The Block 2020 will deliver five renovated period homes in illustrious Bayside suburb, Brighton.
Blockheads will take a step back in time with the return of The Block this Sunday.
Five dilapidated houses dating back to the 1910s-1950s have been transported to blue-chip Brighton for the 16th season of the hit renovation show.
The period homes in a “dire state” will each be transformed into four-bedroom, three-bathroom pads with a pool – a first for the show.
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Victorian contestants Harry and Tash are the first father-daughter duo to compete.
A father-daughter duo will also be competing for the first time, representing Victoria.
IT manager Harry, 57, and social media and production manager Tash, 32, hope to use their home-ground advantage to take out the season, despite having little renovation experience.
“We moved to the bayside area 11 years ago and I moved out of home (to Richmond) a year or two ago, so we are definitely quite familiar with the area,” Tash said.
“The hometown advantage doing The Block … for us is about knowing how to get to places quite quickly. And local knowledge on the area: we have lived in the area, know the people and what they are looking for.”
Viewers can expect to see plenty of laughter, crying and disagreements from the team, and will watch Tash learn “Dad is always right”.
“It’s a different dynamic and hopefully a relatable one,” Tash said.
“As a challenge the two of us have faced together, it’s the biggest … and the most rewarding one.”
“We have gone in very close and finished The Block very close,” Harry added.
“The advantage of having a father-daughter combo is you can’t divorce your daughter – she is there for life.
“It was a great experience and I couldn’t have done it with anyone else.”
The pair are up against Sarah and George, a married couple from Sydney; South Australian farmers Daniel and Jade; chippy and teacher duo Luke and Jasmin from Perth; and Queensland’s Jimmy and Tam.
The Block contestants were sent home for a 40-day stint this season due to COVID-19.
Executive producer Julian Cress said the biggest challenge of the 2020 series was working through a global health pandemic, which shutdown production for 40 days.
Filming came to a halt to allow contestants to go home, with fears coronavirus-driven state border closures would leave them stranded in Melbourne.
Local tradespeople were able to continue working during the shutdown.
“It was an incredibly tough decision, but I firmly believe it was the right thing to do,” Mr Cress said.
“At the time it was kind of heartbreaking, but we were able to get our contestants back to their kids and loved ones, which was the most important thing.”
Harry said the weight of the pandemic didn’t hit until they were kicked off the site.
“We were in this bubble and so focused on delivering a room,” he said. “You haven’t got time to read the news … the outside world tends to stop while we are in production.”
The Victorian duo said apart from the obvious challenges that came with the pandemic, shifting to buying most products online and limited stock availability added to the pressure.
The series contenders out the front of the rundown period homes.
This season’s completed dream homes, on New Street, are expected to sell for more than $3.5m at auction later this year, despite the coronavirus-hit market.
Architect Julian Brenchley designed the renovations and said they will maintain the heritage homes at the front and feature new two-storey extensions at the rear.
“This time around we looked at preserving some of the period aspects of each house,” he said.
“It’s been really interesting to explore five different renovations of five houses, because in the past they were all roughly the same design.”
Another season has already been confirmed for next year, with Mr Cress hinting it could follow a similar formula of producing family homes
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