EXCLUSIVE: Sonny and Alicia have clapped back after Britt and Taz accused them of cheating.

The Block’s Taz / Sonny and Alicia.

The Block’s Sonny and Alicia have clapped back after being accused of cheating. Photos: Channel 9

The Block’s Sonny and Alicia have been accused by their co-stars of ‘cheating’ and taking advantage of a controversial loophole in the show’s rules. While the couple have yet to win a room reveal, they’ve won $50,000 throughout the competition by winning the weekly budget award, which is given to the team that spent the least amount of money that week.

Sonny and Alicia’s budgeting was called into question during Tuesday night’s episode when the cast gathered for a body corporate meeting, and their former besties Britt and Taz accused them of playing a dishonest game. Britt pointed out that it was unfair for the couple to win $10,000 for spending the least amount of money on their living and dining room, only for them to upgrade the space using their winnings the following week.

Following the episode, Sonny and Alicia told Yahoo Lifestyle that they were not only upset to see their friends Britt and Taz turn on them, but also accuse them of cheating.

“Look, we had a rough week that week, we tried our guts out,” Sonny shared. “We have winnings, they have winnings, and what we do with those winnings is absolutely our choice, so we chose to redo a room so we could sell our house.”

“Why wouldn’t we listen to the judges?” Alicia added. “We’d be mad not to reinvest that money. But did we do that intentionally? Absolutely not. How embarrassing. I would never put us in that situation. We want to win.

“I’m not even that smart to think like that. And at the end of the day, we are in the competition. We wanted to win the $10k for the winning room.”

The Block’s Sonny and Alicia.

Sonny and Alicia argue that they did nothing wrong. Photo: Channel 9

‘We put our all into the competition’

The couple point out that they’ve been playing the game the same as Robby and Mat, yet they didn’t receive the same criticism from their co-stars at the body corporate meeting.

“Our living room had already been judged, just like how Robby and Mat were able to throw out their bedhead because the kids’ bedrooms had already been judged,” Sonny remarked.

“If you look at people playing strategically, the boys the week before with the rumpus, they didn’t win the budget, but they were trying to win and put Grafico on the whole wall. We put our all into the competition, and every time we won budget, that was just purely because we managed our trades better than others.”

Viewers defend Sonny and Alicia

While Sonny and Alicia have copped backlash on social media following the discovery of the ‘loophole’, many viewers have argued that they didn’t do anything wrong.

“I say good on them for working this out,” one person wrote, while another added, “If they have delivered rooms with a strategy to win the $10k budget money, then well played”.

“I don’t believe it’s cheating at all. If it wasn’t kosher, it wouldn’t be allowed,” a third remarked, followed by someone else who said, “Very clever of them in my opinion! Playing the game just like all the others!”.

“Good for them. Not against the rules and a great way to win money,” a different user shared, with someone else commenting, “In the end, it’s the sale price at auction that matters”.