It wouldn’t be The Block without a healthy dose of drama. And this year’s contestants are getting straight down to business.
This week, Chantel and Wyatt face off against Scotty and the show’s producers after they’re accused of going $10,000 over budget on week one – a claim they profusely deny.
And the fitness-focused pair aren’t taking the hit to their reputation lying down! “We were absolutely a little nervous to stand up to Scotty [Cam] and production,” the Gold Coast couple tells Woman’s Day. “But in the circumstances we felt it was necessary to speak up and stand up for ourselves.”
The missing money
The pair say they didn’t want their time on The Block to come back and bite them in the real world.
“We pride ourselves on being good with budgeting and time management, and to be accused of spending over double the week’s allocated budget on Sunday night without being able to defend ourselves made us look incompetent,” the pair – who feared they were being accused of pocketing the missing cash in their Block budget – tell us.
“Being small business owners ourselves we felt we weren’t given the chance to clear our names and this could really affect our lives outside of The Block.”
Viewers will watch on this week as the couple confront Scotty, 63, and the show’s producers about their accusations that they went over budget.
Scotty and the show’s co-creator and executive producer Julian Cress admit the mix-up was an accounting mistake – not a ploy to create a storyline. Julian explains that a builder’s invoice had accidentally been entered into the accounting system twice, creating the false impression that House 2 had blown its budget.
“After the sit-down with Scotty and production, we felt things did improve. They apologised for the mistake with the calculated budget that Sunday night and we hit the ground running,” Chantel, 32, and Wyatt, 30, tell us.
The damage is done
But while the pair may feel all is now well, a show insider tells Woman’s Day it actually turned into a season-long battle of wills and the relationship between the veteran host and House 2 never fully recovered.
“Scotty genuinely thought that after filming Shark Tank he’d have a different perspective on what it’s like to be on the other side of reality television,” the insider reveals. “But with Wyatt, he really struggled. It wasn’t a one-off incident. It became an ongoing frustration throughout the season.”
And even after Nine encouraged Scotty to soften his approach, insiders say the veteran host never completely changed his opinion. “Nine pulled rank and made it clear he needed to tone things down, but Scotty isn’t someone who simply forgets,” says the source. “He’s got the memory of an elephant. If trust is broken, it takes a long time to earn it back.”
And the insider insists the relationship between House 2 and Scotty was never quite repaired.
“It would have been a two-week turnaround to replace a team,” claims the insider. “It was easier to get Scotty to apologise than let them walk away.”
Another source says the apology may have saved their place on The Block, but it didn’t erase the tension.
“They certainly created an island for themselves,” says the spy of Chantel and Wyatt. “Even after they got the apology, the trust was gone.”
The Block’s invisible hero
Chantel and Wyatt tell Woman’s Day they were “grateful to have the show’s psychologist there with us” as they dealt with the fallout from their battle with Scotty and the producers.
“Knowing someone is there we can talk to outside of production was extremely comforting. Simon is very professional and impartial, which you need when you’re in the Block bubble,” they share.
An on-set insider admits the show’s clinical psychologist Dr Simon Kinsella (pictured) has quietly prevented walkouts and meltdowns for years, yet viewers barely know he exists.
While his face is rarely shown on screen, insiders say Simon has become an essential part of keeping contestants mentally afloat during one of Australia’s toughest reality TV experiences. Simon has worked as the series psychologist across numerous television productions and specialises in supporting people under intense public scrutiny.
“The pressure on The Block has always been enormous,” says one production insider. “It can become overwhelming very quickly.
“This is the first time you will really see Simon on camera, and that really breaks the fourth wall.”
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