So much for waterproof Tuesday, the teams don’t even make the usual waterproof Wednesday as they strive to create their family bathrooms.
The decreased working hours of this season are already biting and it seems inevitable that some compromises will have to be made by the producers to get these houses finished.
Wyatt and Chantel concede they’re well behind the eightball after what Wyatt euphemistically describes as their “RDO” yesterday.
But the pair somehow manage to streak ahead, even after telling their building team to slim down their carpenter numbers to save some cash.
They end up the only team in a position to even consider waterproofing on Wednesday, albeit just an hour before 6pm tools down.
Wyatt has the bright idea to ask Dan for special permission for waterproofers to work later into the night, provided they don’t use power tools. Here comes those compromises…
RELATED
Block couple’s windfall after auction fail
Who are The Block 2026 contestants?
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Neither extended working hours nor the chance to win a huge kitchen prize make Courtney and Sev happy.
Given it’s looking like no team will finish otherwise, Dan and site boss Aidan agree, and while other teams celebrate, Courtney and Sev receive the news with fake smiles.
“Oh great, I’m so pleased everyone can have extended hours so they can get well ahead of us,” Courtney says.
A leak has left their screed saturated – Dan says it’s because they left the roof open to the elements when they changed their skylight, Courtney says it’s because the external waterproof membrane wasn’t installed until after a rainfall – and they’ve struck a deal to let their idle waterproofers work on a desperate Rosco and Lisa’s room while the screed dries, in return for Rosco and Lisa’s builders lending them a hand to catch up.
Rosco and Lisa are in a tight spot after their unicorn Rhys – a combination waterproofer/tiler they thought would be their secret sauce – walked off the job due to it being impossibly behind, and not having sufficient public liability insurance.
Rosco jumps at the chance to use Courtney and Sev’s waterproofers, but when it comes time to return the favour he claims he didn’t realise what he’d agreed to.
As always on The Block, there’s audio visual evidence to the contrary, with Rosco telling Courtney he’ll send his trades over at 5pm to make good on the deal.
Cue 5pm and a livid Courtney realising she’s been dudded.
Courtney with the look of a woman dudded.
“Such dogs,” she mutters. “That was not the deal but that’s what happens in this competition. They snaked us. It’s good to know these things nice and early.”
The stakes couldn’t be higher, too.
Mid-episode it’s revealed the winners this week will get $250,000 of high-end kitchen and laundry upgrades, an almost impossible to beat advantage and one which helped Britt and Taz to the win last year.
Courtney and Sev are once again unimpressed.
“It’s come at the worst possible time when we know we’re not even in the running,” Sev laments.
About the only thing that does go right for the girls this episode is Dan approving their plea to classify the vestibule area of their family bathroom part of their hallway. They’ve removed a door, and argue that given the hall flooring pattern will have to extend into the now open vestibule which they’re going to use for a linen cupboard, they can’t deliver this week.
Dan agrees, gaining them a tiny advantage that they seem unlikely to be able to capitalise on.
As the other teams struggle on, Dan is beginning to have doubts about Adam and his claims of being but a simple outback station manager. Adept at playing the blundering ignoramus, he occasionally lets his guard down and displays a suspicious level of understanding of the building game.
He later admits to producers that he’s a qualified builder with 20 years of experience, a fact that like Courtney’s career as a commercial building project manager, he intends to keep secret from the other contestants.
Dan catches Rick working after tools down.
Dan has suspicions of another kind about out and proud builder Rick.
After receiving the news that his waterproofers can stay on site later, he decides that extends to his entire building team. When Dan catches them still working after hours he’s furious.
“Rick, you’ve got selective hearing and I’m getting a bit over it,” he says. “Selective hearing has got to stop.”
“F**k you, I’m not copping that,” Rick later tells producers before his ever helpful daughter Tayla accuses him of age-related deafness.
MISSED AN EPISODE? HERE’S ALL OUR RECAPS SO FAR
Episode 1: First tears shed on season 22 of The Block
Episode 2: ‘I will shut you down’
Episode 3: ‘I won’t help them again’
Episode 4: ‘You will only last five weeks’
Episode 5: Block couple ready to quit after scandal
Episode 6:’ ‘Everyone is in on it’: Chantel and Wyatt cry foul
