Surprises are always guaranteed in the finale of Australia’s favourite renovation show.

Adrian Portelli and Danny Wallis have made several appearances on The Block over the years. Photo: Channel 9

On Sunday night, The Block fans will be gathered around their TV screens as they eagerly await the results of the auctions. The five Daylesford properties that this year’s teams have spent the last few months painstakingly renovating will be sold off to the highest bidders — or even just the one.

Yep, it’s not just the contestants who get viewers talking. Those who are game enough to bid on the houses and apartments that Australia has watched being renovated are also fascinating to the fans. From serial buyers Adrian Portelli and Danny Wallis to celebrity buyers like Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes, the auctions sure know how to draw a crowd!

While there have been many auctions since the series began over 20 years ago, there are only a handful of bidders and bidding wars that stand out in our collective memories. Let’s reminisce, shall we?

Danny Wallis vs Adrian Portelli

Danny Wallis and Adrian Portelli are serial Block buyers. Photos: Channel 9

In 2023, a bidding war between regular buyer Danny Wallis and flashy entrepreneur Adrian Portelli, who was dubbed ‘Lambo Guy’ after arriving at the auction in a yellow Lamborghini, led to a record profit on the show.

Adrian started the bidding on Omar and Oz’s house with an offer of $500,000 above the reserve price. This led fans to question whether Adrian was a plant to increase bids, even asking whether he could afford the property. But multi-millionaire Adrian, the owner of LMCT+, a promotions and giveaway platform, responded quickly to the accusations.

“I wanted to buy the house,” he said on The Kyle and Jackie O Show. “I was going to give it away through the business. It was going to be a giveaway house.”

Adrian went on to purchase three houses on the show in 2023 and spent $15 million on all five houses last year before announcing that he wouldn’t return to the show. Meanwhile, it’s unknown whether Danny Wallis will make an appearance at this year’s auctions.

Dave Hughes

Comedian Dave Hughes initially regretted paying so much for Josh and Elyse’s house in 2017. Photo: Channel 9

In 2017, radio host and TV personality Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes decided to get in on The Block action, bidding for Josh and Elise’s five-bedroom home in Elsternwick. He paid a whopping $3.067 million, which was $447,000 over the reserve, giving the couple the win for the season.

The comedian, who went against his wife’s wishes to buy the property, later admitted he instantly regretted his purchase.

“I went to get a bank loan the other day and they haven’t valued it the same as I paid for it, which is fine, but annoying because there were five bidders,” he told Stellar Magazine four months later.

While he didn’t reveal how much it had been valued at, he did say: “Enough less that it made me annoyed. For f**k’s sake!”

Emese Fajk: The fraudulent buyer

The Block 2020 winners Jimmy and Tam and the winning bidder for their property Emese Fajk. Photo: Channel 9

It’s usually the contestants that cause the problems, but in 2020, it was the winning buyer who created the controversy. At the nail-biting auction, Jimmy and Tam’s house made a record-breaking $966,000 profit, taking their overall winnings to $1.06million.

However, they allegedly never got a payment from cybersecurity specialist Emese Fajk, whose winning bid was $4,256,000. Emese, who has since left Australia for Europe, claims she was naive when it came to purchasing the property.

“My fault in all this was that I did not know the purchase process and therefore was unable to spot mistakes or know what information was missing,” she said in a video she made while in Portugal.

“I’m a 29-year-old girl building my own life, and I will not continue to suffer in silence and let this hang above my head as some sort of dark cloud.”

Emese has since joined Ukrainian troops defending Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

Who will win The Block 2025?

Fan favourites Britt and Taz are currently tipped to win this year’s season of The Block, with 51 per cent of Yahoo Lifestyle’s readers voting for them as the predicted champions.

All five auctions will take place on Saturday, October 25, and air the following night on Channel 9, with the winning team taking home $100,000 on top of their profit from their sale.