A fireplace pushes Jess and Norm to breaking point

Norm and Jess have had dramas with their fireplace since it was installed. It was a punish to actually get in and required moving at the last minute in order to meet code. That in itself was a huge challenge, but with Jess’ styling and Norm’s hard work, they managed to get it reasonably in place.

The judges were split as to whether it worked at all. Shaynna Blaze felt it stuck out like a sore thumb – or a “tonsil”, as she dubbed it - but Darren Palmer could see himself sitting in front of it with a glass of red and a good book. “It doesn’t work,” Shaynna said firmly. “It’s going to be polarising.”

Jess was awaiting the all-important buyer’s advocate feedback to lock in her next move and when they came back also advising a change, she decided to take their prize money for “apartment most likely to sell” and apply it to the one thing that might put that in jeopardy – “the tonsil”.

“Here we go again…” sighed Norm.

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“We’ve been told by a lot of people that we’re going to polarise buyers and I think it would be very naïve and ignorant for us to keep it in there,” she explained.

“Say goodbye to her, she’s going,” Jess told Norm firmly.

Norm flatly refused.

Jess pointed out it could be the difference between someone buying their apartment or the girls’ penthouse, pleading that they could add a fireplace outside instead.

Norm flatly refused.

Darren admitted that while it would be difficult for Norm to physically move it, it would address all the problems the judges had with the tonsil. “It seems to be a logical solution,” Darren said as Jess squawked that she had been saying the same thing!

Buyer’s advocate Greville Pabst had a different opinion again, which sent Norm into a fluster and created huge levels of frustrating for Jess. “It is starting to get ridiculous!” she snapped. “It’s a f***ing fireplace!”

Finally, Norm broke. Fed up with the all-consuming nature of the controversy, he blinked back tears. “I am here for my kids. I miss them,” he said, his voice wobbling.

“It’s not all about the money to us but to take that kind of money home is life changing,” he explained.

“If it means we’re gonna make more money on the sale day and the heater’s gotta be shifted, so be it. … It’s three months of pain for a lifetime of gain,” said Norm.

With both of them totally exhausted by the drama, they called Nicole Jacobs the buyer’s advocate in to make the final call on what to do.

Nicole explained it was a great fireplace but was too restrictive in the place it was, creating a risk for Auction Day. She added it could be either moved to the corner or removed altogether. “It’s all about the buyer being able to have that flexibility,” she confirmed, as Jess struggled to yell “I TOLD YOU SO!”

“That’s all I wanted,” Norm admitted, and started the enormous task of moving the tonsil, again.

This time for good.

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