The Block 2026 has experienced some serious gripes from fans this year. From the drama created by the new share house living arrangements to complaints about “fairness” when contestants exceeded their budgets, viewers have not been holding back.
However, a stand-out complaint has been around a major aspect of the show’s format – the brief.
This season, Darren Palmer instructed the contestants to follow a “quiet luxury” brief inspired by the minimalist home of Kim Kardashian.
Think light, bright, and white. It’s safe to say fans have not been loving this one…
The complaints about the “beige” brief have been a constant this season. However, after the Master Bedroom reveals – where Lisa and Rosco took the win, and Courtney and Sev fell from grace with an unfinished room – fans are convinced that none of the teams have been pulling off the brief.
“The rooms are boring and not luxurious at all,” one fan wrote on social media. “If you look the brief up on Pinterest, it can look really beautiful and amazing, but not one of them has pulled it off.”
“I love The Block every year, but this time it’s the most bland, beige boring season ever,” another agreed.
While some fans have been more forgiving, claiming that they’re building the “house for a market” and that “your personality should have nothing to do with it”, fans are still convinced that the brief has set contestants up to fail, predicting disappointing auction results.
Speaking to WHO, Buxton Real Estate’s Mark Nunn – one of the agents behind last year’s winning result and the representative for Lisa and Rosco this season – debunked this theory, explaining why success can still be expected this year.
‘It’s sucked the creativity right out of The Block’
Loyal The Block fans have threatened to turn off the show after claims that this season’s “all-white, Axel Vervoordt-style minimalism feels like it’s sucked the creativity right out of The Block”.
“I get why,” one fan wrote online. “They’re probably worried these houses won’t sell otherwise, and that would be a real disaster.
“Still, I’d love to see them go back to smaller block houses, where contestants have more room to actually build and show their own creativity, on homes that people actually want and can afford.”
“Darren insisting that every house needs to be minimalist Kim Kardashian beige in week one was the nail in the coffin of an increasingly dull season,” another agreed. “Who even wants to live in an entire house of white and beige? No heart or joy or literally anything interesting to look at.”
“Maybe this sells better (I seriously doubt it),” a third fan suggested. “But they’ve clearly lost sight of the fact this is meant to be a) renovation content and b) interesting. Sheeting up a ghastly steel box and painting it white is neither.”
Houses built The Block are more of a selling point than audiences realise
However, despite claims that the brief will deter buyers completely, Nunn tells WHO that a house being built on The Block is more of a selling point than viewers realise.
“I was out doing the research, and I visited our contestants from last year,” he said. “Britt and Taz’ house [the winners of The Block 2025] – which is being used as an Airbnb – it’s held up, it looks like it’s brand new still, so it’s been maintained really well.
“I think once you’ve got a house that’s been on The Block, you can always use that as your marketing tool going forward.”
It’s this selling point that allows The Block houses to stay relevant and desirable even five years down the line.
“So even if you are selling it in five years’ time, you can always reference back to say, ‘Well, this was the house on The Block,” he explained, which has an advantage over “the house on the same street doesn’t have that tagline attached to it”.
“That’s going to be a value add for any Block house in the future sale,” he added.
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