“We’re bloody sick of it”: Block couple Tess and Luke slam the show for being “all a lie”
The Block contestants Tess and Luke have spoken up against the hit renovation show, saying they wish they had never appeared on the program.
In a new interview with news.com.au, the Cairns couple said they could no longer tune in to the Channel 9 program because of the “upsetting” way the show portrayed them.
“We’re getting sick of how they’re editing us as being these big lazy pr**ks who don’t get off their a**e and do a single thing,” Luke said.
“For some reason they’re just not showing us doing any of the work. We’re just getting painted as these lazy people and we’re bloody sick of it.
“We’re really disappointed. Even the other contestants have contacted us to say, ‘That didn’t happen, that was taken out of context’.”
Tess said the show’s representation of their work was “all a lie” and “completely false”.
“They said to us so many times, ‘There isn’t enough funding to finish this build’. There were so many things that happened throughout the show that made us go, ‘You don’t want us to finish’,” she said.
“When you’re on the show, that’s hard enough. But when you sit back and watch it and it’s completely false, it’s really hard not to let that affect your mental health. We’re struggling more now than we were on the show. It’s really, really upsetting.”
Tess said despite the show’s depiction, she and Luke were in fact one of the hardest-working couples in the season, with their bedtime being regularly delayed to 2am.
In the episode aired last night, Tess could be seen storming off-site as host Scott Cam approached her to discuss the pair’s budget.
According to Cam, they had spent $25,000 more on trades than any other team.
Tess said the production team continued filming her when she walked away from the set.
“I looked at a producer and said, ‘I’m not coping today. My mental health isn’t right. I can’t go in there and be slammed by Scotty over something that isn’t true’. So Luke took the beating and I hid because I wasn’t OK. Luke took it like a champ. And it was all a lie — we didn’t spend $25,000 more than the other contestants. We’ve been working our absolute a**es off,” she said.
“So I walked off, because I couldn’t handle it. I did say, ‘You guys need to stop filming me because I’m not coping right now for mental health reasons’ — and they didn’t stop filming.”
Luke said they wish they had never gone on the Channel 9 show.
“We thought this was going to be an amazing, positive experience in our life, but we wish we never went on this bloody thing,” he said. “We got bullied the whole way through [filming] the show, and now we feel like they’re bullying us on the show as well.”
A Nine spokesperson told news.com.au that Tess and Luke will continue to have the program’s support.
“Tess and Luke have done an outstanding job creating a magnificent four-bedroom home. After a shaky start and budget struggles, they’ve won two room reveals so far and their renovating style has impressed the judges and viewers alike,” the spokesperson said.
“We recognise the mammoth challenges facing all contestants. We supported all of them throughout the build and we had a psychologist and support team available at all times. We’ll continue to support them as the program is broadcast and beyond.”
Tess and Luke’s accusation came a day after former House Rules contestant Nicole Prince won a workers’ compensation case against the Channel 7 show for psychological trauma.
Prince said she and her teammate Fiona Taylor were subjected to isolation, bullying and harassment by the producers and the other teams throughout the program’s fifth season in 2017, and that she had been unable to find a job afterwards due to her on-screen portrayal as a bully.