In a week marred by a despicable act by Brooke and Mitch and rescued by the thrilling plank challenge, Calum Henderson wonders if anyone can possibly topple the three-peat room reveal winners.
1. (Last Week: 1) Brooke & Mitch – House 4
With a crushing inevitability, Master Bedroom & Ensuite Bathroom Week provided a third win on the bounce for capitalist heroes Brooke and Mitch. They now have almost $30,000 more in their budget than their closest competitors, but still spewed with righteous indignation when Sarah and Minanne were forced to tax them a thousand bucks as the winners of the dress up challenge. Their vengeful ‘strategic scoring’ of the couples’ room judging was a low, despicable act. Has it set in motion the gears of war, will the other teams conspire to bring them down at every opportunity from here on out? It would be no less than they deserve. Sadly, it seems like Hayden hiding Mitch’s tool box might have been it.
2. (LW: 2) Cat & Jeremy – House 3
Even if there was a concerted effort to destroy Brooke and Mitch, you can’t help but feel it would fall apart once it got to Cat and Jeremy. The Block GCs just seem like they’d be physically incapable of giving their mates a bad score. Is this lack of killer instinct going to be their downfall? The New Plymouth couple are now three weeks without a winning room, and have little left in their budget left to show for their strong start. But they do continue to perform strongly in weekly challenges, and for now remain the only couple with a chance of staging an upset over their rich Cantabrian neighbours. If you could bet on The Block I’d still chuck a hopeful fiver on Cat and Jerms, even if Cat is now critically ill after falling into the pool at the plank challenge.
3. (LW: 4) Sarah & Minanne – House 2
The plank challenge champions of 2015! Sarah and Minanne have had a much better week, which is to say they are both still alive and neither of them are in prison for sororicide. Getting some fresh air while they work on their outside entertainment area seems to have done them the world of good – they’ve all but stopped fighting with each other, and they picked up their first major challenge win with the most comically amateurish looking plank anyone had ever seen. The plank challenge was a rare, thrilling Block highlight – it should really be its own standalone show – and Cat’s last-second plunge was a truly heroic moment for the diminutive battlers. And as if things couldn’t get any better, Sarah also won the weird fashion show challenge earlier in the week.
4. (LW: 3) Jamie & Hayden – House 1
Still very hesitant to say anything about Hayden until we find out the reason for his moodiness which Mark so ominously alluded to last week. Is he actually dying? Or has he just failed all his law papers because he’s been on The Block all semester. Jamie and Hayden’s pioneering all-black room was absolutely slammed by the judges. But as dull and infuriating as Jason and Bernadette are, it was hard to disagree with them. They stand a much better chance this week with their enormous outdoor entertainment area, but lack the funds to do much more than have Marty build an intricate chevron-patterned wall. For Hayden and Jamie, everything appears to be falling apart at the seams.
The Block NZ airs TV3 Sundays at 7pm, and Mon-Wed at 7.30pm
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