard 50ish per cent discount on their bespoke rack from Cellarbrations, paying $20,000 for a $45,000 piece while Courtney and Sev paid just $14,500 for a massive, curved version that would sell for $100,000 from the same company.

Jolene and Lisa think the girls broke the rules, but Courtney and Sev argue they worked within the letter of the law by classifying their rack as a piece of art which was exempt from the Block rule that contestants could get no more than a 50 per cent discount.

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The girls find it hard to celebrate their win.

“I can’t with her,” Courtney says of Jolene as she and Sev drive home from judging. “She’s so nasty.”

“Jolene’s reaction to this win we’ve shared with her is harsh, and it’s really taking away from this moment,” Sev says.

Back at the house Sev decides to clear the air ahead of what promises to be an awkward Scott Cam winners’ dinner she and Courtney will have to share with Adam and Jolene during the week.

“Are we going to hash this out now or are we going to do this in front of Scotty? What’s the concern with Rob (from Cellarbrations) because I feel like the poor guy is becoming collateral,” she says.

Cue footage of Scott Cam agreeing the wine racks are “one off, bespoke, so it’s alright” to take advantage of a massive price cut.

Sev and Jolene have it out over the wine racks.

“We followed the right steps, the right protocols. Don’t be a poor loser just because you paid more for something. That’s on you,” Sev says. “It’s not our fault. You can’t be mad at us for what he’s charging us, it’s not our problem.”

“They’ve played the game and they’ve got away with it,” is Rosco’s assessment of the situation, and despite Sev giving Jolene a post discussion hug, it’s not exactly a warm atmosphere in the house, or on site the next morning, when Courtney tells her landscaper Troy Lovett that Adam and Jolene are “a***holes”.

Adam, meanwhile, is doing his best to defuse the situation in the name of having a pleasant and fun final week on the show.

“We’ve all been on the same journey, and we need to reflect on that this week and have fun,” he says, telling Courtney and Sev “No-one’s a horrible person, everyone’s tired and rooted and emotions are high and it’s the last week.”

Jolene is unimpressed at his attempts at defrosting.

“He’s a simple beast,” she says. “He wants everyone to be happy and he’s definitely the peacemaker in our situationship.”

And perhaps his efforts have paid off because everyone is relatively polite at the open for inspections, with Sev saying of Adam and Jolene’s garage and wine cellar “They’ve done an exceptional job. I think they’re really deserving of that prize.”

But if Courtney and Sev have buried the hatchet with Adam and Jolene, they’re about to wield one at Troy Lovett.

They only have $25,000 left for their front yard, and their landscaper discovered a set of wooden steps he thought the site builders were paying for are in fact his responsibility.

When the girls call him to a meeting to discuss what elements of his front yard design they can get rid of to save money he shows zero interest in helping out.

Courtney and Sev try and get Troy Lovett to explain how to shave costs from their landscaping.

The girls are experienced at handling building and project budgets but when it comes to landscaping they need Troy’s co-operation to discover what various elements cost and where the greatest savings can be made, so when he tells them “you give me the answers” they’re unimpressed.

“This is your design, Troy. You know where the cash is sitting,” Sev counters.

“He’s not willing to help with solutions and that is quite crippling for both of us,” she says later.

So when Troy later calls with more bad news of an unexpectedly high carpentry bill from last week, the girls are in no mood to be nice.

“The reasons for the call was he wanted to tell me how much he’d been charged for the carpentry side of things and he’s just venting to us about things he didn’t forecast or estimate correctly or got an estimate upfront for, so he’s just projecting all of that on to us and I don’t know what he wants us to do,” Courtney says.

The girls are annoyed that he didn’t seem to have a contingency for the budget blowouts which occur on almost all building projects.

“Troy, you guys did the design for the front and back, you gave us a fixed price and now you’re passing the buck by 20, 30, 40 per cent. There should have been a contingency, there shouldn’t have been an assumption that Nine in Six was going to do X, Y, Z. And you are Block fit. That’s why we chose you – because you’re experienced,” Sev tells him.

Troy hits back with the fact they took $18,000 from his budget to install last week’s wine cellar but regardless of whose fault it is, the only answer is for him to strip back his design.

“Do whatever you can with the money that we’ve got. We’re not going to win anyway,” Courtney tells him.

Sev is downcast after the conversation.

Courtney and Sev have a tense conversation with landscaper Troy Lovett on the phone.

“It just doesn’t f**ken add up. We went after Troy because we thought that he would be all over it, that there wouldn’t be surprises, especially in the last week. If we can’t close out this week we’re disqualified,” she says.

Luckily there’s a welcome reprieve from the tension at the final family dinner of the series, with all contestants in attendance and Lisa and Rosco making a concerted effort to bring everyone together.

They present Chantel and Wyatt with a good-natured certificate of attendance, noting that they have attended every single losers’ dinner of the series, thanks to their impressive feat of zero wins.

The pair take it with the good humour before Wyatt tucks into the bucket of oats Rosco has prepared for him.

“The Block’s The Block but I think we’ve done a good job separating work from home life,” Rosco says.

Rick agrees.

“We’ve all had our differences and spats along the way but we’ve all made up.”

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