How a crisis at The Block turned into the show’s greatest storyline
When a promo producer inadvertently put contestants in front of a production white board, Nine thought its whole season was sunk.
- Published by David Knox
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Sometimes in Reality TV best laid plans are thrown asunder…. but it’s how creatively you adjust that can turn things around.
Take for example 2021’s The Block “cheating scandal” when contestants snapped a production white board of producer challenges.
Speaking at Screen Forever this week, Nine production boss Adrian Swift said, “The cheating scandal happened because one of our promo producers happened to put one of the couples in the room where the (white) board was.
“It was nothing more than a complete and utter mistake. There was the whole show laid out before them! Who wouldn’t take a photograph of it? When we discovered it happened we thought, ‘Oh no show is ruined! What do we do now?’
“But Julian (Cress, executive producer) said, ‘I know what we do now….'”
With that a “cheating scandal” storyline was woven into episodes, triggering dramatic scenes and bumper ratings.
“It turned into the greatest storyline in the history of The Block from what had started as a complete disaster,” said Swift.
“People asked ‘How long had you been planning the cheating scandal?'”
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3 Responses
David, you must have been really tired when you wrote this article.
Ahh an editing error… now fixed.
“The show’s greatest storyline”!?!!!!!
This storyline was rubbish and they dragged it on for way too long. I love the block, and kept tuning in hoping they’d finally stop talking about the absolute lamest scandal I’ve ever seen on reality tv, and actually show some actual renos.
It makes me very worried about the future of the block if they actually think this was a storytelling triumph.