Only days into The Block and some of this year’s contestants are already butting heads.
This week, friendships get off to a rocky start when Perth couple Ronnie and Georgia are forced to ask Melbourne couple Josh and Elyse for money. It sparks a fierce argument.
Georgia and Ronnie tell TV WEEK the heated exchange occurred during the first round of room renos in their respective houses.
They believe other teams are targeting them because of their level of experience. Before stepping onto The Block, the handy pair had renovated 10 properties.
“We had a bit of a target on our backs,” Georgia, 33, says.
She adds that she felt disrespected by a remark fellow renovator Josh made to her while they were discussing budgets.
“You don’t talk to me like that – I don’t accept that,” Georgia says of the comment that left her fuming. “So I stood up for myself.”
Meanwhile, Josh, 28, and Elyse, 24, admit they were taken aback by Ronnie and Georgia’s competitive focus so early in the series.
“I’m not going to be malicious,” Josh says. “I’m by no means a nasty person. Some might bring that, but I think we’ll be alright.”
Model Elyse says she’s also felt unfairly judged since being announced as a contestant. Fans of the show have taken to social media to question whether the blonde stunner deserved to be part of the competition.
On Instagram, one viewer wrote, “There have to be thousands of people who want to go on The Block, but you’ve put some model on there – joke.”
However, Elyse rejects claims she and boyfriend Josh got their spot on the show because of her profile.
“We went through the same audition process as 10,000 others,” she says. “We wanted this challenge because we’d finished our own renovation and loved it.”
Elyse adds she believes critics are “just jealous”.
“If people are giving me s**t, then they want what I’ve got,” she says. “I’m so lucky I’ve got what I’ve got, and I worked hard for it.”
