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At Breaking Point: Exhaustion and illness wipes out The Block contestants during their toughest week yet

'It was really hard!'
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Completing three rooms in one week sounds hard enough, but some of the Blockheads had to do it while battling the flu – truly making it a “hell week” they’ll never forget!

“A few of us were sick,” Hayden, 45, tells TV WEEK. “It was really hard. I think I was at my weakest point in terms of energy, and I had to stay up all night painting three rooms.”

Things get worse for Hayden when he’s forced to rip up the entrance area to his hallway because his finished floor level doesn’t match the building’s foyer and hallways.

The prospect of not completing the three rooms was a constant worry, but he and wife Sara had no option but to get on with the job.

“It’s just what you’ve got to do on The Block,” he explains. “There’s no time to rest. I was working through the night with the flu. But you somehow have to find the stamina to keep going.”

Norm also felt under the weather and describes hallway, laundry and powder room week as the hardest so far.

With 10 times the number of tradies on site to get the job done, he said it was “chaotic” and “everyone was climbing on top of everyone”.

In addition, a public holiday means the teams have one less day of power tools – and it gets the better of the rundown builder.

“We had just 11 hours to do what we’d usually do in three days,” Norm, 40, explains. “You end up wearing out, and you get exhausted.”

The Block airs Monday to Wednesday, 7:30pm, and Sunday, 7pm, on Nine Network.

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