The teams reveal the lengths they went to to prepare for The Block

If you think The Block starts the day you step onto site, you're sorely mistaken.

In an exclusive and unseen video – which you can watch in the video above – the teams reveal everything they did to help prepare for the competition before the even arrived at Phillip Island.

Stream the latest episodes of The Block for free on 9Now.

After Courtney and Grant, a married couple from Western Sydney, got the call to be on The Block, they wasted no time making as many building contacts as they could.

"We reached out to builders, plasterers, tilers, auctioneers..." they rattled off a list.

You can hear everything they had to say in the video above.

Unsurprisingly, research is key and Courtney and Grant and Kristian and Mimi admitted to researching by re-watching past seasons of The Block.

"In particular we watched what the judges picked from each room, what were the negatives, what were the positives," Courtney and Grant explained.

While Kristian and Mimi also listened closely to the judges' comments to see what types of things they were critical of.

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The contestants' pre-Block research didn't just stop at the judges. Paige admitted to trawling through ex-contestant's social media pages to get a how-to on painting.

"I must say it really helped me. I was great at cutting-in not to toot my own horn," Paige said.

You'll have to find out which ex-contestant it was that made Paige a master at painting by watching the video above.

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Ricky and Haydn spoke about putting mood boards together to pinpoint their style but agreed there "wasn't a lot of time" to prepare fully for The Block.

"Yeah I much would've preferred another month of preparation," Ricky laughed.

In the video the couples also open up about the most challenging parts of The Block. Watch what they had to say in the video above.

The Block continues Wednesday at 7.30pm and Sunday at 7pm on Nine and 9Now.

Want to catch more exclusive videos? Watch the exclusive videos below.

Stream every episode ever of The Block for free on 9Now.

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