Hammer time: The Block
Australia host Scott Cam talks about renovating in a pandemic.
For the first time in its history, The Block Australia was forced to shut down filming.
But that’s hardly surprising when you consider this season takes place in Melbourne, a city that has experienced tough Covid-19 restrictions.
This year The Block Australia based in the suburb of Brighton.
“It’s very expensive, very exclusive,” says the show’s host Scott Cam.
“You say ‘Brighton’ with a bit of an accent. It’s a bit posh and it’s got some very big high-end homes, you know, in the $20 million mark.
“There are also some very grand mansions as well around Brighton. It’s a very flash area, only about 15 minutes from the city and bayside. So that’s very important. It basically stretches from the water to, you know, a couple of blocks back in.”
This season the show’s makers have transported five rundown houses to Brighton. Each is a period home from a different decade – 1910s, 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.
A trailer for the series shows Cam is dressed up in fun costumes from these times.
For the 50s, he is decked out as John Travolta’s character Danny from the film Grease. Cam’s co-host Shelley Craft wears a similar costume worn by Travolta’s co-star Olivia Newton-John who played Sandy.
“It was a long day,” says Cam. “I had to chop and change out of all the costumes. But it was fun and it turned out to be a great promo.”
What wasn’t so great was the effect of the global pandemic on The Block Australia.
“It had an enormous impact, as it did right across the nation and across your nation as well,” says Cam.
“It was tough. It was really tough. We started off and we did five weeks. And, of course, at that time nobody knew the consequences of what this pandemic was. Nobody knew what the outcome (would be).
“We didn’t know if there was going to be five million people die in Australia.
“Everybody was a bit frightened
and everybody – the contestants I mean – were worried about their kids, being away from them.
“So it was mentally very tough and then we shut down. I updated them all the way through the series and we incorporated it into the series as well. We don’t shy away from it. So it is very well documented throughout the series about Covid, up until our lockdown.
“When we shut down for six weeks, everybody went home and regrouped. Then we tried to work out a plan to get us back which we did.
“We got back for two months and knocked it over and finished it.
“We put a lot of things in place. We built a clinic on site, we had a full-time nurse, we temperature checked everybody that came on site, we had social-distancing situations in every room, we flu vaccinated everybody.
“So we put a lot of things in place to make sure everyone was safe. I mean, at the end of the day, the TV show came second and people’s safety came first.”
There are five teams of contestants this season. Most are couples with the exception of Harry, a 57-year-old IT manager and his daughter Tash, 32, who works in social media and production management.
The pair are The Block Australia’s first father-and-daughter team.
“They’re a great dad-and-daughter team and they are (from) a close family,” says Cam.
“They are from Melbourne and I think they both do it tough to kick off with. They are trying to find their feet and get going.
“It seems to be a bit of a pattern for Harry throughout most of the series, just trying to get organised.”
This is The Block Australia’s 16th season and Cam reckons there are good reasons for watching it.
“Everyone’s been through a tough time,” he says.
“Everybody’s done it hard this year in 2020. And this is a bit of a light-hearted show. It’s a bit friendlier. And, you know, we just get the job done.
“There are a few tears and roller coasters, as there always is on The Block. But it’s the five different decades. They are incredible homes.
“Every home has a swimming pool and is an amazing property with four or five bedrooms, and things like that.
“So just the transformation of this one is a ripper. They are all freestanding, timber-framed homes that go in. There are a lot of those sort of houses around Australia and New Zealand that people can pick up and do exactly what these guys have done.”