The Block’s wonder couple are cashing in again

Admitting he’s had a gutful of difficult contestants, host Scott Cam is relieved the 21st season of the renovation juggernaut is going back to basics with far less toxic drama.

The laidback host has declared this year’s five teams the best crew he’s ever seen in his 19 years at the helm of the Channel 9 reality series.

“Over the years, there’ve been some great contestants, but as a collective group, these have been my best,” Cam says.

“I think they’ve worked really hard, which I love. And resilience is a really important thing to me, and lack of complaining.”

In recent years fans have accused the series of being more soap opera than renovation show, amid cheating scandals, nasty bickering and mean girl bullying. But for Cam the behaviour which has grated on him the most is the whingeing.

“The complaining annoys me because I’ve worked hard all my life, and when I was a young bloke, I worked like a Trojan. And so, I could have done this,” he shrugs.

“This lot worked really hard with a great deal of resilience, and they were good to the crew.

“That’s the other big thing. They had a few blues with each other. So, it’s not boring. But it’s justified. And they were just good to everybody.”

The Block hosts Scott Cam and Shelley Craft. Picture: Supplied

Co-host Shelley Craft agrees, saying the teams’ positivity was a welcome reprieve after previous seasons.

“This year there are a bunch of very mature contestants,” she said.

“They’ve got their heads screwed on. I believe they’re here with all the right motivations, and that made for a good show.”

Accepting that everyone deals with stress differently, Craft pondered: “But why are you here if you’re going to be miserable?”

“I understand there’ll be moments of that, but ultimately, you sign up for this, so get the most out of all the experiences.

“And obviously renovation is one thing, but there are so many great things that we do along the way that are once in a lifetime opportunities.

“So, you just want everyone to be in that frame of mind when they’re coming in. It can be very hard to maintain for 12 weeks. I understand that. But these guys did it, and it made our job so much fun, and we felt so lucky.”

Cam has declared this year’s five teams the best crew he’s ever seen. Picture: Supplied

As a longtime fan of The Block who has auditioned for previous seasons, Gold Coast contestant Alicia is grateful that she didn’t make the cut until this year.

“Look, there’s always going to be a little bit of drama,” she says.

“We’re all here for our own reasons and our own purposes. There’s absolutely drama, but at the end of the day, I feel like we were very cohesive as a group and we all love and care about each other.”

South Australian hairdresser Mat, who is renovating his property with his best pal Robby, says fans would often stop him on shopping trips to ask: ‘Please tell me there’s no bitching’ or ‘please tell me there’s no bullying’.

“And I was like: ‘Nah, there’s none of that!’

In the pressure cooker of reality TV, tempers did flare on occasion, but Mat says “there was never drama detrimental to any friendships or relationships.”

The group became so tight knit that they hired a house together for their last night in Daylesford so that they could all be under the one roof to celebrate.

“And when we told the judges, Darren (Palmer) nearly fell off his chair,” Mat laughs.

“He was hitting Shaynna (Blaze)’s arm in shock [that we all got along] and she was just [incredulous] going: ‘You’re lying?’”

The Block will premiere on Sunday July 27 at 7pm on Channel 9 and 9Now