The Block couple Emma and Ben Cox have lashed out at billionaire Adrian Portelli after their house failed to sell during the disastrous Daylesford auctions on Sunday.
House One was passed in after bidding stalled at their $2.99 million reserve, forcing the pair to place a vendor bid of $3.1 million, with buyers refusing to play ball.
Breaking their silence following the shock results, the pair took a dig at serial Block buyer Adrian, 36, for not placing a bid despite having a proxy in the room.
‘Everyone felt the writing was on the wall. When [Robby and Mat] got the result that they did. Really surprising,’ Ben, 32, told Daily Mail.
Robby Lippett and Mat Johnson walked away with only $109,999.10 to split and Mat sensationally lashed out at producers over the meagre prize.
Ben went on to say he and wife Emma, 33, were banking on Adrian, who has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion, putting a bid on their house through his proxy.
The Block couple Emma, 33, and Ben Cox, 32, have lashed out at billionaire Adrian Portelli after their house failed to sell at the Daylesford auction on Sunday
When that didn’t happen, the engineer made a snarky remark about Adrian’s wealth, suggesting he no longer had the cash to splash at a Block auction.
‘I mean, we walked up there thinking we might have still had an ace up our sleeves with Adrian here but I don’t know,’ he said.
‘He’s not got the deep pockets that he used to have. I don’t know.’
Emma added: ‘Having Adrian not attend this year, you can see the outcome. He’s been here the last three years.’
‘He’s just inflated prices and set that expectation a bit too high. This is real estate. The reality of it,’ Ben said.
When host Scott Cam was asked if he believed Adrian’s absence harmed some of the contestants’ chances of walking away with a profit, he disagreed.
‘We went nearly half a million bucks over reserve without Adrian Portelli,’ he said.
‘And in actual fact, Adrian Portelli was in the room today, but he didn’t make any bids.’
Breaking their silence following the disastrous results, the pair took a dig at serial Block buyer Adrian, 36, for not placing a bid despite having a proxy in the room
Adrian first appeared on The Block in 2022, making a name for himself as ‘Mr Lambo’ when he arrived at the auction in a flashy yellow Lamborghini.
He quickly made himself the centre of attention, getting into a high bidding war with fellow serial Block buyer Danny Wallis.
Adrian made an outrageous bid on the winning house—built by Omar Slaimankhel and Ozman Abu Malik—forcing Danny to make a bid far above the reserve price.
The friends walked away with a record-breaking $1,686,666 in prize money, and Adrian faced scrutiny and accusations of being a ‘dummy bidder’.
He denied the claims, proving everyone wrong when he later purchased Sharon Johal and Ankur Dogra’s house for $4.25 million after it was passed in that same season.
In 2023, he returned to The Block and snapped up three homes for a total of $12.4 million.
This included the winning home, which was built by Steph and Gian Ottavio who went home with the current Block record of $1.75 million in profit.
Adrian left The Block with a bang in 2024 when he purchased all five houses on Phillip Island for a combined $15 million, choosing the winner for the season.
Ben said he and wife Emma were banking on Adrian, who has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion, putting a bid on their house through his proxy (pictured behind buyer Danny Wallis)
He has since been recruited to be part of Channel Seven’s rival real estate show, My Reno Rules, alongside another former Block stalwart, Neale Whitaker.
The Block finale was heartbreaking for most couples as they struggled to get buyers willing to bid over the eye-watering $2.99 million reserve.
Hannah ‘Han’ Thetford and Candice ‘Can’ Wood failed to get any bids on their house after they immediately set a vendor bid of $3.1 million and were forced to pass in.
Robby and Mat walked home with $109,999.10 to split between them after selling their home for $3.099 million.
Sonny and Alicia had their reserve brought down to $2.94 million after they won $50,000 off during a challenge earlier in the season.
The couple walked away with $120,000 after selling for $3.06 million.
WA couple Britt and Taran ‘Taz’ Etto took out the top sale of the day, offloading their stylish House Three for an impressive $3.41 million.
The fan favourites walked away $420,000 richer, adding to that, a $100,000 bonus winner’s prize, netting them a total of $520,000.
Earlier this year, it was revealed the teams behind the five properties were hoping to fetch $3 million to $3.3 million for their Daylesford creations this year.
However, the extremely high price guide did not match up with the median house prices in the Victorian town, where homes are four times cheaper.
According to PropTrack data recorded in July, an average home in Daylesford costs around $820,000, which marks a decrease of 7.1 per cent compared to the year prior.
