With 2.4 million Australians tuning in to watch the highly-anticipated final episode of The Block this week, there is one thing every viewer was thinking.

This year’s edition of The Block quickly turned into The Flop.

Not from a ratings perspective – the auctions on Sunday pulled an average of 2.4 million viewers, making it one of the most watched Australian TV broadcasts of the year.

But it was a massive disappointment for both viewer and contestant with only three of the five houses selling and two of them for only a lick above the reserve price.

The Block has seemingly fallen victim to a common malady in reality television – the perceived need to outdo the previous season in some way.

I say that as a first-time viewer of the show. I liked that unlike many reality programs that present as contrived and just about drama for the sake of drama, it seemed somewhat genuine.

The contestants didn’t come across as a bunch of vapid fame-hungry people there purely to boost their Instagram follower count so they can flog overpriced beauty products to batty women for a few grand.

They were there to actually build houses, not snog every Tom, Dick or Harry and throw cheap glasses of wine at each other.

There were no put-on rivalries. Some people were obviously more liked than others but everyone got on with their business and acted like adults and had it out every now and then if they had to so they could forgive and forget.

I loved watching The Block this year. Picture: Nine
How wonderful that such television can rate so well. It turns out you don’t need low IQ botox Barbie dolls and beefcakes slapping each other around to get people to watch your show.

So why did Channel 9 have to come up with the ridiculous idea of building five brand new homes, all the same size and layout, in a Victorian country town and then putting reserve prices on all of them that were near enough to the Daylesford record?

Because, dear reader, we must have drama.

I’m sure the executives at Nine thought they’d pull great headlines by smashing the Daylesford record, that they’d churn out the greatest homes that quaint little town has ever seen.

But it didn’t happen. One sold well above the reserve of just under $3 million, two limped over the line with outside assistance, and two failed to move.

How did they not see this coming?

It was very tense during the auctions. Picture: Nine

How did they not see this coming? Picture: Nine
The median house price in Daylesford is $810,000 – there’s your first problem.

The type of properties they were trying to sell would attract a very specific buyer. Trying to sell five of those in one country down in one day is a tall ask and has probably never been done before.

The median age of a Daylesford resident is 55 – 17 years older than the Australian median – and its proportion of 70-74 year olds and those 85-plus is double that of the rest of Victoria.

More than half of households are empty-nesting couples or have never had children.

Forty-two per cent of them don’t work, 10 per cent higher than the rest of the state – because many of them are retired.

So you take a town where houses generally sell for less than $1 million, overcapitalise to buggery on massive properties that would be unsuitable for the majority of people who are attracted to Daylesford, insist on setting reserve prices that are well above what people are willing to pay – and houses don’t sell.

Blow me down.

We need to bring The Block back to what it once was. Picture: Nine
What’s the point of a house renovation/building show if you can’t actually get people to buy the houses?

Like every other reality show they think it has to be bigger and better and different each year.

I’m telling you, it doesn’t.

I watched because I’m interested in design and I wanted to compare notes with the person next to me on the couch.

I wanted to see creativity and planning and inspiration.

That, I’m led to believe, is what The Block once was – it literally started as people renovating and flipping a block of flats.

What’s wrong with that? Do they really think people don’t want to watch that?

I’d rather watch something relatable than outlandish. And I think the response of viewers – myself included – to this year’s Block finale is proof positive of that.

We didn’t tune in because the homes were ridiculous and we were disappointed when they didn’t sell.

We wanted to watch average people put in some hard work, critique their style choices along the way and then watch them make a tidy profit for their efforts.