Courtney and Sev entered The Block with a fairly straightforward goal: they wanted to win.
It’s been evident throughout the season, with the Brisbane best friends doing everything that’s required of them (and a bit more) in order to take home the top prize.
However, after winning two challenges back-to-back — the House Decider Challenge and the bathroom challenge, where they were awarded a staggering $250,000 kitchen upgrade — those victories firmly put a target on their backs.
While they should have been seen as the team that will be hard to beat, they’ve instead become the pair that viewers love to pick apart.
Now, I understand some of the criticism. Their bathroom cost $53,000, despite an initial estimate of approximately $20,000, and it wasn’t fully complete when they won.
That’s something viewers have every right to question.
What is harder to understand is why criticism of their decisions has so quickly become a conversation about who they are as people.
Courtney has been labelled bossy and annoying, and both of them have been ripped apart for chasing trades, accepting help, spending too much money and not appearing grateful when their strategy goes according to plan.
So… they’re being criticised for behaving like contestants in a competition.
Why are fans turning on Courtney and Sev?
Courtney and Sev have never pretended to be approaching The Block casually. In fact, they’ve made it quite obvious that they’ve come to win.
“We knew what was at play and we were always going to be aggressive,” Courtney previously told WHO.
“It was very competitive, and so I don’t think we were conscious of what was going on around us.
“We were just hell for leather. We were just thinking about ourselves and throwing everything that we could.”
That admission would most likely leave a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths, especially because Courtney has been outspoken when deals with other teams have fallen through, branding Rosco a “dog” after he failed to provide the chippy she believed she had been promised — something Rosco’s partner Lisa openly told WHO she didn’t like watching back.
Questioning that reaction is fair. But the overall response to Courtney and Sev feels increasingly disproportionate to what they’ve actually done.
One viewer questioned whether the pair had shared their $10,000 winnings with Lisa and Rosco after Rosco helped them complete their bathroom.
“Did we see if the girls ended up giving Lisa and Rosco the $10,000 for helping them get the win?” they asked.
A fairly absurd notion, especially because that was never agreed upon. Instead, Rosco offered to help Courtney and Sev on the condition that, if they won, the girls would pay to have Lisa and Rosco’s bathroom tiled at a later stage in the competition.
It’s fairly obvious from the comments being made online that Courtney and Sev are being held to a strangely different standard from their fellow contestants. If they succeed, it cannot simply be because they’re good planners and negotiators who know exactly what will impress the judges.
There obviously must be some debt they have failed to repay, or somebody else who deserves the credit.
Why ambitious women are so often labelled unlikeable
There’s one comment in particular that perfectly encapsulates the issue surrounding Courtney and Sev.
“These girls are well organised and can plan like a boss,” wrote the viewer. “They know what they want and don’t like taking no for an answer. They are assertive, annoying and, at this stage, have no regard for budget.”
Let’s go back and look at the words used before “annoying”.
They’re organised, plan well, assertive and know what they want. All qualities that are seen as positives in men, however, when women display those traits without softening their delivery, it’s often treated as character defects.
It’s a tale as old as time: women are allowed to be ambitious, so long as they make everyone around them comfortable. If they want to win they have to display humbleness. They can negotiate, but not push too hard. They should be confident, but not so much that they appear better than everyone else in the room.
Courtney and Sev have broken every rule in the “How Women Should Act” book. The two want the best of the best, whether that’s the house, the prize and ultimately, the auction.
And instead of tearing them apart, women should look to them as an example, because how often have we experienced the same character assassination in our own lives? Whether that’s in the workforce or outside of it.
Do I agree with every decision the pair make? No. Their budget is concerning and Courtney can be blunt in moments where she shouldn’t have been. But being unlikeable is not the same as wrongdoing.
If the tables were turned and they had been two male friends instead, I’m sure viewers would have branded them as strategic, ruthless and competitive. Courtney and Sev, however, are considered demanding and difficult.
It’s not a new double standard by any means, but you would hope in 2026 we’d be approaching these conversations a little differently.
Some fans believe Courtney and Sev are playing a smart game
As the backlash continues, there are some viewers who recognise just how strong the pair’s strategy really is.
“They’ve gambled that for first choice of the houses and for the $250K appliance pack,” one fan wrote. “It seems like a solid strategy to me.”
Another pointed out that their early spending has secured advantages that could save them money later in the competition.
“They have the house they wanted and $10K. They have the kitchen they wanted and $10K, which puts them way ahead of everyone else at about the same cash spent. Smart move.”
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Yes, it’s still entirely possible that their gamble doesn’t pay off, and The Block does have a long history of contestants spending extravagantly at the start of the competition only to find their funds totally depleted when they need it most.
But so far, Courtney and Sev’s calculated choices are working.
They also know that their success won’t land well with the other contestants.
After their controversial bathroom victory, they told WHO that jealousy came part and parcel with the competition.
“It’s just part of the competition and you’ve just got to have thick skin,” they said.
“I think they’re jealous, and I would be jealous too because we won a huge prize. It’s all just down to jealousy, and I don’t blame them.”
Pay attention to that final part — Courtney and Sev are not pretending that they would be gracious in defeat. In fact, they admitted that they would probably be a little jealous too if they were in the other contestants’ position.
And maybe that’s it. It’s their honesty that viewers can’t seem to digest, especially because women are supposed to swallow their ambition, not display it for the world to see.
Whether Courtney and Sev’s strategy pays off is yet to be seen. They may prove to be extremely smart players, or they might discover that winning the opening weeks came at too high of a cost.
But wanting to win is not a flaw.
It’s the entire point of the show.
The Block airs Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm and Sundays at 7pm on Channel Nine and 9Now.
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