Episode 17 Recap – The Block main ensuite week came down to a frantic final push on Sunday night, with unfinished rooms, borrowed trades and costly design decisions setting the stage for a tight judging battle that ultimately delivered Rick and Tayla their first win of the season.
The pressure was already showing before tools down, with the contestants trying to complete their second bathroom in three weeks.
For House 1, the situation looked particularly grim. Adam and Jolene had reached breaking point after sacking their tiler, with Jolene reduced to tears and Adam conceding he had spent too much time mucking around and not enough time managing his trades.
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By the final day, the pair initially did not even bother turning up to site.
But an unlikely lifeline was waiting when they eventually arrived at McCafe.
The Cursio Brothers, the highly sought-after tilers working for House 2, had some time available once their commitments to Chantel and Wyatt were completed.
That presented Adam with an opportunity.
Despite Wyatt continuing to closely guard access to the tilers, Adam approached him with a deal: let House 1 borrow the Cursio Brothers, and if Adam and Jolene won the week, House 2 would receive half of the $10,000 prize money.
After some hesitation, Wyatt agreed.
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Suddenly, Adam and Jolene were back in contention.
Wyatt was taking no chances with the arrangement, keeping track of the work on a whiteboard as the Cursio Brothers attempted to help drag House 1 towards the finish line.
Elsewhere, House 5 was dealing with a very different problem.
Rick remained determined to avoid a repeat of the unfinished bathroom he had delivered earlier in the competition and was taking on plenty of the work himself.
“It would be embarrassing if I don’t finish,” Rick admitted.
But his determination to control the work created tension with daughter Tayla.
After Dan had been pushing Tayla to do more around the build, she attempted to get involved with painting the main ensuite.
Rick was not convinced.
“You can’t f..k that up,” Rick said, explaining he did not trust Tayla to complete the job correctly.
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The rejection left Tayla in tears.
“It’s just annoying, he is underestimating me,” Tayla said.
The pair had already made a significant call in their race against time, abandoning their time-consuming Venetian plaster finishes and turning to paint instead.
For Rick, finishing the room had become particularly important after the disappointment of his previous unfinished bathroom.
Across the other houses, the race continued.
Lisa and Rosco were attempting one of the week’s more complicated designs in House 3, combining micro-cement walls, a timber vanity and a faux crazy-pave floor.
The flooring proved particularly labour-intensive, leaving the pair racing to complete as much as possible before tools down.
In House 4, Courtney and Sev pushed ahead with their signature textured approach, using micro-cement walls and a large tiled shower seat as one of the room’s major features.
Their week had also included the setback of having to rip up waterproofing.
Meanwhile, there was considerably less panic inside House 2.
Chantel and Wyatt had finished early and were already styling their light and bright ensuite while their rivals continued working.
When tools were finally called, it was time for Shaynna Blaze, Darren Palmer and Marty Fox to decide whether the contestants’ decisions had paid off.
House 1 — Adam and Jolene
The remarkable late intervention from the Cursio Brothers had given Adam and Jolene a chance, but it was not enough to deliver a completely finished room.
The pair spent $23,516 on their main ensuite, incorporating a smart toilet, twin green basins and matching KitKat feature tiles.
A nib wall framed a separate shower area, while the bath sat beneath a skylight.
Despite the unfinished elements, the judges found plenty to admire.
Shaynna Blaze was surprised by how attractive the incomplete room still appeared, while Marty Fox responded to the visual experience created when entering the ensuite.
Darren Palmer was particularly impressed by the geometry and layout.
“It ticks every single possible box,” Darren Palmer said.
The judges praised the tile selections, basins, skylights and high-end feel, with the layout emerging as one of the room’s biggest strengths.
The ensuite was designed to make use of the outlook, including the experience of looking through the skylight and towards established trees.
There was also approval for the smart toilet, although the lighting attracted criticism.
The judges believed the lighting above the bath was too harsh for the space and that a more ambient approach would have been appropriate.
Despite the shortcomings, the assessment suggested Adam and Jolene could have been serious contenders had they managed to completely finish the ensuite.
It represented a significant turnaround for a team that had looked out of the contest only hours earlier.
House 2 — Chantel and Wyatt
While other teams were fighting the clock, Chantel and Wyatt had the luxury of reaching the end of the week comfortably.
