The Gatwick Hotel in St Kilda is a building with a very colourful past – stories of murder and mayhem abound – but its future is looking bright with the new contestants for The Block 2018 announced by Channel Nine.
There are five teams set to take on the challenge of a renovation and test their relationships and their mettle to win the ultimate prize.
Viewers will be wondering whether the Melbourne team and best friends Bianca Chatfield (36) and Carla Dziwoki (35) will have home court advantage.
Both are champion netballers – Chatfield a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Dziwoki a former star of the Melbourne Vixens in the national league – and will no doubt be a competitive team.
From NSW, Sara, 31, and Hayden, 45, are bringing their Bondi style and love of the beach to The Block 2018, which is lucky given the promo has a Beach Boys and Hawaiian shirt theme. They’ve also been dubbed a couple where “opposites attract”.
Also bringing their beachside sensibilities – as well as a touch of celebrity – are Queensland couple and parents Norm, 40, and Jess, 33. Hailing from the Sunshine Coast, Jess is the co-host of 91.9 Sea FM’s breakfast show BarRat and Jess. Not only are the couple planning Block renovations, they’re also planning a wedding as they are engaged.
Kerrie, 49, and Spence, 47, from South Australia’s Barossa Valley are a loved-up married couple who found each other later in life. They recently moved to wine country so may have the advantage of recent renovation experience.
And last but by no means least, Hans, 37, and Courtney, 33, from Perth, Western Australia love to travel – which is lucky as they’ll be the furthest from home to take part in this year’s Block. It’s also lucky Courtney is a flight attendant so no doubt has experience dealing with emergency situations.
The Block‘s executive producer Julian Cress says this year a record 45,000 couples applied to be on the show – doubling the number who applied last year.
The job of choosing came down to a casting director who, it turns out, spends more time choosing couples for The Block (which takes around five months), than the couples do actually renovating the apartments (which takes about three months).
“It’s a pretty daunting job for anyone but we’re blessed to have the best casting director in the business named Lucky Price – he is the one who has the monumental task of going through that,” Cress says.
“He shortlists a group of about 30 couples and we put them through a Block-style challenge on camera to see if they’ve got what it takes.”
Cress says renovation experience does not necessarily mean a couple will be successful in gaining a place on the show.
“Ronnie and Georgia (from The Block 2017) may have renovated 11 houses but Hannah and Clint had never renovated … it’s about having the willpower and energy to get through,” Cress says.
As former contestants, Ronnie and Georgia Caceres say they are excited to watch how the five couples deal with the huge challenge of renovating the Gatwick Hotel.
“The most important thing is the person you have with you – you need to have a solid relationship,” Ronnie says.
“That’s what I hope for all the new couples – that they have a solid relationship”.
“You’re put under stress you wouldn’t normally be under outside of The Block. You’re tired, there’s crazy deadlines, challenges and budgets to deal with – it’s an intense situation,” Georgia adds.
Challenges exist not only for couples themselves, but also the relationships with other couples on The Block.
“Obviously we found it very challenging – it’s because at the end of the day it’s a competition and we were there to win,” Georgia says.
“What we’d say to the contestants is go there, stay focussed on the task at hand .. and work your absolute butt off because there is a lot of money you can get if you win,” Ronnie says.
The Block 2018 marks the 14th season of the show and is rumoured to hit TV screens some time next month.
