They’ve taken us to Bondi, Manly, Vaucluse, Richmond, South Melbourne, Albert Park, Prahran and South Yarra. But will the next season of our favourite reality renovation series, The Block, be the last?
After being crowned as the longest running reality series in Australia, Channel Nine program chief Andrew Backwell has said that he will be closely monitoring the ratings for the eleventh series of The Block. Channel Nine has confirmed that they won’t be airing another series of the show at the start of 2016.
‘We will certainly monitor the performance of this series … before we decide to commission any further series,’ says Backwell.
It has also been revealed that the series’ executive producer, Julian Cress, hasn’t procured any new real estate for the show. The news comes after ratings for The Block Triple Threat, which premiered early this year, were revealed as the lowest the series have received yet.
‘We haven’t settled on a new site for The Block in 2016, but we are hunting for one nationwide’, said Cress.
Channel Nine has confessed that they regret their decision to flesh out the last series with almost three weeks of eliminations before contestants commence renovations of a South Yarra apartment block.
Source: Channel Nine
In response to disappointing ratings, the new season of The Block (The Blocktagon), where contestants will renovate the octagonal eight-storey former Hotel Saville, has promised to deliver a ‘stripped back’ version of the series, taking the format closer to its original roots. There will be no eliminations from the show, each episode will be no longer than one hour, and Thursday night airings have been cut. None of this year’s contestants have renovating experience.
Andrew Backwell is hoping that the renewed format will breathe life back into the series, boosting ratings high enough to be able to deliver a twelfth season.
‘I personally believe it’s going to perform well.’ Said Backwell, ‘I can, however, confirm that The Block will not start the 2016 ratings year.’
So will we be seeing another season of The Block? For now, Channel Nine have left that up to the viewers.
‘We have done two main things we have done to get back to basics with the original format,’ says Cress.
‘One is remove the elimination element at the front of the series. This allows the audience to get to know the characters and the building from episode one. We have also listened to audience feedback and scaled back the regular challenges that the contestants have to do.’
Source: Channel Nine
‘We know that many viewers complained that these took the couples away from renovating The Block, which is clearly why they come to watch the show.’
This season of The Block: Blocktagon will feature five teams: Kingi and Caroline from Queensland, Whitney and Andrew from Victoria, Suellen and Yvonne from Queensland, Luke and Ebony from Western Australia, and Dean and Shay from New South Wales.
The octagonal former Hotel Saville will be transformed into a series of oddly shaped three bedroom apartments.
Season eleven of The Block will premiere on Channel Nine this Sunday at 7pm.