The Block may have shot itself in the foot

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PHOTO: The Block. Scott Cam & Shaynna Blaze. SUPPLIED

This season of The Block was genuinely the biggest ever, and that’s created an even bigger problem for the show’s producers. Here’s why.

And so it ends, following the path of so many episodes this season, with all the teams except Sharon and Ankur drowning in praise.

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The hapless pair are slammed for their planning, their design and for being the only team not to finish, with their cladding incomplete and their shed still a shell.

“You’d have to sell this as a renovator’s delight,” Neale Whitaker says.

And all three judges agree the placement of the pool and outdoor courtyard was ludicrous.

There’s no way to get to the pool from the house, and it’s situated outside the master bedroom rather than the living area. And the courtyard area with barbecue and fire pit has a view of cars and a water tank.

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“I reckon this is very, very poor planning and actually detracts from the majesty of this house,” is Shaynna Blaze’s assessment.

“This is terrible, terrible planning. There’s a pool you can’t gaze over and a fire pit that feels like it’s been shoved into a laneway, and we’re on 10 acres.”

Pity the photographer who had to get shots of Ankur and Sharon’s unfinished property.

With the pair the only team not to finish, Scott Cam indicates they’ll be penalised when it comes to setting their reserve price, in the interest of fairness.

While Ankur and Sharon’s builder Liam claims it wasn’t possible to finish the shed and cladding because Block-supplied materials weren’t available, site manager Aidan begs to differ.

For once, Sharon is backing her builder, a man she called a f***wit in an earlier episode.

Ankur and Sharon have not had a fun time.

“I don’t think it’s fair that our reserve is affected by the shed if what my builder is saying is true, ie the materials weren’t there and they didn’t have an opportunity to finish it. I’m going to have to have a conversation with Scott Cam about it, which I’d prefer not to do because he shuts me down,” she says.

The almost inevitable winners of this final round of judging, are Sarah-Jane and Tom.

They cleverly saved their bonus point to use here because the prize is a car for them to take home rather than cash to spend on a room. They also pick up an extra $5000 thanks to scoring a perfect 10.

Tom and Sarah-Jane used their bonus point strategically but they didn’t even need it to win the car.

The judges loved their circular drive, par three golf hole, basketball court, kids’ playground, stacked stone fire pit area, pizza oven, pony yard complete with actual pony and the use of old rusted farm machinery.

“They’ve created a lifestyle resort,” Neale says.

Tom and Sarah-Jane’s “lifestyle resort”.

Rachel and Ryan get some mild criticism for planting a kids’ swing in front of their vineyard and view, and for a relatively big drop from their un-balustraded deck on to feature boulders.

The rest of their design scores big, thanks to their flying fox, arbours around the shed doors and pontoon overlooking a creek.