Omar and Oz won The Block in 2022 with a record-breaking $1.6 million profit, and besties Sarah-Jane and Rachel dish on why their chances of earning a significant profit diminished.
Speaking on their new podcast I Just Can’t, Rachel didn’t hesitate to get straight into the nitty gritty from auction night.
Sarah-Jane and Rachel are still close friends after The Block.
(Image: Instagram)“Let me ask you this… the boys [Oz and Omar] go in first right, and come out with $1.6 million. Did you think we were all going to come out with that amount of money?” Rachel asked.
Sarah-Jane didn’t hesitate to say: “No.”
“The boys were the only two with two registered bidders. The only reason it went up so high is because you had two huge egos… two huge millionaires pumping it out.
“I’m looking and thinking, ‘well that millionaire isn’t coming to my auction’.”
Sarah-Jane explained the boys went first on auction night as they were the only team with two registered bidders and “had to go first.”
“No one thought it was going to win. I, personally, didn’t think it was the best house and that’s not throwing shade, that was my opinion the entire time. But they had two huge egos with a s—load of money… and that was the recipe for success,” she said.
Sharon and Ankur had to pass in their house.
(Image: Instagram)It has been a considerable amount of time since The Block 2022 auction night, and whether there is bad blood now or not. Sharon, who came in last place with her husband Ankur claimed in November 2022, that none of the teams were speaking to Omar and Oz.
Sharon told the Herald Sun that in light of The Block 2022’s results, Omar and Oz have been somewhat ostracised from the other competitors.
“No one else is really talking to the boys and haven’t been for some time. They’ve had issues for ages,” she said.
Sharon went on to say that she and her husband are the exception though as they’re still “friends with all the couples”.
However, in a separate interview with the Herald Sun, Tom, who came third on The Block this year with his wife Sarah-Jane, said he has “no interest in pursuing a friendship with” Sharon and Ankur…
No one is talking to Oz and Omar.
(Image: Instagram)Tom went on to say in his interview, “I got friends out of the show: Ryan and Rachel, Dylan and Jenny…” but never mentioned Omar and Oz.
It looks like the other teams may have had sour grapes over the boys’ win.
But this isn’t the only controversy to arise out of Omar and Oz’s triumph. Many Blockheads are convinced that the pair ‘rigged’ their auction.
Adrian Portelli, a businessman with a net worth of roughly $8 million who was referred to as ‘Mr Lambo’ on the show, was the first to bid on Omar and Oz’s property.
He bidded $4.5 million; an aggressive bid much higher than the $4.08 million reserve price, which led to eventual buyer Danny Wallis paying over $5 million for Omar and Oz’s house.
Mr Lambo’s bold bidding strategy has led many fans to believe that Omar and Oz roped in Adrian to place dummy bids that’d drive up the final price of the house.
Omar and Oz have denied these allegations. While appearing on Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa, Omar and Oz were asked point blank whether Adrian was a dummy bidder.
“That couldn’t be [further] from the truth,” Omar replied.
Rachel and Ryan came second on auction night.
(Image: Instagram)Radio host Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli then asked whether Omar and Oz were friends with Adrian.
Omar clarified that he and Oz shared a mutual friend with Adrian but other than that, they didn’t really know Adrian.
“We reached out to everyone that Oz and I knew; we asked so many people to come through and see the house.”
“We actually reached out to a mutual friend and they kind of suggested that [Adrian] might be interested and he wanted to come have a look at the house. And when he did come, he absolutely loved it. He said he loved his views from our house,” Omar said.
Adrian has also denied that he was a dummy bidder; he took to Instagram to address the wild conspiracy theory.
“For everyone questioning the legitimacy of the auction, I was a genuine buyer with every intention to purchase that property,” Adrian wrote on his Instagram story.
“Nobody is to blame for what happened. It’s an auction. Believe it or not but if you’ve got two people that genuinely want the property, a bidding war will commence.”
“I’m happy to show my bank account [to] anyone that suggests these were dummy bids,” Adrian concluded.
This story was originally seen on our sister site New Idea.
