Even on the final delivery, the judges were hard taskmasters. But they were impressed by the work completed. John McGrath was stunned by the sheer volume of paint: "It would take me a year and I still wouldn't complete this much."
With no more prize money needed for renovation, the winners deserved something out of the box. It was still worth $5000 but, instead of building materials or labour, it was funds from Toyota to go towards a well-deserved holiday.
The couples assembled with Scotty for their scores for the last time, not at the workshop. They finally came face-to-face with the judges who delivered their scores, on Josh and Jenna's back deck.
For contestants like Polly it was a real thrill: "It was great to see the judges for real. It proved, to me, that their comments were real, and they'd really seen the houses."
Jenna and Josh — 18/20 Polly and Waz — 17/20 Katrina and Amie — 17/20 Rod and Tania — 18.5/20
The final win went to Rod and Tania's "entertainment central" back deck.
After the previous evening's celebrations the time came to pack up and move out. All the contestants had mixed feelings. Amie summed it up best: "I know it's over and I'm sooo missing my babies at home. But Katrina and I are also sad to be saying goodbye to this house. It's been our baby too."
Josh was ready for more renovation: "Jenna and I have loved this experience. We could start again on a new place and do the whole thing over again. It's a funny feeling."
The renovations were completed, for better or worse, but the final and most important hurdle was still ahead — the auction!
