By Jane Luscombe
The director of TV3's hit reality TV show The Block NZ says she didn't expect all of the homes to sell at auction last night.
Viewers commiserated with Wellington couple Tyson Hill and Rachel Rasch when they failed to make a profit, but Julie Christie says she's delighted their house sold at all.
The couple’s house only just met the reserve price, so they didn't make a cent after nine weeks of work. But they scoffed any suggestion the reserve was too high, at $798,000.
“I was actually expecting it to be higher so I was quite happy when I was told the reserve … a lot of money has gone into these houses,” says Rachel.
Tyson had hoped to make enough to buy a guitar. He'd sold his to stay afloat. Today he got three offers of a new one from sympathetic viewers, as well as a free holiday.
The reserves were set well below the valuations, Even so, Christie was relieved they all sold.
But there's no chance of a consolation pay-out to Rachel and Tyson. Christie says that would be unfair on the other contestants.
“I think Rachel and Tyson will benefit, the world is a land of opportunity for them right now, if they're entrepreneurial they'd be going out there now,” she says.
One million viewers watched Libby and Ben Crawford win, and today they revealed their work wasn't as spontaneous as viewers might think.
“We are quite big planners, we had a bunch of ideas we hoped to bring to the house, all the timber features, open plan living,” says Ben.
The new owners of the house plan to turn it into an office, and the producers of the show have plans too - they're already looking for four houses for the next series of The Block NZ. They've got their eyes on a few and there's a good chance it'll be held in Auckland again.
3 News