“You can play one of two games with The Block.”

The Block‘s Ben and Emma may have repeatedly missed out on bagging a room reveal win and taking home the $10,000 cash prize. However, the married couple believes their near-misses could lead to a win on auction day.

During the first seven weeks of The Block, Emma and Ben have come in second place four times, as well as coming runner-up in the Hepburn Spa Challenge.

While the bubbly couple admitted that it was disappointing to miss out on the win during an interview with Chattr, they had a positive outlook, saying that consistently having great rooms could lead to their house selling for the most on auction day.

“Every week we just aim to put our best room forward and hope that we get strong scores,” Ben explained.

“It became hard not getting the cash to help us do better rooms in the following weeks. But we just knew that we had to be consistent. That’s what we wanted. We wanted a consistent, coherent house all the way through.”
Shelley Craft and Scotty Cam with Ben and Emma. Image: Nine.
Emma said that while they might not be taking out weekly wins, their focus has always been on building a strong, cohesive home.

“We were just always thinking of the end user,” she said. “I think you can play one of two games with The Block, you play the game for the end use, or you play the game to impress the judges each week, and sometimes [the former is] a bit of a roll of the dice.

“You can go really good one week and then bomb out the next. Whereas Ben and I, we just trying to make a really solid, consistent house, which I think is what we’ve created.”
Emma and Ben. Image: Nine.

How do The Block auctions work?

Once the Blockheads have finished renovating their hours, each is set a reserve price. In the past, reserves have varied depending on the size of the homes. But because every place has the same floor plan this year, it’s likely that the reserves will all be around the same price.

On audition day, buyers bid for the houses, and the contestants get to take home whatever the house sells for over reserve. If a house doesn’t sell for above its reserve, it will be passed in and later sold on the open market like a standard property sale. The contestants will still take home any amount the house sells for above the reserve.

The team’s house that sells for the most over the reserve will also receive an additional $100,000 prize money.