‘A hard watch’: All the reactions to The Block 2026’s history-making auction - as ex contestants speak out

All five houses sold, and one team is nearly $2 million richer with The Block 2026 Auction winners officially crowned.

Courtney and Sev walked away with a record-breaking sum after selling their home for a whopping $4.72 million. Some were “relieved”, others found it a tough watch. Catch the biggest reactions to the night below:

Emma and Ben speak out

Ex-contestants Emma and Ben failed to sell their house during Auction Day this time last year, as one fan acknowledged under the couple’s latest social post.

“😭😭😭😭 tonight was a very hard watch,” wrote Emma and Ben as they were reminded of their “disappointing” results compared to the $4.147 million success of this year.

But, the team were in good spirits as they wished the 2026 Blockheads the “best of luck”.

They also shared a “cute little memory from our auction day last year”, a snap with their bub Bailey, who like Lisa, was born days before Auction Day.

Shelley Craft and Scott Cam in disbelief

Host Shelley Craft felt the nerves standing by the 2026 contestants, but now one word comes to mind.

“Relief I think is the first thing that comes to my mind,” she admitted.

“You’re not going to believe it because we hardly believe it. Be honest,” she said looking over to Scott Cam.

Speaking of, Scotty said he and the crew were “really happy” to see such great results.

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‘Eat your words’: Block 2026 winners Courtney and Sev’s message to doubters who called them ‘crazy’ after $1.87 million win

“We want all contestants to make as much money as they can, so a day like today is a great success. Big congratulations to Courtney and Sev,” he said.

Shaynna Blaze’s ‘tough’ admission

The judge had one final say after the 2026 Auctions, praising winners Courtney and Sev for their consistent “design ingenuity and quality” that has seemed to pay off.

“To all the other contestants, so proud of you all winning life changing prizes to set you up for the next chapter in your lives,” she added.

“This was a tough environment to build in and sell in and the results are more than we all expected.”

Frank Valentic’s surprise connection

Famous Block buyer’s advocate Frank Valentic did some serious bidding during the 2026 auctions, and revealed on Instagram his surprise connection to runner-up Rick.

“I have been friends with Rick for many years,” he admitted.

“This year I will be hopefully bidding on his house for a downsizer client. We are hoping to bid for a number of investor and downsizer clients and look forward to The Block auction finale kicking off soon,” he said ahead of the big day.

Little did he know, Rick and Tayla would walk away with a life-changing $905,000.

The Block’s youngest auctioneer sends Marty Fox a DM

House 5’s 22-year-old auctioneer Ryan King stole the show, and he apparently has judge Marty Fox to thank.

Taking to Instagram, Marty shared a direct message he received from the young real estate expert thanking the judge for everything he has learned.

“I just wanted to send you a quick message to say thank you for everything up have taught me,” the message read.

“I have listened to every WTF [With The Fox] podcast, watched every auction of yours on YouTube, watch all of your public motivation speaks,” the message read.

Ryan admitted he even had one of Marty’s auction spiels “memorised” after listening to it on repeat.

Courtney and Sev’s ‘secret’ announcement

On Today, the winners said they “absolutely lost it” the moment they realised their house had sold for $4.72 million.

“We were actually very numb on the couch,” said Sev, while a shocked Courtney admitted: “When it hit half a million dollars, I was just done.”

“We’re just so grateful we were on the Mount Eliza season of The Block,” she added before Sev announced a “little secret” they had been holding onto since Sunday night.

“We do have one really special thing...” Sev began.

“We’re donating $75,000 to My Room Children’s Cancer Charity, so that was a big objective for us if we took out the win.”

“That was a little secret we kept if we won the show, we were going to donate to My Room’s Children Cancer Charity and we cannot wait to hand that over,” beamed Courtney.

Executive producer Julian Cress reacts

Block executive producer said he was “thrilled to beat the market and deliver a hundred per cent clearance rate for our very deserving contestants.”

“There’s nothing more satisfying than an auction day when all contestants walk away winners. And to have done it in such a challenging market makes it even more special,” he said.

Past winners are in full support

Of course watching on were past Block contestants who had nothing but well wishes for this year’s mammoth winners.

“Over one million!!! AMAZING!!! CONGRATS GIRLS!!!” said 2021 winners Mitch and Mark in a live reaction shared to their Instagram stories.

“You’ve just won on an amazing house, oh my god,” Mitch added.

“Position two, this is insane,” he said of the auction orders. “I said to Scotty, you were wrong about position five, but position five came second. So I apologise to Alice [Stoltz], Scotty and Shelley, you guys were right.”

The Block’s 2023 winners Steph and Gian commented, “Congratulations girls! Welcome to the block alumni 🙌🏼🤍🩷.”

While 2024 winners Maddy and Charlotte said, “Yeah the girls!!! Let’s go team pink 💕💕💕.”

Want more entertainment? We've got you.

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• Recap: Block stars makes history with biggest-ever win, despite eleventh-hour curveball
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