‘Didn’t like us from day one’: Block winners Courtney and Sev brush off criticism and reveal reason for $75k charity donation

Exclusive: Courtney and Sev are still coming to terms with the fact that they not only won the 2026 season of The Block, but are walking away with the biggest prize in the show’s history of $1.87 million.

The besties are still coming to grips with what actually happened, and have responded to some of the backlash from fans of the show after their mammoth win in an exclusive interview with nine.com.au. 

Block winners hit back at critics

The girls faced plenty of warnings from Scott Cam about their budget through the season and continued to push with grand designs, big ideas and bespoke pieces right until the final week. 

But they’ve brushed off any criticism that surrounds that aspect of their journey on the show. 

“People didn’t like us from day one,” Courtney said. 

“Yeah, from the get-go,” Sev added. 

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“And they failed to see that we obviously brought in our budget, from Week 3, 4, 5, 6,” Courtney continued. 

“But they only saw what they wanted to see with us when they decided they didn't like us from day one.” 

Sev felt like it didn’t matter what they did, there was “no way we were changing the narrative in their mind” which she admitted “sucked”. 

“Everyone played a really hard competition,” added the interior designer. 

“The way that Courtney and I approached the strategy of what we wanted to do was thought out - I think - and it paid off for us. 

“It’s sort of like, just because you didn’t come up with it, don’t be mad at us.” 

Both ladies agree that it’s an unfortunate situation to be in but people are entitled to their opinions and at the end of the day, they played the game the best way they thought they could. 

“But sucked in, because we won,” Courtney laughed. 

That win is still sinking in, with both admitting that it’s hard to process the last 48 hours. 

“It was the scariest day on Saturday,” Courtney said. 

“The nerves were so high, I think we were just so quiet, we were so shaky and that result… it’s out of this world.” 

Courtney and Sev’s permanent third wheel

Standing beside them on the sidelines was Sev’s husband Nelson, who has been the biggest supporter of them both. 

“He has well across our four-year journey of us trying to get on the show,” Sev laughed. 

“He was the guy helping us make the audition tapes and, giving his two bobs here and there and to sort of support us through the 12 weeks and experience that news and outcome with us was really, really special.”

While 12 weeks of renovations and a nerve-wracking auction may feel like the hard part is over, it’s only just beginning for the friends who now have to split the $500,000 prizes in Scotty’s Prize Pool. 

Although the girls joked that the $15,000 Rolex watch may already have Nelson’s name on it after how patient he’s been with them through this whole journey. 

Sev joked he’ll be coming to their mediation of how they’re going to split the prize pool up, seeing as though he and Courtney have their eye on a few of the same things. 

The duo give back to charity

While the prize pool hasn’t been split, the piles of cash in it have already been decided. 

Courtney and Sev have donated the $75,000 in cash to the My Room Children’s Cancer Charity, something they decided they would do during the show.

“After we did the charity challenge, we saw an opportunity there that if we did make a buck [on auction day], and we were in a position to make a donation, that was always high on our agenda,” Sev said.

She explained that their auctioneer was linked to the My Room charity and a couple of weeks before auction, they hosted 18 families at House 4.

“The kick that we got out of that day, and what we were able to give those families just felt so beautiful,” she added.

“So Courtney and I just wanted to further lean into that.”

The duo decided on an amount they were going to donate if they made over a certain figure when House 4 went under the hammer.

“But then, because we surpassed it, we were like, ‘You know what? The prize pool money we weren’t ever banking on, we’re just gonna donate that,’” she explained.

The besties are hoping to be able to work with My Room more in future and help the charity grow in Queensland.

What will they do with the rest of the money?

As for what’s next, they’ve got no real plan for the rest of their money, or the prize pool – aside from mediation to split it all – but they’re already eyeing off a new project.

“We would love to do another renovation,” Courtney confirmed.

“We absolutely love it, we love the residential space. So to be able to go and do a renovation together, and see how we go and have a bit of fun with it – and not have a six-day turn around – it would be pretty cool.

“So hopefully the stars can align and we can do something like that, but nothing is set in stone yet.”

Want more entertainment? We've got you.

• Watch: Winners exclusive: Courtney and Sev’s message after breaking Block history
• Read: Stephanie Rice reveals next career move after being ‘rejected’ from 130 jobs
• Recap: The Block Auction Day 2026 - Courtney and Sev make history with biggest-ever win, despite eleventh-hour curveball
• Front Row: Cody Simpson’s wild midnight Sydney outing and NRL tough guy’s red-faced stage moment

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