Last night it was dodgy accounting, or something, that Scotty harangued B&C over (they just said yep, whatevs, make it right and we’ll pay it) and by all accounts tonight Sara will be donning her dibber dobber nappies to try and take them down. And we’re in the middle of a cooking challenge, which is in the middle of Hallway/Laundry/Powder-room week, which is a short week because of the Friday public holiday.
So that’s not the hired help at Courtney and Hans’ oven, it’s Sara… did she forget to put one in her joint? I don’t think so. What the what? Courtney and Hans apparently love cooking and enjoy cooking together so have high hopes that they’ll win this challenge to cook 50 portions of food (Sri Lankan curry is their choice) and serve it up over the road at Circa at The Prince at a charity do.
Jess and Norm have also turned to Sri Lanka for inspiration, but Jess is starting strong by using garlic from out of a jar “We have a saying in our house: why would ya mince when ya don’t have ta”.
Should be a pretty interesting insight how the couples deal with each other at home, B&C have got a chef dude from the sponsor in to help them out because they do not cook (remember the wine fridge in favour of a dishwasher in the kitchen reveal!!)
But it’s Domain walk around time too, and while Scotty visits Courtney and Hans he brings up invoices with them too and the reminder that no one can buy anything for a discount that’s greater than 50% (I thought he mentioned B&C but in Courtney and Hans’ reflective interview they guessed that it was girls because their lights are so flash.
I suppose this is how we get to the secret squirrel palava where Sara drops a bombshell to Scotty…
Too busy giggling at Husband Hayden calling her Nigella, the cap of her peppercorns pops off and a mountain of pepper sprays into her massive bowl of ‘bikini’ slice mixture. Scoops it all out, no drama. Jess however had to get chef help too and was told she’d need to cook her spices first so literally just dumped a container of Keen’s Curry Powder into a saucepan. If they’re just ground from ‘fresh’ you definitely need to do this as a base, using ghee or an oil of some sort. Or that’s how I do it, anyway. Deary me.
Ah, Courtney and Hans are doing their own paste
I hope they win the challenge, for the effort they’re putting in.
Scotty et al go visit Kerrie and Spence, load up on the meatballs they’ve been making for the challenge (Heathens! It’s Good Friday remember! btw), and get the lowdown on their design for the Hallway/Laundry/Powder-room. Then Scotty drops it again that some contestants haven’t been paying enough for their lights (as a warning).
But just like at any other community bake off the rumour mill is swirling already, Courtney dropping a morsel Hans’ way about B&C allegedly getting one of their trades to do some painting for them which is against the Block Bible Rules. Courtney found this out from her brand new bestie Sara.
Time for the walk through with Husband Hayden giving it his best, and got up to something about backlit banana paper and everyone kinda moved on. Scotty drops his bombshell, which gives Sara the perfect segue to rekindle the times she was in primary school and dobbed on someone to the teacher. This was their reaction
Scotty, with the marvels of everything being recorded in the competition that is The Block, is able to demonstrate to us how Sara got the tidbit about B&C allegedly getting someone else to paint. It was from a third party. So Sara’s fourth hand knowledge is getting explained by Jess, and we see the exchange outside some shop. Jess, in a couch interview, takes us through how she thinks Sara is attuned to anything to do with Bianca and Carla, and we all know that she means that Sara most likely wants to take them out. Jess “I think I’ve accidentally started a Sara-fire”. Still not clear where Jess got her intel from.
But Foredan has appeared like a genie from a bottle to explain his part in it all, he says he went into B&C’s apartment for a routine check and noticed some other tradie called Dan up on a ladder and doing something to a pelmet to make it wet. Dan adding that another trade needed to get the drapes up or something so the sparkie thought he’d help a mate out. But nah, no, not on. Sara hopes “they get everything they deserve”.
She couldn’t be happier. But Alice from Domain, not so much when she jumps in with Scotty and Shelley to see what Norm and Jess have in mind for their H/L/P. Jess is already a bit freaked out by Alice – she told them to clean up their bedroom a few weeks back – and is worried they’ll be judged on the state of their kitchen mid-challenge cook. No. That’s not this issue, Alice had a very similar look on her face to me when I saw what I know now is Norm and Jess’ “powder-room”
Then it’s pretty much a let’s talk about B & C behind their backs. Must be a consequence of lack of human interaction with the outside world.
Scotty enters B&C world, they start talking about the lights and then he has to tell them no, and explains Sara’s grievance. Then it gets quickly to that awkward moment when you’re confronted with a question about why you did or didn’t do something and no matter how you state your case, to some it’s just going to sound like an excuse. Even if you’re really just stating a fact.
They accepted Scotty’s proposed punishment – a $1000 fine to the Fr Bob Maguire foundation, the recipient of the proceeds from the cooking challenge. Fr Bob is a fixture around the inner south and has been a media performer too since before I was born, but aside from that he’s always worked in Outreach, starting (if my memory serves) the Open Family Foundation which was one of the first charities I got involved with back in high school for youth homelessness.
Hans’ emphatic pitch has netted he and Courtney a much needed $5000 from Domain, despite all of that, in the kitchen, they have their first on-camera barney! Like any good dinner party they better pretend to get over it for the guests they’re about to face over at Circa at The Prince.
There’s live entertainment from “Crooner” Luke Elliott (not on my radar, sorry) and Block house owner and colleague of mine Dave Hughes. After the food goes out Shelley tells everyone that $10,000 was raised for the Fr Bob Foundation. But who won the cooking challenge? Wow, non cooks Norm and Jess.
Another time check we learn that it’s Saturday night. Norm is up a ladder in the hallway talking to his new love Alexa again marveling that she can change the colour of the lights on a whim, but downstairs I don’t really know how to explain this:
Oh no that was a bit of a flashback to last night, it’s Sunday now and Jess FM is back on. In the hard hitting radio program she gets Sara on to clear up the sparkie painting for B&C rumours with Carla as a talkback caller. Apparently that’s all cleared up now. Ok. Good.
But rather than confected drama, an actual drama occurs and someone’s sprung a leak! More after the break though and then a quick progress check on everyone’s H/L/P. Courtney’s asking for a light to be an ‘eeee-errrr’ bit lower, Sara claims she’s on the tools more than HusbandHayden, Bianca’s trying to prepare stuff for her trades to get them organised.
Then Foredan sees water coming down through Hayden and Sara’s powder room, water’s shut off but it’s futile and Dan sprints upstream to find that someone somehow has put a nail through the water pipe in B&C’s powder room. Everyone looks a bit stunned and Carla says she’s a bit scared about the outcome when told she has to go down to Hayden (and Sara) to smooth things over. Just pretend they’re a Silver Fern and smash ‘em!
It’s half an hour til tools down, Hayden’s going to have to do some Keith style ripping of the ceiling to alleviate the water pool and the Sunday night ep looks like a cracker from the preview and the first real potential for a couple of contestants not finishing properly and another tantalising snapshot of Sara snapping it multiple times.
Until then
x
This post originally appeared at: https://www.stkildablockwatch.com
