Courtney and Sev have entered The Block with guns blazing, but not every gamble has paid off.
After spending big during the opening weeks of the competition, the Brisbane best friends found themselves strapped for cash and searching for ways to cut costs.
That led them to take on the sheeting around their fireplace themselves, a DIY project they hoped would save both time and money.
Sadly, things didn’t exactly go according to plan.
After discovering a warp in the wall, Courtney and Sev were forced to rip off all the sheeting and start again on Saturday, leaving them with very little time to complete the rest of the room.
Now, the pair told WHO the decision was one of their biggest regrets from the entire competition.
“That’s probably one of my top five regrets out of the whole show,” one of them admitted.
“Unfortunately, we were just so budget-strapped that week and probably a little silly to take on that DIY project.”
What went wrong with Courtney and Sev’s fireplace?
Courtney and Sev had hoped that by doing the work themselves, they could stretch their limited budget further.
Instead, things came to an abrupt halt when the warped wall forced them to undo their work at the worst possible point in the week.
“We had to rip off all the sheeting because there was a warp in the wall, and that was on Saturday,” they explained.
“We didn’t know how we were going to finish when we needed Saturday to be painting and wallpapering and all that fun stuff.”
The setback didn’t just mean redoing the fireplace. It also ate into the limited time the pair had left to complete every other element of the room before tools down.
“That was when we realised, ‘Oh God, we don’t know how we’re going to finish this week,’” they said.
“There was so much painting to do, there were so many wall finishes to be installed. It was just endless, the amount of work that still needed to be done.”
Courtney and Sev admit their early spending caught up with them
Courtney and Sev have built quite a reputation for themselves. The two women have approached the competition with a determination to win, and during the opening weeks, their strategy certainly paid off.
The pair won the House Decider Challenge before taking out family bathroom week with a room that cost more than $53,000.
While the win secured them a kitchen upgrade worth $250,000, their early spending left them under serious financial pressure as the competition continued.
Looking back, they admit they should have been more careful with their budget during week two.
“I don’t know what I was thinking. Absolutely silly,” they said.
“I wish we could have spread our week two cash a little bit more and we weren’t so frivolous in week two.”
At the time, their mindset was simply to take their chances and hope it worked out.
“I guess my thing was like, ‘Let’s have a crack and see where it lands,’” they explained.
“And it did not land. So, yeah, one of the regrets.”
While Courtney and Sev’s risk-taking has made them two of the strongest competitors this season, it also created a lot more work than either of them anticipated.
The Block airs Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm and Sundays at 7pm on Channel Nine and 9Now.
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