Emotions are running high on The Block this week, with no-one hit harder than Kristian, who breaks down in tears from the stress of it all.
“I was on a downward spiral,” Adelaide electrician Kristian, 31, tells TV WEEK. “I was trying to do more than I was capable of – it was the most stressful week to date on The Block.”
Karma comes back to bite Kristian during Living And Dining Room Week when his plasterers quit. His only option is to ask rival contestants Maddy and Charlotte if he can borrow some of their team – despite him having stolen the sisters’ trades in their very first week on site.
“It was emotional to have to ask for help from Maddy and Charlotte,” Kristian says. “But when it got to that stage of desperation, I had to. I’ll forever be thankful to them.”
He says that, prior to his breakdown, he’d been running on adrenaline, which foreman Dan had cautioned him to be wary of.
“He said, ‘In the first few weeks, you’re running on the high of being on a TV show – then you get to a point where everything starts to go downhill.’
“He wanted to make sure I could balance everything, because once you get to that point, if you aren’t in a good mental state, you start to reach your breaking point. That was where everything started to happen for me – everything was becoming too hard.”
Kristian isn’t the only one driven to tears this week. Maddy is upset, feeling she’s been isolated from the other houses on purpose – by Kylie and Brad in particular.
“There was the little secret they hid from everyone [about their jobs] that created a trust issue with everyone else,” Kristian says in defence of why Maddy and Charlotte weren’t invited to certain things.
“But we did try to be welcoming. In terms of Kylie and Brad, watching it [the show] back is the only real indication you get as to how they were feeling.”
When an order of Gyprock is a day-and-a-half late, to help make sure the Blockheads complete their living spaces on time, host Scott Cam throws them all a lifeline by offering them painters free.
But on Saturday, Kristian and his wife, restaurant manager Mimi, have two hours to the 3.30pm trade cut-off and still don’t have a drop of paint on their walls.
With the very real possibility they won’t be able to present a room, will it all become too much for Kristian, who’s already at breaking point?