They spent $27,285 on their ensuite, featuring vanilla basins and champagne gold fittings as part of their continuing light, bright and luxury aesthetic.
The judges immediately recognised the restrained styling and its suitability for Mount Eliza.
Execution was a major strength.
“It’s finished with military precision. It’s spotless,” Marty Fox said.
Darren Palmer was similarly enthusiastic about Chantel’s styling and the overall completeness of the room.
The ceramic basins and champagne-toned tapware also impressed Shaynna Blaze.
But the room was not without problems.
The judges discovered the vanity mirrors did not conceal storage, prompting questions about functionality.
For Shaynna, however, the larger concern was personality.
“It’s so marketable, it’s so conservative. I know you say it’s so Mt Eliza but it’s also predictable. Honestly, I’ve seen a million of these bathrooms. Will Mt Eliza love it? Yes, they will, but this is a building of more than $4m and it’s an opportunity to have something just a little bit unique,” Shaynna Blaze said.
She also described the style as “verging on boring” and wanted to see more individuality.
Darren disagreed with that assessment.
His view was that bathrooms were not necessarily the place to take expensive design risks, particularly when plumbing and tiling could make unsuccessful experimentation costly to change.
Instead, risks could be taken through elements such as paint and rugs.
Chantel and Wyatt had already anticipated the possibility that their room would be described as boring and were comfortable continuing with their established aesthetic, while leaving room for selected risks elsewhere.
House 3 — Lisa and Rosco
For Lisa and Rosco, main ensuite week delivered another bruising result.
The pair had spent $28,350 creating a room designed to complement their calm and earthy main bedroom.
Their ensuite included a timber vanity, cream basins, a faux crazy-paving shower floor, tiled shower seat and fluted door.
But after battling through a series of obstacles, they were unable to completely finish.
“We just would have loved to finish it,” Rosco said.
The judges were initially surprised by the vanity, describing it as an unexpected choice for a modern home.
That surprise quickly turned to approval.
The vanity, storage and tactility of the room were among its strongest elements, with the abundance of storage contrasting with the concerns raised moments earlier in Chantel and Wyatt’s ensuite.
Then the judges reached the floor.
The faux crazy-paving treatment immediately divided the room and revived a description Lisa and Rosco had already heard during the competition.
“It’s very Flintstone-y isn’t it?” Marty Fox said.
He was even more emphatic about the tiles themselves.
“This tile I’m just not a fan of. I find it quite weird,” Marty Fox said.
Shaynna Blaze agreed.
“It’s almost like a driveway with a pattern stamped on it,” Shaynna Blaze said. “There’s too much going on.”
Darren Palmer believed using faux crazy paving in the luxury property felt inauthentic and found the finished effect jarring.
The broader concern was that too many elements were competing for attention.
Rather than producing a cohesive room, the judges felt the different features were fighting against one another.
“It’s like the kids came in and threw a lot of things at the wall,” Marty Fox said.
The judges also identified what they saw as an ongoing issue for Lisa and Rosco.
“When they nail it, it feels expensive,” Marty Fox said.
“And when they don’t, it shows,” Darren Palmer added.
Back at headquarters, Lisa was crushed by the feedback.
“We just got absolutely obliterated on national TV,” Lisa said. “We thought we were on to something good here and that’s maybe not the case.”
House 4 — Courtney and Sev
Courtney and Sev entered judging hoping one of the ensuite’s biggest features would become their secret weapon.
They spent $26,241 on their room, combining micro-cement walls with Taj Mahal tiles and their distinctive textured aesthetic.
The result immediately impressed Darren Palmer.
“The tactility is yummy,” Darren Palmer said. “That floor tile and this bench top could not have been better together. Yum!”
The room photographed well, felt expensive and delivered the elegant finish that has become associated with Courtney and Sev’s house.
But the judges were also conscious of the amount of money being directed towards the couple’s rooms and questioned how sustainable their spending would be as the competition continued.
The biggest discussion surrounded the substantial tiled seat built into the shower.
What Courtney and Sev hoped would become a major selling point instead created concerns about practicality.
The judges questioned whether the bench occupied too much space and left the actual shower area feeling cramped.
Shaynna Blaze believed the scale of the feature would have made more sense if the area had another purpose.
“This should be a steam room or a sauna,” Shaynna Blaze said.
Marty Fox tested the seat himself and was unconvinced.
“I feel like I’m sitting in a bus stop,” Marty Fox said.
