EXCLUSIVE: Sonny and Alicia reveal what they really think of Emma and Ben’s controversial wine cellar.

The Block’s Sonny and Alicia have called out Emma and Ben for ‘copying’ Robby and Mat’s wine cellar. Photos: Channel 9

The Block’s Sonny and Alicia are no strangers to having their ideas ‘stolen’. The Queensland couple were outraged after discovering their co-stars Han and Can had replicated their heated bench seat in the Hepburn Spa challenge in week six, so it’s no surprise that they were frustrated by Emma and Ben’s sneaky move in Wednesday night’s episode.

During the Domain Buyers Jury event, where 100 potential buyers walked through all five houses, Emma and Ben revealed that they were planning on building a wine cellar under their house. Robby and Mat were understandably annoyed by the announcement as they had the idea first, and began planning their ‘secret weapon’ seven weeks earlier.

Following the episode, Sonny and Alicia, who are close friends with Robby and Mat, tell Yahoo Lifestyle that they weren’t pleased to see that Emma and Ben were copying ideas.

“They were mad not to build something under their house; they had to do something. But should it have been a wine cellar? I don’t know,” Alicia says. “Maybe they should have come up with something, like a different type of room that maybe would have been more suited to their house or more functional.”

 

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‘A copy is never quite as good as the original’

Sonny adds that he believes contestants wanting to do something to set their house apart should “try and be original”.

“You can’t stop people from doing it; it is competition, and the boys’ wine cellar is a great idea. Good on them, they smashed it,” he remarks. “You can see why people are tempted to copy or whatever you want to call it, but to me, a copy is never quite as good as the original.”

Viewers divided over ‘sneaky’ act

While Emma and Ben ended up winning $50,000 for being the most popular house at the Domain Buyers Jury event, viewers had mixed feelings on social media about the wine cellar drama.

“Very, very disappointed. They just won because they stole ideas from others,” one person wrote, followed by another who added, “Have been rooting for House 1 but not how I wanted to see them win”.

“Deceitful behaviour should not be rewarded”, someone else replied, while others called them “sneaky” and “dodgy”.

Meanwhile, others applauded Emma and Ben for taking out the win and said they were “so happy they are now playing the game”.

“Em and Ben are the nicest couple. They really deserve a win,” a fan replied. “Good for them for building underneath. That’s why they wanted House 1. It’s a comp. Wine cellar is not exclusive.”

“I’ve never been so happy to see a couple win a challenge. Literally jumped off the couch clapping,” another shared, with a different user replying, “Emma and Ben have two huge spaces to fill, why not a wine cellar? So happy they got a win, their reactions were wonderful!”.