The Block 2023 Star Speaks Out About ‘Sad Reality’ Of Appearing On The Show: ‘Crippling Debt’
The Block finale had fans absolutely losing it after two teams walked away with nothing when their homes were passed in at auction. Yep — zero profit, zilch, nada.
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Now, a contestant from a past season has spoken out about the show after she, too, left with nothing.
Former contestant Leah Milton — who competed on The Block with her hubby Ash back in 2023 — weighed in on the drama, telling Yahoo Lifestyle she knows exactly how gutting it feels to have a house fail to sell.
She accused the show of “completely losing touch” with what real estate success actually looks like (clearly she’s been talking to Adrian Portelli), and said the high-pressure auctions are now leaving some contestants “in crippling debt or financial stress”.
“It becomes a sad reality for many that you leave empty handed or in a severe loss (of more than just money),” Leah said.
“Don’t forget you have to still fund your entire life while on the show,” the Queensland mum added, pointing to mortgages, school fees and insurances.
But don’t contestants receive a daily allowance, I hear you ask? Yep, they receive $100-a-day, but Leah points out this isn’t enough to survive.
“The $100-a-day per person that the network pays you while filming barely covers your expenses while in Melbourne,” she said.
“So before you even begin swinging a hammer you need some decent savings.”
Leah claims contestants were “blindly led” to believe the show was “just a three-month commitment”.
In reality, she explained, they filmed for 12 weeks before heading home to Brisbane for a six-week break.
But that short pause made it “really hard to get back into ‘work mode’,” she added.
“While it airs on TV you are back and forth to Melbourne for media events, open homes to suck up to potential buyers who magically disappear when auction day comes, the countless radio interviews, magazine interviews, it all takes time out of your normal working life,” she added.
“Everyone is usually crippling in debt or financial stress by the end of it.”
As if that wasn’t bad enough, it was recently revealed how long the contestants who didn’t fare well will need to wait for their payday and it’s looking grim.
According to the Herald Sun, contestants need to wait around 140-days to find out if they’ll make any money from the auctions — it could be as late as mid March.
Cop more spicy intel about their unfortunate payment delay and the drama that’s ensued in The Block group chat over a “tone deaf message” that was sent after the finale.
And to see what the contestants are up to post-finale, have a read of our round-up.
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