For Darren, the problem was not simply that money had been spent on a statement feature, but how much of the room and budget had been devoted to it.
“It’s not spending the money on a feature that’s the problem, it’s overspending on the feature that’s costing them budget. It’s going to bite them on the arse,” Darren Palmer said.
Despite those concerns, the judges saw significant strengths.
The room had intrigue, emotion and visual impact, and was considered highly marketable.
But the shower seat ultimately undermined its functionality.
The judges believed the room had the potential to have been a “10/10 room”, but the controversial feature stopped it reaching that level.
House 5 — Rick and Tayla
After the tension between father and daughter and Rick’s determination to avoid another unfinished bathroom, House 5 finally had the result it had been chasing.
Rick and Tayla finished.
And the judges immediately noticed the improvement.
The pair spent $16,359, making theirs the lowest room spend of the week.
Their ensuite incorporated extensive storage, a stone vanity top, natural stone-look tiles, skylights, a smart toilet and a large shower.
Marty Fox was impressed as soon as he entered.
Darren Palmer was particularly taken with the large travertine-look tiles.
“These tiles are bloody beautiful,” Darren Palmer said. “This look so much like a natural stone, I think using the same tile everywhere succeeds.”
The use of the same material throughout helped create the cohesive result the judges had been looking for.
Marty also praised the generous dimensions of the shower.
There were still details requiring attention.
The artwork was considered too generic, prompting real estate agent Marty Fox to observe it “screams real estate agent chose your art”.
A more significant functional issue involved the relationship between the taps and basin.
The tapware had been positioned too close to the vanity, making it difficult to comfortably get hands beneath it.
“How do you wash your hands?” Marty Fox asked.
The judges determined the vanity would need to be lowered by a few centimetres to resolve the problem.
Despite those details, the overall response was overwhelmingly positive.
The judges believed the room would have considerable buyer appeal, with its combination of colour, materials, storage and measured design risks finally striking the right balance.
“It’s the Goldilocks of everything we’ve seen today – colour, risks, a great materials’ palette,” Darren Palmer said.
It was judged to be Rick and Tayla’s strongest room of the competition so far.
The scores tighten the race
With judging complete, the contestants returned to discover how the rooms had scored.
Darren Palmer awarded Adam and Jolene 6½, Chantel and Wyatt 9, Lisa and Rosco 6½, Courtney and Sev 8½ and Rick and Tayla 8½.
Marty Fox gave Adam and Jolene 7½, Chantel and Wyatt 8½, Lisa and Rosco 6, Courtney and Sev 8 and Rick and Tayla 8½.
Shaynna Blaze scored Adam and Jolene 7, Chantel and Wyatt 8, Lisa and Rosco 8, Courtney and Sev 8½ and Rick and Tayla 8.
That left Rick and Tayla and Chantel and Wyatt locked in a close battle.
With the first two sets of judges’ scores counted, Rick and Tayla made the decision to use the bonus point they had earned by winning a challenge earlier in the week.
The gamble worked.
Their Bonus Point Gnome lifted their final result to 26 points, allowing them to beat Chantel and Wyatt by just half a point and claim their first room win of the season.
The victory also earned Rick and Tayla the $10,000 room prize.
Chantel and Wyatt finished second with 25½ points, while Courtney and Sev were close behind on 25 points.
The two unfinished rooms occupied the bottom of the leaderboard, with Adam and Jolene finishing on 21 points and Lisa and Rosco on 20½ points.
There was, however, another $10,000 victory for Chantel and Wyatt, who won the CommBank budget estimate award.
For Rick and Tayla, the result completed a substantial turnaround after the disappointment of their earlier unfinished bathroom.
For Adam and Jolene, the late arrival of the Cursio Brothers had transformed what appeared to be certain defeat into a room the judges believed had significant potential, even if the clock ultimately beat them.
Lisa and Rosco, meanwhile, were left confronting another difficult round of feedback, particularly over a floor treatment they had hoped would become a distinctive feature.
And while Courtney and Sev again demonstrated their ability to produce an expensive-looking and visually distinctive space, the judges’ concerns about functionality and spending added another consideration as the build moves forward.
There will be little time for any of the teams to dwell on the result.
The next challenge expands considerably, with the contestants moving into their living and dining spaces as well as outdoor terraces, increasing both the scale of the work and the pressure on their remaining budgets.
