With the first Block open house behind her, we have a quality chat with Lara to find out how it all went.
So tell us, Lara... just how mad was the open for inspection last weekend? It was absolutely crazy! I don't have the actual numbers, so I have no idea how many people turned up, but it felt like there were about 50,000 people that went through our house.
That's a lot of muddy footprints! Did the house get dirty? They actually put contact stuff all over the carpet and we had rugs and things on the floorboards, so that was fine.
So it was a good experience? It was great. Everyone was really supportive and really good. Everyone who went through, they loved every single house — absolutely no negative feedback, which is what you want to hear.
How many people did you end up taking photos with — all 50,000?! I tell you what, my cheeks felt like I took photos with them all!
We hear one little girl had to wait for six hours to meet you! Yep! And on the Sunday she came, it rained! We thought, "Oh, maybe people will leave," but nup! They stayed in the rain and waited in line. The first people who got there on a Sunday, they got there at 2am in the morning to wait outside in the freezing cold!
You must have felt like rock stars! I don't know about rock star, but it did feel weird. Actually, I felt really bad; because those people who came at 2 o'clock in the morning, we were in The Block, staying in our houses, sound asleep. We found out later and we were like, "Oh no! They could have come in!" I felt so bad that they were out in the cold when we were tucked up in our nice warm houses!
Let's talk about this week. It's been tough going for you guys, money-wise... We didn't have any cash until we won that BBQ challenge. We ended up buying the BBQ and pizza oven with the winnings.
How different would your garden have looked if you hadn't won? Pretty bare! It would probably have all been decking and some plants, I reckon.
It must also feel strange this week, having those fences up. Psychologically, was it a strange feeling? It was. Because if you got sick of your house or whatever, you could just go outside and go to any house that you wanted to. And when they were put up, it was like, "Oh, I really have to stay in my own house now!"
We keep seeing Brad's little head popping over the fence though... That's right! I think at one stage when the fences went up, the boys started to cook a BBQ and we couldn't see it — but we could smell it!
Tell us about Sports Day — was it as bad as it looked? In the paddle boat challenge, tempers were quite flared, I think. Dani and Dan had a fight, and Brad and I had a fight. It was massive, actually. Well, we thought it was. I wanted to go one way and he wanted to go the other way, and it was just so hard! It was hilarious.
It also looked exhausting! It was! As soon as we left the shore, within five minutes, everyone's legs were burning! We all went to bed when we got home.
You must have been generally knackered by that stage of the competition anyway. Did it put extra pressure on everyone? Oh yeah. It was Week Ten, so everyone was absolutely stuffed. Exhaustion had definitely set in by then. We were all pretty tired .. and then we had to do a sports challenge!
Are you nervous with only one week to go until the auction? We're not nervous yet, but wait until two days before the auction and ask me again! At the moment, I'm not too bad. But I am sure I will be beside myself soon.
