‘IT COULD HAVE KILLED THEM’

As the contestants enjoy some time out on a challenge during terrace week, little do they know how close to disaster they came as one couple made a terrible mistake that could have cost lives. “This is one of the biggest dramas we’ve ever had on any of the series,” foreman Dan Reilly tells New Idea. “All it would have taken was one spark and bang! That whole terrace would’ve blown up.” While the contestants are off doing a bucket list challenge, foreman Dan notices a suspicious gas-like smell coming from Courtney and Hans’ apartment. “As soon as I opened the front door, it just hit me in the face,” Dan reveals. “I went inside the apartment, obviously covering my mouth and nose, and there were about three gas bottles at the far end of the apartment in the terrace pumping out hot air and gas. I couldn’t believe someone had done that. “My worst fear was that someone was in

there and may have passed out from the fumes. That’s why I got guys with masks to turn it off and checked the whole place.

“There was no-one in there, thank goodness. There’s so much potential for something bad to happen. If someone had been sleeping in that apartment, carbon monoxide could have killed them. That’s a big killer in Australia right now. Someone could have gone in there and sparked up a tool or lighter and who knows what could have happened with a whole apartment full of gas?”

And it wasn’t just Dan who was furious about what had happened. “Emma, our health and safety officer, came up and was quite annoyed. She was ready to kick people off or re-induct people, it was that serious,” Dan says, still fuming. “It put the whole Block at risk.”