Viewer Feedback
The response to Rick and Tayla’s breakthrough victory was among the strongest themes from viewers commenting online, with several pleased to see House 5 finally get a result. “So happy for Rick, the man works so hard”, one viewer wrote, while another declared: “Yessss!!! Go Rick n tayla. They’ve won big this week”. Another summed up the result simply: “Delighted. Favourite moment of the series so far.”
The decision to play the Bonus Point Gnome also had viewers shouting at their screens as Rick and Tayla sat just half a point behind Chantel and Wyatt. “Play ya gnome! Only half a point behind”, one viewer urged before the decision was made, while another demanded: “WHAT USE THE GNOME”. Once the extra point delivered the win, the verdict was equally clear: “Perfectly played gnome.”
There was also considerable support for Rick and Tayla’s actual ensuite, particularly given their comparatively modest spend. One viewer called it “Probably the best bathroom today”, while another wrote: “I’m actually kind of surprised with house 5’s bathroom. So much better than house 2 lol”. The choice of finishes also won admirers, with one particularly relieved response reading: “Thank fuck we have a tile that isn’t white.”
The CommBank budget award proved more contentious. Some viewers questioned why Chantel and Wyatt received the prize when Rick and Tayla had spent considerably less and still completed their room. “Spending 10k less than the winner and still finishing is certainly good budgeting”, one comment read. Another argued: “I think it’s ridiculous that the budget award is given to whoever’s closest to their spending rather than the team that spends the least. House 5 spend 10k less than the budget winners.”
Not everyone was convinced by the judges’ criticism of Rick and Tayla’s styling, either. Their comments about the artwork drew particular scrutiny, with one viewer pointing out: “Artwork can be changed Shayna!!!!” Another questioned the logic more forcefully: “‘generic paintwork is what you use for staging a home’ IS THAT???? NOT WHAT???? THEY ARE DOING SHAYNA????” The tap and basin positioning, however, was more readily identified as a genuine problem, with one viewer writing: “Oh wow big stuff up with those taps, I don’t think that is an easy fix either.”
Courtney and Sev’s controversial shower seat also divided the online audience. While the judges questioned its functionality, some viewers thought the criticism highlighted a contradiction in demanding distinctive rooms and then marking contestants down for taking risks. “So, they could have not done the seat, and then been like every other bathroom. Then they would be whinging that they are beige and all look alike. You can’t ask for different then complain when someone delivers different”, one viewer argued. Another was less convinced, describing the problem succinctly as “less room in the shower due to the bus stop seat”.
The criticism directed at Lisa and Rosco’s faux crazy-paving floor generated another lively debate, although some viewers agreed with the judges. One comment read: “it just can’t be surprising to you that something called ‘crazy pave’ is inappropriate for a luxury house”. Another viewer was surprised by Lisa’s reaction to the feedback, writing: “I get backing yourself, but I don’t really get why Lisa is surprised by the feedback. It wasn’t even all that harsh, you didn’t even finish.”
More broadly, the two unfinished rooms reignited frustration about how incomplete spaces are scored. “It’s really disappointing to see how high unfinished rooms are scored 🙄”, one viewer wrote. Another was stunned by one of the marks awarded during judging: “Unfinished room, 7.5/10!!! Wow…” A further comment pointed to Lisa and Rosco’s result, saying: “Shayna gave them an 8!!!! For an unfinished room! That’s the second time they’ve scored highly for incomplete work because the judges could see the vision.”
The judges themselves were another major talking point, from their room assessments to the elaborate introduction before judging. “The judge intros make me want to vom”, one viewer wrote, while another called for an end to one of Darren Palmer’s favourite descriptions: “Someone pay Darren to stop saying yummy.” There was also frustration about what some saw as conflicting feedback, summed up by the observation: “There’s nothing quite like hearing the judges calling the room that they told the contestants to create boring.”
And with bathroom week finally over, viewers were already looking nervously towards the next challenge. The prospect of contestants tackling living, dining and alfresco spaces at once prompted the blunt reaction: “Living, dining and alfrescoe? Wtf”. For others, the biggest concern was simply whether the exhausted contestants could keep going, particularly Rick after taking on so much work himself. “Poor Rick is going to burn out 😭”, one viewer warned, as attention turned to another demanding week on The Block.
The Block continues tonight, Monday, at 7.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
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