But that’s what happens when you go from being the underestimated “old farts” to leaving the whippersnappers in your wake.
With two room reveal victories (guest bedroom/family bathroom) under their tool belts on the Hobsonville Point building site, Yellow Team Amy and Stu find themselves sitting on a throne with a bunch of predominantly treacherous subjects plotting their downfall.
Leading the revolution is the “wheeler-dealer” of The Block and a man Team Yellow fans are having little trouble despising — Orange Team’s Agni.
Agni and other half Claire have been sucking on lemons since Amy and Stu legitimately “stole” their townhouse from them after winning the first room reveal. A set-to over a house fitting followed and, while Agni and Claire probably had some justification in feeling aggrieved, they have become a bit like a dog with the bone.
Agni has not endeared himself to the TV audience. His petulance and whining when things don’t go his way have been more a feature of Team Orange than their actual renovations, which reached a humiliating low last Sunday when one of the judges scored them one out of 10 for their incomplete family bathroom.
Agni is like the kid who takes home his soccer ball when the other team scores. Perhaps Claire should add a child’s quiet area to their townhouse for Agni to be sent to after one of his inevitable hissy-fits.
Last night Block host Mark Richardson came in carrying a metaphorical petrol container to pour on the simmering tensions.
As well as teams scoring their opponents’ family bathroom — the winners getting $2000 to add to their budget — it was announced that this week would be “Dinner Wars Week”.
Each couple hosts a themed dinner and the experience is scored by their fellow Blockies. The victors get $10,000-worth of service from an eco-decorator.
Stu and Amy went first. Amy cooked Asian (dumplings and laksa), Stu set up karaoke, with the intention of “busting out a bit of AC/DC”, and it all went swimmngly well until Richardson arrived to remind them all of just what was at stake.
“Thanks for @#$% up our dinner,” Amy said.
Meanwhile, Agni went into strategic mode, conspiring with Tom to the mutual benefit of both to rig their scoring.
Team Purple’s Chlo and Em, and Team Blue’s Tom and Ben, each scored Amy and Stu 7.5 out of 10 for their dinner experience. Team Orange’s rating is to be revealed at the end of the week.
Chlo and Em were judged the winners of the best bathroom by the other Blockies.
Amy and Stu’s bathroom — which came in third, despite the judges giving it a perfect 20 — was described as “wow” by Purple; the Blue Team boys said “she’s (Amy) killed it” and that “we might need to get some help from Amy”; while, not surprisingly, Agni said “it’s not for me”.
In between all this, it was revealed the next room to be done was a kid’s bedroom, with a couple of prerequisites including teams having to create a toy or accessory the child can intereact with”.
Amy and Stu are going for a “boho chic” room with a “secret space” or loft in the ceiling.
Team Yellow’s builder Dave Wallace put his 50 cents worth into the potential for under-handed Dinner Wars tactics by advising Stu to “zero-up” in their scoring.
“Someone’s got to be the villain around here,” said Dave.
“I dunno,” said Stu. “It might come back to bite us but it sounds like a plan.”
“I’d be the villain,” Dave laughed.
• It seems a rather large fan is being installed on The Block, with a sack of sheep poo set to be poured into it.
