CHANNEL 9 is taking a massive gamble on The Block Triple Threat, with the decision to string the show’s elimination rounds out over a whopping three weeks.
All Stars Darren and Deanne, Bec and George, and Matt and Kim won’t be seen on the show until the second week of February.
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Long wait ... The Block All Stars — Bec and George, Matt and Kim, Deanne and Darren — won’t start their elimination round until the second week of February. Source: Supplied
The move comes as Nine’s reality show gets set to take on My Kitchen Rules and I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! in a 7.30pm ratings war.
The Block Triple Threat will start with nine teams of contestants — six teams of newbies and the three returning All Stars teams.
It will take three weeks for those teams to be whittled down to the four that will renovate the Triple Threat apartment block in Melbourne’s ritzy Darling Street in South Yarra.
“Eliminations usually boost ratings on most shows, but it is rare that this can be stretched out,” media analyst Steve Allen says.
First episode ... the teams have 24 hours to produce their first bedroom on a $10,000 budget. Source: Channel 9
Tonight’s first episode starts at a different apartment block around the corner — 85 Caroline Street, South Yarra.
It is there that the six teams of newbies — Ebony and Luke (WA), Jess and Ayden (Qld), Josh and Charlotte (NSW), Tim and Anastasia (SA), Brooke and Aimee (Vic), and Jess and Mark (NSW) — will battle it out for three of the four places on the show.
One team is eliminated at the end of tonight’s show.
Viewers see each of the teams’ audition tapes before contestants meet each other at host Scott Cam’s workshop headquarters.
Scott tells the six teams that they have 24 hours to produce their first bedroom on a $10,000 budget — and the losing team will be eliminated.
It doesn’t take long for teams to buckle under the pressure.
Old favourites ... Darren and Deanne Jolly won’t be seen until well into the series.. Source: Supplied
“This is not what I expected at all,” Jess (NSW) says. “I thought we’d be putting up walls in a warehouse somewhere.”
“It is nerve-racking that we’ve only got 24 hours to do this,” Anastasia says.
The remaining five teams will have 48 hours to produce a living/dining room before another elimination takes place. The four teams left will then have 72 hours to produce a bathroom.
“This new batch of contestants will have to work harder than anyone we have ever seen just to make it through,” Cam says.
“If they are lucky to make it through all that hard work (in the elimination round) they will have to life to the next level to produce apartments for auction.”
The Block Triple Threat elimination strategy is the opposite of last year’s The Block: Fans v Faves and The Block: Glasshouse.
Neither of those shows had eliminations. Teams moved straight on to the building sites, in Albert Park and Prahran, and began renovations.
Nine sources say the new strategy is designed to overcome some early interruptions to The Block Triple Threat by One Day Cricket telecasts.
Another benefit is that The Block: Triple Threat will likely screen longer against My Kitchen Rules and I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!
Last year, The Block: Fans v Faves finished three weeks before the end of My Kitchen Rules, giving Channel Seven a free hit at three weeks of crucial ratings.
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