Full confession: I love The Block. It is an utterly insane show that I cannot get enough of. Where else can you bear witness to the light-speed emotional breakdown of an over-confident chippie from Buderim because he simply could not do up a derelict 80 square metre bathroom by himself in 5 days on a budget of $6? What other TV platform allows you the simple joy of muttering “jeez that’s a big job” every ten seconds to the visible and ever-growing disdain of your partner? What other show has elevated a singular host in the way that Scott Cam has, despite his only measurable KPIs being “occasionally visit site to bully contestants” and “read notes judging notes off iPad verbatim”?
Truly, it’s a glorious feat to witness. But one bug bear that appears every year – without fail – is the dreaded Judge’s Montage; the single worst part of the show by a measure of miles.
Prior to every judging episode contestants rooms, The Block reminds us exactly who the judges are via a fairly typically daggy judge montage. This despite the fact that they appear once a week for thirteen-odd weeks, and despite the fact that the three judges – Neil Whittaker, Shayna Blaze, and Darren Palmer – have appeared on the show as a collective trio since 2013.
This year’s montage, however, is something else entirely.
Eschewing the usual standard of “They Pose And Make Facial Expressions That Tell Me They Know About Money,” this year’s season of The Block has gone for what can only be described as “Aunt Jude’s cracked open the Christmas Day champers at 10:30am and oh fuck me who put the Michael Bublé on someone sit her down before she cracks a hip.”
That’s not really an over-exaggeration either. It’s quite the spectacle.
There is… just so much going on there. I appreciate that Shayna starts out with a fairly rudimentary robot, but then it quickly descends into a robot that’s had one leg belted with a sledgehammer.
Neil appears to be doing a fairly decent attempt at clocking Ring Fit Adventure on medium. Darren on the other hand appears to be doing that thing where like… it’s 3am and you probably should be heading home but you’re still having fun so you’re just drawing on what little energy you have left.
As if that weren’t enough, however, this year’s montage also features a little solo dance for each of them. Which is a bit like what would happen if all your parents simultaneously tried to sign up for TikTok.
Fortunately enough I am absolutely not the only utterly miffed by this.
Punters across social media have been similarly at sea about the whole thing.
Who in their right mind thought having the judges dance was a good idea???#TheBlock
— Nez (@fraggle73) September 6, 2020
Is no one going to talk about the judges “dance” on #theblock
— Bella (@_isabellaarthur) September 6, 2020
https://twitter.com/LeithMarshall/status/1302540737632845824
https://twitter.com/DaveTarwhine81/status/1302543694550020096
Don’t dance. #theblock
— uniballer (@AKatsonis) September 6, 2020
WHY DO THEY DANCE? #TheBlock pic.twitter.com/MyowKe17RF
— ⋆ 𝗰 𝗼 𝘂 𝗿 𝘁 𝗻 𝗲 𝘆 ⋆ (@snowwhitedun) September 6, 2020
Is anyone else finding the editing and the dancing judges this season absolutely CRINGE? #TheBlock
— Georgia 💗 (@melbourneswifty) September 6, 2020
WTF is it with the judges dancing & Darrens nipples?! I thought this was a renovation show #TheBlock
— Maddeline Wood (@maddeline_wood) September 6, 2020
Ok.. the dancing…we have to address this.. #theblock
— TARWHINE – without a checkmark (@DaveTarwhine81) September 6, 2020
It’s all a bit strange.
I still love The Block, but. Give me Jimmy & Tam’s peak 1950s public pool aesthetic bathroom ON A PLATE. The tiles! The ribbed glass! That SINK. Hooley dooley.
What a winning streak! 🏆 Congrats to Jimmy and Tam for taking the Guest Bathroom win 👏#TheBlock pic.twitter.com/rAJS1whEvD
— The Block (@TheBlock) September 6, 2020
Chef’s bloody kiss gear, that.
