Coloured lollies are so not Daylesford.

That was the decree from Lake House owner Alla Wolf-Tasker when she and two other local legends judged the renovation efforts at The Rex Theatre.

While everyone had wrongly assumed the candy bar crew had this one in the bag, the cocky cohort of Ben, Emma, Britt, Taz and All stars Steph and Gian came unstuck by their snack selections.

The offensive lollies that cost one team the win.

“We’ve got local artists and producers who make all sorts of lovely snacks and things and it should be a symbol of our community,” Alla said with disdain for the musk sticks, gummy bears and other lurid lollies displayed in glass jars in a snack bar more like an office kitchenette than a theatre.

“And where are the choc-tops?” pondered a fellow judge in dismay at the lack of display fridges and freezers.

The win netted a stunned Alicia, Sonny, Robby, Mat, Can and Han a share in $10,000 cash, a $10,000 artwork, a dinner at the Lakehouse and a sculpture.

“I can’t believe we beat the style gurus Steph and Gian,” Mat exclaimed despite having had no idea who the 2023 Block winners were before squaring off against them in the challenge.

With a smaller space to renovate at The Rex and Steph and Gian to guide the project, Emma, Ben, Taz and Britt had assumed victory was guaranteed.

At least Britt got something out of the experience. The West Australian cop took full advantage of spending time alone with a former Block winner, pumping Steph for helpful tips for her house.

Britt and Steph bond on a shopping trip.

Seeing her Block bestie shopping with one of her Block idols was like a dagger through the heart to Alicia.

The only thing giving her comfort was the hope Britt might pass on some of the titbits she gleaned from Steph.

Little did she know that Britt has decided the time for sharing with the neighbours is done and dusted.

With auction day in sight, Britt is focused on her own house not playing nice.

Now laser focused, Britt and Taz were discovering that every centimetre counts when you are building a kitchen.

First, they had to rejig the lay-out of their fridges and ovens due to a problem with their vents not lining up properly.

Then the couple realised they hadn’t allowed for the stone bench support structure when they ordered their island bench.

This meant it now sat 30mm higher than the rest. To fix it, they would have to shave 30mm from the base of their island bench.

Dan breaks the news to Britt and Taz that their island bench is too high.

It took some convincing to get Freedom to come to the party and reduce the bench height. And it wouldn’t be a neat fix anyway, as the kickers on the bench and surrounding cabinetry now wouldn’t line up.

Han and Can were also facing a potential problem with their measurements with Foreman Dan noticing that their curved rangehood sat far too low and would be obstructive to cooking.

Han wasn’t having a bar of Dan’s practical suggestion, arguing: “you don’t stick your head under the rangehood in a normal kitchen, do you? You reach with your arms (under) like a normal person.”

Finally, Robby and Mat found that in flipping the orientation of their kitchen bench they hadn’t accounted for the plumbing.

This oversight meant their pipes sat a good 15cm in front of their cupboards.

Thankfully the Freedom cupboards installer found a solution that involved shifting the island bench slightly and building some dummy cupboards to cover the exposed pipes.

Buoyed by finding a relatively cost-effective solution to a major problem, the boys were blissfully unaware that another drama was lurking just up the street beneath their feet.

Ben and Emma measure the under deck space at their house for a possible wine cellar.

With the only elevated house on The Block this year, Ben and Emma were flirting with converting the dead space under the floor into storage.

Block visitors Steph and Gian encouraged the expectant parents to take that plan further and follow the lead of Robby and Mat to build a wine cellar.

Eager to finally taste victory after weeks of coming second, the couple were open to the suggestion even if that meant copying – ahem “taking inspiration” – from Robby and Mat’s game changing plan.

Cut to Emma talking about Han and Can’s decision to copy Sonny and Alicia’s heated bench seat in the Hepburn Springs Bathhouse challenge.

“I guess taking inspiration from a neighbour is a good thing but I think flat out copying is a bit sneaky,” Emma said then, words that seem set to bite her.