Latest Block NZ contestants not worried about cash
A Hamilton couple competing in The Block say they aren’t worried about the kind of auction-day failure that crushed the dreams of last year’s contestants.
Fitness fans Claire Ropira and Agni Bhorkar say they’re on the reality renovation show for the experience, not to win big bucks.
Last year’s season of The Block ended in disappointment for many of the contestants when their hard graft earnt just a fraction of previous winners’ windfalls.
When brothers Ling and Zing pocketed a meagre profit of $1000 for their three months of labour, fans even set up a Givealittle page for them.
But Ropira and Bhorkar didn’t let that deter them from having a go.
‘‘It was actually good what happened last year because it has shown us the reality of the show,’’ Bhorkar said.
‘‘We didn’t come here with any false expectations that we’re going to walk away millionaires or anything like that. This is a life experience that I’d pay for, so that’s how we look at it, as an opportunity more than as a money-making opportunity, an opportunity to learn life skills.’’
Bhorkar, 23, and Ropira, 26, have been a couple for 18 months, having met at the gym Bhorkar owns – Ropira is a personal trainer.
That gym was Bhorkar’s first foray into renovation: he designed, and project managed its unique ‘‘nightclub’’ fitout.
The couple bought their first home at the start of the year and did some renovating before discovering they’d be competing on The Block.
Ropira says the timing was right. ‘‘We were just really up for a challenge. We’re in a really good stage of our lives to kind of step out of our jobs to go for the experience.’’
This year, The Block contestants will design and build the interior of contemporary, three-storey, family homes in the Auckland subdivision of Hobsonville Point.
Each house has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a powder room, three living spaces, laundry room and a garage with a massive storage area, as well as a covered outdoor patio. The teams will undertake 12 weeks of challenges aiming for the $100,000 first prize, including some called ‘‘ The Block Collective’’ where they’ll have to work together instead of competing against one another.
The other teams include Gisborne couple Amy Moore and Stuart Watts, who at 39 and 46 have the distinction of being the most elderly team to compete on The Block. Watts is a plumber and self-described bogan with a penchant for dad jokes, while Moore is a beauty therapist who reckons she does Gisborne’s fastest Brazilian wax.
Best mates Ben Speedy and Tom Waalkens, both 24 and from Auckland, appear to be the competition’s most qualified team. Speedy is an architect while Waalkens is a project manager and ‘‘all-round handyman’’.
Besties Emily Blanchett and Chloe Hes, both 25 and from Palmerston North described themselves as a ‘‘serial hugger’’ (Blanchett) and a lover of to-do lists (Hes).
Mark Richardson and Shelley Ferguson will continue to host the show, while Pete Wolfkamp is still site foreman. The judging lineup has had a shakeup, however, with Jason Bonham joined by Your Home and Garden editor Kristina Rapley. premieres on Three, on July 8 at 7pm and continues on Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm.