There was plenty happening before the dishes became the main event. Rick returned after a week away, Kitchen Week delivered a brutal $20,000 brief, plasterboard went missing and Courtney and Sev arrived with an appliance advantage worth more than some actual houses.
Open For Inspections Gets Awkward For House 5
Monday began with the traditional Domain Open for Inspections, giving the teams their first proper look at each other's completed Guest Suites. Rick was back beside Tayla after spending the previous week recovering from a knee infection, but there was no gentle welcome waiting inside House 5.
The outdoor chair, the pot plant tucked under a desk and Tayla's air fryer cookbook all attracted attention. The barn door separating the bedroom from the bathroom was the bigger problem, leaving Rosco to begin, “We've had some bad weeks,” before apparently deciding the rest of that sentence was safer left unfinished.
Adam and Jolene's polished room fared much better, while Courtney and Sev's clever reworking of their space confirmed why they had collected the first two 10s of the season. Their rivals had barely finished looking around before it was time to start another enormous room.
Kitchen Week Comes With A $20,000 Catch
Each team now has to complete a kitchen, butler's pantry, lift and powder room on a $20,000 budget. That is a lot of house for not much cash, particularly when several teams are already watching every dollar disappear into trades and unfinished work.
Foreman Dan also made a quick visit to site following the birth of his and wife Dani's son, Fletcher. He met temporary foreperson Leonie and received a Block-themed baby gift from Scott Cam, before preparing to return to the job officially next week.
Courtney And Sev Bring A $250,000 Advantage
Fresh from their Guest Suite win, Courtney and Sev got the keys to the appliance upgrades they won earlier in the season. The package is worth $250,000, with their fridge alone coming in at a dizzying $60,000.
House 4 is planning a curved kitchen, custom pendant and narrower butler's pantry, but even that extraordinary appliance package did not stop the couple from checking the competition. Adam and Jolene immediately caught their attention after turning House 1's island towards the view.
The move was clever enough to send Sev into conspiracy mode, joking that Jolene must have secret experience as a hotel designer. She does not, but being treated as the biggest threat by the team carrying a quarter-million-dollar advantage is a fairly impressive compliment.
Every House Has A Very Different Kitchen Plan
Adam and Jolene are pairing their view-facing island with oak cabinetry, brushed-gold tapware and adjustable pendant lighting. Their powder room will continue the rammed-earth look used elsewhere in House 1, this time with a burgundy basin and underfloor heating.
Lisa and Rosco are planning for entertaining in House 3, with dark-walnut cabinetry, a coffee and bar nook and an island measuring almost five metres. Their green-marble powder room sounds ambitious, but first they need to find some money.
The pair missed the budget prize by just $2.90, so Rosco went chasing the tiling bill Courtney had agreed to cover in exchange for earlier tradie help. He attempted to add a $500 late fee, then accepted $20. The finance department may want to review that negotiation.
Chantel and Wyatt are sticking with the bright, traditional direction that has defined House 2, using marble-effect stone and gold finishes. Rick and Tayla are staying closer to the architects' original layout, with a light-up quartz splashback, multiple wine fridges and a green-marble-inspired powder room.
The Plaster Problem Gets Bigger
None of those plans mattered unless the walls were ready. Kinsman was due to begin cabinetry installation later in the week, and once that started, other trades would be locked out of the kitchen and pantry areas. The teams needed their plastering finished by Monday's site shutdown.
Only House 2 received its plasterboard on time. The other houses were left scrambling, with the Nine in Six team eventually collecting sheets for House 4 to keep Courtney and Sev close to schedule.
Rick and Tayla had a more expensive plaster problem. After comparing notes with Courtney, Tayla began questioning what House 5 had been charged over the previous three weeks.
When House 4's plasterers finished next door, they offered to help for $85 an hour, about half the rate Rick and Tayla believed they had been paying. Their existing plasterer offered to match the new price, but the couple decided the damage had already been done and ended the arrangement.
The rescue crew managed to complete roughly half of House 5's kitchen by shutdown, dragging Rick and Tayla back from what had threatened to be another disastrous start. House 1 was ready for flooring, House 4 was close to cabinetry-ready and the remaining teams were still pushing through very different versions of Monday-night panic.
Courtney's Winners' Dinner Comes With A Catch
Courtney and Sev escaped the construction chaos for a winners' dinner with Scott at the Portsea Hotel. Their two perfect scores also made them the first 2026 recipients of the Arnott's Big Bikkies prize, adding another $20,000 to an already very profitable week.
Then the seafood platter arrived. Courtney hates seafood, which is an unfortunate discovery to make when your celebratory table appears to contain most of the ocean. She still gave it a try, proving a Block win sometimes demands sacrifices nobody included in the budget.
Then Came Family Dinner
Back at the share house, Lisa and Rosco cooked slow-cooked bolognese for a family dinner marking the halfway point of the season. The meal also gave everyone a chance to welcome Rick back and celebrate Courtney and Sev's win, so naturally it ended with people furious over dirty dishes.
Once dinner was finished, Chantel and Wyatt rinsed their own plates and announced they were heading to the gym. That left Adam and Jolene and Rick and Tayla to handle the communal clean-up after Lisa and Rosco had done the cooking.
Jolene was furious. She said she had barely seen the pair wash anything beyond their own plate or empty a bin, and believed they treated the share house like “a restaurant”. Rosco was just as unimpressed, suggesting Chantel and Wyatt behaved as though somebody had been hired to clean up after them.
The frustration was about far more than one sink full of dishes. The other teams clearly felt they had been carrying an unfair share of the communal chores, while Chantel and Wyatt's late-night exit gave everyone a fresh reason to compare notes.
The episode ended before the argument could be settled, with a direct confrontation waiting on the other side of a night spent stewing. Kitchen Week may eventually be judged on cabinetry, appliances and styling, but its first fight has been built entirely out of plates, bins and one badly timed workout.
The Block continues tonight at 7.30pm on Nine and 9Now.
