Episode 26 recap: Tempers flare as first body corporate is called and a text message discovery results in explosive consequences

It's officially 'hump day' during 'hump week' on The Block – can you believe it?!

While we've been lapping up our nightly trips to Phillip Island, for our Blockheads the fatigue is hitting hard.

What better way to get over that than with another Waterproofing Wednesday?

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At House 3, everyone's dealing with flashbacks to the last time they tried to waterproof an ensuite. Four weeks ago, things went so badly for the boys they ended up delivering a room with nothing but plasterboards complete, but they're hoping to get the sign off now.

Eighth times a charm and the boys officially make Waterproofing Wednesday – for the wrong room. They're looking for redemption this week though, so fingers crossed they can deliver a second later today!

EXCLUSIVE: The Block's Ricky and Haydn reflect on their 'bathroom from hell' disaster

At House 1, Maddy and Charlotte are excited for their first chance to work on a space that is completely their own design. This means a lot of white.

"I don't like black," Charlotte says, and we can feel Kylie's ears burning across site.

The teams also need to lock in their landscaping teams this week – and it may prove more of a challenge than usual because according to Ricky's chosen team, the site has garnered a bad reputation.

"The word is going around the island that The Block isn't paying their trades," Ricky says. There are no overdue bills in their corner... but they got wind of House 2's unpaid invoices yesterday.

Ricky and Haydn call a body corporate meeting and everyone is receptive to the invite... except Courtney and Grant.

Ricky explains what he's heard from both his landscapers and Bettsy's Glass.

"Let's not make this a big deal because there's no word on the street, we pay all of our builders," Courtney replies.

She's fuming that Ricky's "made it everyone's business" and "trying to be the hero".

"It's a bit of a snitch move," she complains to her partner.

"He's a dog," Grant replies.

They explain that they were unhappy with the service from Bettsy's and were holding off payment until it was fixed... but their explanation doesn't exactly match what happened.

ROLL THE TAPES!

They then decide just to pay to get everyone off their back.

At House 4, Kylie and Brad have been ghosted by their waterproofer and tiler, so Brad sends Kylie next door to ask Grant if they can borrow his tradies.

Brad's inkling that Grant would be more likely to say yes to her is correct, as he says they can probably help out after they're finished with his room.

There's more nice news off-site, as Haydn's wife Chelsea and seven-week-old baby Tilly are moving to Phillip Island for a few weeks!

He's reunited with his girls and WOW THERE IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING IN OUR EYE.

But that's enough wholesomeness for now because Grant's landed himself in hot water – again – as he visits the site office that is off-limits to contestants.

"As a joke, I say 'I'm not a contestant', then that was taken out of context a little bit and that information was shared back to Dan," he claims.

Ohhhhh no.

Prepare for Dan v Grant round... actually, we've lost count.

"Mate, do you think you're better than everyone else on this site?" Dan asks, coming in REAL hot.

After the bust-up, Courtney is upset about the cameras and people "putting words in [their] mouths".

"I actually don't want to do this anymore, I'm done," she says as she covers the camera in her car and drives off – without her phone.

She ends up at the beach, where she falls asleep, only to return a few hours later. "I cracked," she reflects.

The next morning is body corp time, but Courtney and Grant opt out.

Ricky reveals what he's heard without getting into specifics, and the rest of the group reckon this could've just been an email. Has there ever been anything more relatable on The Block?

Hold up – Brad has something else for the agenda. He wants to put in a door from House 4 to the communal tennis court outside their property... which will give the vibe of a private court and look very inviting on a sales brochure.

Everyone is tired, cold and wondering why they're there, so they hastily agree to something they may come to regret on Auction Day!

Speaking of regrets...

Yikes.

While using Brad's phone to contact their unavailable tiler for other recommendations, Kylie's discovered a text from a him about her attitude, and a reply from Brad that says "she gets mad and makes it hard".

Oh no. As you can imagine, it leads to an argument as Kylie heads to a challenge on her own.

READ MORE: Brad misses a challenge after Kylie finds text messages about her on his phone

Scotty rightly decides its best not too ask too many questions about Brad's absence, so we launch straight into the challenge details.

They will be painting surfboards to go on display in their homes and the winner will get to choose what space they'll renovate in the clubhouse.

While most of the teams are worried about this one, because we all saw how poorly the previous art challenge went, Kylie jumps straight into it – solo.

Judge Darren Palmer is also solo, though we presume for a less dramatic reason. He's here to judge their surfboards and declare the winner of the all-important clubhouse advantage AND Phil, the penguin.

Yes, last week Scotty called him Pete, but now he's Phil. Maybe next week he'll be Patrick?

Darren doesn't know whose is whose, but he can make pretty clear guesses...

He declares Courtney and Grant's green-and-white stripe surfboard the winner, followed by Kylie (and Brad, but not really and Brad), Maddy and Charlotte, Ricky and Haydn and finally, Kristian and Mimi.

They'll decide their clubhouse spaces at walkarounds tomorrow and this gives House 2 a huge advantage. Finally, their bad week is on the up!

Also tomorrow, a snooping scandal emerges as the truth about Maddy and Charlotte's experience comes to light. Eek!

Tune in tomorrow, it's going to be a big one.

The Block continues Sunday at 7pm and Monday to Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.

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