In the midst of the most challenging market conditions in the show’s history, Scott Cam and the team of The Block are anxious to see if the remaining houses will sell at the auction this weekend.
According to Cam, the show was in an unusual position because it had to hand the season’s ending over to external forces each year.
Despite the fact that the producers have no control over the outcome of the auction, Cam is still nervous about the potential impact of the show on the real estate market.
He said that he was only interested in seeing the teams achieve a happy ending.
During last year’s season, he took the unusual step of intervening after the contestants complained about the high reserve prices.
The teams agreed that their reserve prices should be lowered, as profit is only realized once the home prices exceed their reserve.
After agreeing to the plan, Cam spoke with the other producers at Nine to get the teams’ reserve prices lowered. Even the last-place house made just under $300,000 during the season.
During an interview on Fox FM today, Cam confessed that he was responsible for costing the network a huge amount of money by agreeing to the plan.
He said that he was personally told by Mike Sneesby, the chief executive of Nine, that he had caused a lot of trouble. Despite the high reserve prices, The Block has helped the teams this season by allowing them to finish their builds on their massive 10-acre blocks.
According to Cam, the teams had a few unfinished tasks, which The Block’s building company was able to complete, so they could get their houses ready for the market.
For years now, making money on The Block has not been a problem, with most of the contestants going home with hundreds of thousands of dollars each.
From 2015 to 2021, only one team has been able to go home with less than $100,000. In 2017, Mark and Mitch won the show with a total of $744,000, while the previous season’s winners, Jimmy and Tam, earned a huge $1 million.
However, in the past, there have been several instances where teams only managed to earn around $10,000 each.
In New Zealand, the most recent season of The Block ended in disaster. The teams that were able to make it to the end of the competition only managed to earn around $10,000 each.