For Scott Cam, auction day is always a nail-biter. But this year, it’s not just the multimillion-dollar reserves keeping The Block host on edge.
After months of competition, the contestants are heading into the finale with old grudges, fresh revelations and plenty of feelings about one another.
“They’ve been at home watching the show back and finding out what other people have said about them,” Scott, 63, tells TV WEEK.
“There are conflicts that have been going on behind closed doors. There can be a group mentality as well. Sometimes when there’s a bit of a gang up, that can be quite hard to watch.”
With the contestants now seeing what was said behind their backs, Scott knows the reunion could be just as tense as the auctions themselves. And there’s a lot more at stake than hurt feelings, with all five Mount Eliza homes carrying a $3.45 million reserve.
“They are never, ever happy with their reserve price – ever in the history of the show,” he says.
“But this year they weren’t going mental about it, but they weren’t overly happy.”
Auction order drama
Then there’s the question of who goes under the hammer first. Scott and the experts usually advise the team with the most registered bidders to kick things off, but getting five teams to agree on an order is another matter entirely.
“That’s what we advise them to do. Whether they take that advice on board and not come to an agreement and then we have to draw it out of a hat, which we’ve done before, is up to them,” Scott teases.
“We can give them as much advice as we can, and we could lead a horse to water, but whether that horse drinks said water is unknown.”
Scotty Cam on the drama with Chantel and Wyatt
This season has had no shortage of friction, including the early controversy involving House 2’s Chantel and Wyatt, after the show incorrectly stated the pair had spent double their budget. Scott says the production team owned the mistake, but believes the fallout went further than it needed to.
“We put our hand up straight away and said, ‘We made a mistake and we’re apologising on national television,” Scott recalls.
“That should have been the end of that straight away. Wyatt thought it was a stitch-up, which is a word that I hate on our show, because we don’t stitch anyone up.”
The couple have since distanced themselves from the show and the media, and Scott believes they may have made life harder for themselves by not taking feedback on board.
“They’ve had a hard time with their design and their ideas,” he says.
“And their listening! They don’t listen to any advice. In hindsight they needed to take the feedback on board. They might be building a house that they like, but it’s not for them, it’s for the buyers.”
Still, Scott is reluctant to write anyone off before the first bid is made. The Block has thrown up plenty of surprises over the years, and he knows auction day can turn everything on its head.
“Teams that I thought wouldn’t do well have won The Block in the past,” he says. “So for me to say, ‘I think this team is going to do well,’ would be wrong because I have no idea what’s going to happen on the day.”
Auction day
And what about these mystery buyers? With the Mount Eliza properties boasting sea views and with eye-watering price tags of $3.6 million to $3.9 million, even Scott is waiting to see who turns up with the money to make the contestants’ dreams come true. Could any of his famous friends be tempted?
“I want to know myself who is coming!” he says with a laugh.
“It’s pretty hard to get your mates to hand over $3 million plus, but if someone wants to buy one that’s in our industry, like Dave Hughes, we welcome that, he’s bought a Block house, and he’s very happy with it.”
One person who won’t be there in person is Scott’s wife of 35 years, Ann. She prefers to watch from home, where she can follow every twist without having to contend with her husband’s auction-day nerves.
“She doesn’t come to auction day because I’m a bit full on and stressed,” Scott admits.
“She also likes to watch it on the telly and see what happens that way because she’s invested.”
Life off camera
While he’s used to managing big personalities on set, Scott has also been dealing with a painful problem of his own.
“I had a very sore knee throughout the whole series, and that was quite challenging for the three months. I just had a couple of operations on both knees.”
And now, with a updated knees and a renewed energy, Scott is already looking ahead to the next season of The Block, which will be filmed at the heritage-listed former asylum in Sunbury, Victoria.
“I get great vibes about the architecture and the building itself,” he says.
“I love the 20, 30-foot ceilings in some of the rooms. I love the feeling of the place, and the construction is what I’m really excited about. It’s a big, big, big job. We’re going to spend an enormous amount of money getting these properties back to scratch and restoring them.”
As for retirement, don’t expect Scott to be hanging up his tool belt just yet, as he teases he won’t be going anywhere from the series anytime soon.
And after stepping into the contestant’s shoes for Shark!, he’s in no hurry to swap hosting for competing ever again either.
“I shouldn’t have signed up for the Shark,” he declares.
“It was a very traumatic six weeks of my life. It was real and I don’t know if they’re doing it again, because I don’t know if I’ll find other people to do it.”
You can watch The Block on Nine or 9Now.
