As the dust settles on Sunday's big bust up, we catch up with Brad and Lara for what's been happening, onscreen and off.
You guys finished filming a few months ago now. How's life off The Block? Lara: It's been great! We have been going round to all the Mitre 10 shops in WA and SA... it's been really fun.
That must mean you're being recognised pretty much everywhere you go? Lara: It hasn't been too bad, although we just went to our local shops then, and it was pretty crazy...
So buying milk's a bit of a mission now? Brad: Yeah! People are stopping us everywhere we go now.
All good though, right? Lara: Yeah, it's all been really positive, which has been good.
Well, you have been winning the 'People's Choice' awards each week after all — people must like what you've been doing! Lara: I know! Every week! It makes us feel like we're on the right track, because normal, everyday people like our stuff.
And they're the people who will buy your house... Lara: That's right!
It's started to seem a bit like the judges were picking on you a bit. Do you feel like you've had a bit of a rough time of it? Lara: Yeah. When we revealed our guest bedroom, they said it was flawless. But then we come third! So I don't know...
How have you found it watching the show? Are you used to seeing yourselves on TV yet? Lara: Brad said to somebody today, when you know the show is coming on air, you can prepare yourself for it. It's when you see an ad about it, it's spontaneous, and you're like, 'Oh! There we are! On the TV!'
You must have been wrapped with the feedback you got for your bathroom... Brad: We were really happy with our bathroom — and the feedback we got was really positive. It was a really high score, so we were very, very happy with the way it turned out. Lara: It was very much needed as well!
For a while there it looked like you may not finish... Brad: We had the cement not come off properly, so we had to do that again which held us up. We had a bit of a run-in with Keith and stuff like that, so, yeah, it was a pretty tough week. But look, it worked out. We were always pretty confident we'd get the room done.
What was your favourite part of that room? Was it the bath? Because we want one! Lara: Yeah, it was! That whole section where it steps up and goes back to the shower and that massive bath — I liked that whole wet area.
Have you managed to make use of the bath yet? Lara: Yeah, I eventually had one and it was awesome. Brad: I haven't been able to get in there yet, but I'm going to try my best to have one soon cause it looks so good!
It's been what you might call a controversial week on The Block. It seemed pretty tense the morning of Room Reveal... Lara: Oh, everyone was filthy! Especially when Dani turned to us and said, 'You would do it too, if you were in that circumstance.' It's like, 'No! I wouldn't do it, actually.' Brad: The thing I found hard was that they got eight or nine hours of unfair advantage over everyone else...
When you put it like that, it doesn't seem fair… Brad: I thought they probably shouldn't have been allowed to have their room judged that week because if they hadn't done that eight or nine hours work, it would have been an unfinished room. They came second, which was really, really wrong, because it meant that someone came third to a room that shouldn't have been finished. That was a hard thing to take.
So you think they should have been disqualified for that week? Lara: Definitely! Brad: At that stage they had won a lot of money. I think there is even a point where they say, 'Oh well, if we get a fine, we have won enough money to pay it.' That really annoyed us. They played the game like that — they didn't care what they did or who they got offside, they just wanted to win. They didn't care what happened.
Did it start to change your opinion of them a little? Lara: Yeah, of course. But it is a game. We are all there to compete and there's a massive prize at the end. But I think Brad and I, we have gone into The Block, like, obviously we will be disappointed if we don't come out with any money, but if we don't win, 'Oh well!' They have gone into it really wanting to win.
I think they feel bad about their choice now... Brad: That's an easy thing to say when you're at the end! Everyone else was under the same amount of pressure, and everyone else had the same time constraints — and no one else did it. Lara: I think everyone can feel sorry for things they have done months after they've done them, but you've got to not do it in the first place...
Sunday aside, it sounds like your Block experience has been a pretty good one? Brad: It's just been unbelievable for us. We have had the best time and met all these wonderful people. It's been an absolute ball. Don't get me wrong — it's been hard. In fact it's been one of the hardest things we've ever had to do, but in saying that, it is probably one of the more enjoyable things we've ever done too.
