It’s been a particularly tense season of The Block so far this year, with two couples – Kristy and Brett and Leah and Ash – forming a tight alliance against the other three teams.
First on their hit list have been sisters Eliza and Liberty, who Kristy and Brett in particular are convinced get special treatment by The Block’s producers.
Leaning into their conspiracy theory, the Adelaide couple have been shown on camera wearing tinfoil hats and Trump-esque ‘Make The Block Great Again’ caps as they spout theories that novice renovators Eliza and Liberty are “plants” from the Nine network, installed in the show to get an easy ride and coast to the finish line.
They’ve mostly shared their theories behind the sisters’ backs, but word gets around on The Block. And when Eliza and Liberty won the latest room reveal on Sunday – using a ‘secret gnome’ they’d previously won to give themselves an extra point – Kristy and Brett couldn’t even pretend to be happy for them.
“I’m not going to have a bar of it, if [anger] is directed at us. We deserve every single point of that,” Eliza said to the cameras after their win.
Meanwhile, Kristy and Brett rushed to give their own to-camera interview, telling a producer to get their “Make The Block Great Again” hats so they could continue to spout their theories about the sisters’ supposed special treatment.
And in a rare change-up for The Block, Sunday’s episode didn’t end there, instead following all the couples to a green room area backstage after judging as the tensions exploded.
Eliza and Liberty started by explaining to the rest of the teams that they’d won their bonus point gnome in a previous challenge, but had to keep it a secret until they used it, otherwise it would become void.
“So, no conspiracy theories – I know there’s chat about that,” said Eliza, gesturing to Kristy and Brett. “I know you guys think we get special treatment, but we don’t. You disagree?”
Kristy and Brett both agreed, but refused to elaborate, further frustrating Eliza.
“This is not OK, so you need to talk about it now,” she urged them, saying their negativity had already soured her win, so they should say what was on their mind.
Kristy insisted she and her husband were “really happy” for the sisters and their post-judging interview – complete with their Trump-esque hats – was “nothing more than a joke.”
“Yeah, you seem happy,” Eliza said sarcastically.
“Are we saying that you do get an extra [helping] hand? 100 per cent,” offered Kristy, which got an immediate reaction from Eliza.
“What? I’m kind to people, so they’re kind back to me? Yeah, special treatment,” she said, as Kristy told her to “calm down.”
The fight continued as Kristy accused the sisters of acting helpless to get what they wanted.
“I just feel like you’re in no position to tell us what we should be doing. You’re getting stuff done for you and you’re like, ‘be nicer to people’,” Kristy told Eliza.
Watching on silently, Kristy’s usual ally Leah confessed in a to-camera interview that the stoush made her “deeply uncomfortable.”
There was no easy resolution as the two factions of The Block split off for the night, with Kristy in one car raging to her Block besties via reality TV cliche: “I’m not here to make friends,” she told Leah in the back of their car.
Eliza, meanwhile, said she was glad she’d finally spoken up: “It boiled over for me, and I think it’s important to call out bad behaviour.”
And in a foreshadowing of scenes set to play out this week on the show, it seems Kristy’s closest ally is now trying to distance herself from her friend’s attacks on Eliza and Liberty.
“I’m with you by association,” a worried Leah said as Kristy continued ranting about the sisters on the way home from judging.
“So what? You don’t have to be,” Kristy told her.