WA renovating guns Ronnie and Georgia Caceres have lost out on the win on Channel 9’s 13th season of The Block, but they still take home $161,000 in profit from the successful sale of their house.
The experienced renovators embarked on their 11th house flip on the show not without plenty of drama, including a $50,000 rort to put in their pool, and were named early on in the series as the ones to beat.
But they couldn’t pull through to leap ahead of frontrunners Josh Barker and Elyse Knowles, who were unanimously picked by The Block judges Neale Whitaker, Shaynna Blaze and Darren Palmer to win the auction.
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READ NOWMelbournians Josh and Elyse blitzed the competition, securing $447,000 in profit from their property sale and the $100,000 bonus prize money – all thanks to comedian Dave Hughes.
Their house at 46A Regent Street, Elsternwick, shattered its $2.62 million reserve price, selling for $3.067 million – well above expectation – thanks to the eye-watering bid from Hughes.
The comedian had joked on his KIIS radio show in the lead-up to the auction that he was interested in purchasing one of the properties from the reality TV show but had surprised everyone by only registering to bid the morning of the auction.
Fellow Victorians Jason Price and Sarah Windebank were second to go to auction and earned an impressive $387,000 profit, selling for $3.007 million.
But the strong start to the auction day soon took a turn, although it was no surprise with 1700 other properties in Melbourne going under the hammer – the highest number of auctions on a Saturday in the city’s history.
South Coast NSW boys Mark “Sticks” Croker and Clint “Wombat” Price sold their house next for $2.65 million, with a comparatively small win of $130,000.
Things only got worse when Ronnie and Georgia’s house at 46C Regent Street was passed in after failing to reach its $2.62 million reserve, but was sold for $2.781 million just moments later through private negotiation.
Last to see their home auctioned were Townsville’s Clint and Hannah Amos, which sold for a profit of $95,000.
A total $1.32 million in prize money was handed to the five teams, far from the record prize money of $3.165 million doled out to the contestants of The Block Triple Threat.
Results (in auction order) Josh & Elyse SOLD $3.067 million, by HockingStuart Caulfied Reserve $2.62 million Prize money $447,000, plus $100,000 winners’ cheque
Jason & Sarah SOLD $3.007 million, by Garry Peer & Associates Reserve $2.62 million Prize money $387,000
Sticks & Wombat SOLD $2.65 million, by Noel Jones Doncaster Reserve $2.52 million Prize money $130,000
Ronnie & Georgia SOLD $2.781 million, by Biggin & Scott Elsternwick Reserve $2.62 million Prize money $161,000
Hannah & Clint SOLD $2.615 million, by The Agency Victoria Reserve $2.52 million Prize money $95,000