Over the past three years, The Block has featured some gnarly cheating scandals. What’s more, the series is honestly better for it. Who doesn’t love a great villain? Would you like less drama to be stuffed into this series? If it wasn’t for The Block’s cheating scandals, this series might have lost its spark.
But which cheating scandal is the best? Well, we’ve received to rank each of them and awarded one the Dank Gnome™. So let’s jump straight into the tea.
Third Place: The Block’s 2022 Cheating Scandal
In 2022, the cast of The Block went to the Levantine Hill Estate in Victoria’s Yarra Valley. Levantine Hill is a wine company that’s rather well-regarded.
At this estate, each Block team was tasked with recreating Levantine Hill’s 2015 Samantha’s Paddock Wine from a variety of ingredients. During this challenge, Victoria’s Ankur and Sharon decided to sneakily Google the recipe.
Ankur and Sharon then completed the challenge in nine minutes. They also won this comp and scored $50,000 worth of wine.
After this challenge took place, the other teams alleged that Ankur and Sharon cheated. However, at no time during the comp was anyone told that they couldn’t Google the recipe. The other four teams could’ve copied Ankur and Sharon’s idea.
Overall, this Block cheating scandal gets two stars. This is because nobody really cheated, and that’s a bit of a shame.
Second Place: The Block’s 2023 Cheating Scandal
On the first week of this year’s Block, Steph and Gian cheated. Steph’s father is a tradie who helped them finish a bathroom, but he didn’t receive a safety induction before working. What’s more, he wasn’t originally paid for his labour.
According to The Block rules, all tradies must receive a safety induction and be paid the minimum wage. Steph and Gian skipped these vital steps.
During a meeting with The Block’s entire cast, Steph and Gian were sledged for this decision. One person who was partially frustrated was Ash.
“All of a sudden, you’ve got someone doing work that’s not inducted,” Ash said.
In response to this confrontation, Steph and Gian doubled down. They stated that they would pay Steph’s dad and that he helped because it was a hard week. However, people like Leah were having none of it.
“We’ve all got hard weeks and all hard days,” said Leah. “I just don’t want that to be the excuse where we’re now bending the rules.”
Overall, this Block cheating scandal gets four stars. It was juicy, drama-filled, and a strong start to the season.
First Place: The Block’s 2021 Cheating Scandal
On The Block, it’s against the rules for the contestants to know the entire production schedule. This is because if some contestants know the entire production schedule, while some others don’t have this info, then the contestants with the dates get an unfair advantage.
In 2021, the production schedule was leaked. Someone had gone into a Block office and photographed it. Two teams scored this schedule: Tanya and Vito, Luke and Josh.
This scandal was quickly exposed, and both teams received a two-point penalty. However, it was initially unclear who took the original photograph. Tanya even tried to pin it on one of her tradies.
In the penultimate episode of The Block, Luke and Josh revealed who the photographer was. They explained that Tanya was responsible for this deed. After this reveal took place, Tanya admitted to cheating.
Overall, this Block cheating scandal gets five stars and the Dank Gnome™. This cheating scandal was the narrative that held the entire season. If Tanya didn’t cheat, then this season would have dragged on.
Want more The Block? Read all our content here, and click the links below:
- Where Was It Filmed? A 2023 Deep Dive
- The 2023 Block Cast — Meet the New Teams
- The 2023 Details — The Host, Trailer, and More
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