Queensland besties Sev and Courtney have quickly become one of the most talked-about teams on The Block this year. But, after back-to-back room wins, the friends say their success came with an unexpected downside.
“Australia as a country can suffer from tall-poppy syndrome,” interior designer Sev tells TV WEEK. “We struggle with confident women and those that are doing better. People just won’t celebrate you.
“And you’ll see this as the weeks unfold. Whenever someone else won, we’d go out of our way to celebrate them and make them feel special. We thought we’d get that too, but we didn’t.”
For Courtney, 34, the reaction has been particularly difficult to process after growing up in housing commission and working tirelessly to build the life she’d always wanted.
“I lived in housing commission until I was 18,” the construction site manager says. “We were a really loving family, but we were very low income earners. I remember thinking: ‘I can’t have this my whole life.’
“I always dreamed of owning a white-picket-fence house so, when people tell me I look unapproachable, I feel misunderstood. When people actually get to know me, I’m completely the opposite.”
As Main Bedroom and Walk-in Robe Week ramps up, the pair say the atmosphere on site only becomes more awkward.
“We were being isolated and getting the cold shoulder,” admits Sev, 37. “It was playing on my mind because we’d have to go back to the share house when they weren’t really vibing us.”
“We had loved hanging out with everyone at night,” Courtney adds. “We’d started building friendships, then it all got ripped away. We realised: ‘All our mates hate us now.’”
The Block airs Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm and Sunday at 7pm on Nine Network and 9Now.
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