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Where’s the love for Katrina & Amie?

With all 4 houses sold, is it now time for Nine to make a gesture to Katrina & Amie?

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After all is said and done with The Block auction debacle, attention now turns to Nine to see whether it will, or should, find some cash for Katrina & Amie.

The two didn’t pocket anything from their property sale.

The other contestants all left with money: Polly & Waz $115,000, Rod & Tania $72,000, Josh & Jenna $50,000.

In an ironic twist, the house belonging to the auction winners sold for the least amount of money: $855,000.

But Nine is defending its format, pointing to the ratings results as evidence it is intact.

The contestants were each paid $700 a week, and Katrina & Amie won $10,000 for their Hot Seat win. All couples also made a television commercial, believed to net a fee under the $10,000 mark.

But fans of the show are questioning whether the television auction and the reserve-price rule is the fairest way to decide a winner. Josh and Jenna’s house sold for the most amount of money. Rod and Tania’s made the most above the reserve – a reserve that was set before the renovations began. Is that reflective of life in the real world?

Nine may need to consider some format tweaking for 2012 or risk more properties being passed in and a muddled outcome.

So do Katrina and Amie have a right to be peeved? There are plenty of Reality shows with a “winner takes all” result: Survivor, The Amazing Race, Australia’s Got Talent, The Apprentice and more. They knew the rules going into the show, they knew the inherent risks of the volatile property market. The girls even had first choice of which property they wanted to renovate.

Still, it must smart when you think last year’s winner walked away with $305,000 and the lowest placegetter pocketed $47,000.

Producer Julian Cress, who is now enjoying a post-series break, has previously said ‘Nine does not forget its friends.’

“They’re terrific women, they gave a lot and they deserve something back – and we will do all we can to ensure they get it,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald today.

Nine would be well within its rights to stick to its guns that rules are rules.

But given it is making noises that it will balance its universe, it should make a cash gesture to the sisters quick smart and not drag this thing out.

39 Responses

  1. The debate here really shouldn’t be about whether K&A should get something – which they shouldn’t. The debate here should be focussed on the fact that this is a tv show made to make money from entertaining people – that is the reality which is being clouded by people’s perceptions of what they feel should happen in the real world. Sadly people get burned in the reality of reality tv.

  2. The difference between the block n these other reality shows is that the contestants stay n work for the entirety of the show. Not get “evicted” or voted off. So it shudnt b one winner takes all. But there shud def b diff levels of winnings. They certainly made more money than I did when I renovated =)

  3. I love how Nine defends the format based on the ratings, yet most viewers were disappointed with the anti-climax finale. This ratings might not reflect that disappointmen this year, but I think they will next year.

  4. @ Indi-pendent
    Okay, it’s not the only thing they do, but they still do display homes and her ads do encourage viewers to check out their homes at their display centres.

    That wasn’t really the important part of my comment anyway 🙂

  8. I assume they had watched previous seasons of The Block. As many here have pointed out people in the previous seasons got nothing for their efforts and I don’t recall a huge hullaballoo about that. They took the risk. Life goes on. Get over it. Enough said.

  9. The auction profit is a bonus. They are paid for the work and time away from home, just like a contestant on Big Brother would.

    Amie has already got work thanks to her time on The Block. She’s in TV commercials for B&H Homes (a display home company that operates out of Albury, where Amie is from)

  10. @Jen, thanks for confirming that. It is Jane and Matt I was thinking of, I remember their unit only got the reserve price, meaning they got $0.00 for their troubles. I had forgotten they won the car as a consolation price. I had forgotten about the two blokes, who also only sold for reserve, therefore not making a cracker for their efforts. If those two blokes received no financial recompense from the producers, then the girls shouldn’t, either.

    @Brett, I agree. I doubt whether they will get any serious renovators, but I’m sure every wannabe who wants to launch a “TV presenting” career will apply, as is usually the case with the reality genre.

  11. I have no issue with them not getting a windfall payment as a result of their appearance on the show. Whether it was purely “editing” or not, it certainly appeared that they did little “hard work” and they appeared to use any number of different trades people which indicates they had poor management skills and their house may have had defects as a result.

    However, I do question what happened on the night of the auction and what “say” each of the couples had when their houses were passed-in. Does Channel 9 then take over all negotiations with the simple goal of selling for the reserve price? Or are the couples involved in the negotiations and it was the sisters’ decision to sell for the reserve price in the heat of the moment. It certainly appears more beneficial to take some time after the auction to speak to the “real” buyers and sell later (as with Rod and Tania and Josh and Jenna).

  12. Not That I Even watched the series but I think an ex gratia payment should be out of the question.

    It makes it unfair to all contestants.

    Let’s just see what Nine comes up with

    As we all know, there are many runners up out there who have gone on to bigger things than winners.

  13. Simple case of over capitalising on all fronts. There is no value in these properties full of gimmicks, design and building flaws. There is also no value in over investing emotionally with an expectation that you will make a profit. An unfortunate lesson in real life reality played out in a format that has suffered from it’s own ratings success in many respects highlighting flaws in the show’s production not adapting to real market conditions. If the producers are wondering what they have to do to placate the TV nation then I suggest your answer be what most media outlets reply when the public want answers – no comment.

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