The Block holds open homes

The Block Villa Wars front yards - Sarah and Minanne. Photo / Supplied

The doors to the four renovated villas on The Block have been thrown open to the public today - and thousands queued to peek at the TV dream homes.

The Block NZ: Villa Wars is holding open homes at the houses in Sandringham, Auckland, from 9am to 3pm.

Block-a-holics snapped up the chance to check out the swish pads and meet and greet stars from the show.

Among the first there were friends Rose Brooke, 14, and Lucy Heron, 15, from Herne Bay.

They had got up in the wee small hours to catch the first bus to Sandringham.

"We have visited the houses the past two seasons and we are obsessed with the show, and want to be on it when we are older," Rose said.

"We like all the teams this year but Cat and Jeremy are our favourites and we can't wait to see the houses for real."

Liainne Bickley travelled from Invercargill to tour the homes and also take in the Fleetwood Mac show at Mt Smart Stadium tonight.

"I'm hoping to get some inspiration and ideas for my own house," she said. "I was excited enough about going to see Fleetwood Mac but this is a bonus."

About 6000 people were expected to tour the properties featured on TV3's wildly popular renovation reality series.

Four teams of two revamped the villas, and the pair who sell for the highest profit above-reserve will be crowned champions and top up their profits with a $100,000 prize.

Fans were delighted to meet the contestants - Hamilton sisters Sarah and Minanne Kong, former Auckland police officer Hayden Campbell and his sales-rep fiancee Jamie Johns, Taranaki team Cat Glass and Jeremy Hill plus Christchurch couple Brooke Thompson and Mitch Davies.

Glass, from the yellow team, said it was nerve-wracking to have the public cast an eye over their renovations.

"Seeing the lines of people outside getting bigger and bigger has been weird but amazing," she said.

"It is going to be interesting to see what people really think of our work. They kids coming through will tell us straight and we are relying on their honesty to gauge how well we are doing."