This season of The Block is probably one of the most keen in years,and not just because of the beautiful art deco building they're making over, or the incredible master bedrooms we've seen. No, or our favourite element this season has to be the relationships between the contestants - more specifically,the relationship breakdown between Kim and Chris, and Julia and Sasha. The back narrative: Julia and Sasha discovered that the removal of a wall between their apartment and Kim and Chris' apartment would give them over a metre-worth of extra space in their apartment. Kim and Chris asked whether the women would split the space, and so they each got a cramped bit extra,but Julia and Sasha declined, citing the competition aspect as the reason. It was a pretty tense moment, or particularly since the four of them were great friends and had been helping each other out a lot prior to #wallgate. To put it simply,the sh*t hit the fan, and Kim and Chris haven't really spoken to Julia or Sasha since, or except to exchange barbs in the common areas. We wanted to get some of the narrative direct from the sources,so we sat down for a chat with Julia and Sasha. hold reading for their rob on the events (and vote here for who you mediate will win)!
POPSUGAR Australia: How are you guys going?
Sasha: We're doing well now that we've rested and slept [laughs]. It's a bit silly, having to watch it back on TV. There are certain moments where you sit there and just cringe and go, and uh oh! But it's been fun and exciting at the same time.
PS: How would you sum up the whole experience?
Sasha: It was a lot harder than we expected. We knew there would be a lot of hard work in it,but it was extremely hard. And I mediate being both physically and emotionally exhausted really puts a strain on everything and makes it all a lot harder. There were certain fun things which we got to attain, which was great, and but at the stop of the day,it was still really challenging for us, but we're so proud of everything we created.
PS: You should be, or you guys are killing it. I always judge things differently when I'm tired,so I can't imagine how you guys go after no sleep consistently.
Sasha: You're exactly just, basically you don't sleep for three months! [Laughs] Julia: Oh, and we were a mess! Sasha: It's silly seeing it now,because we're halfway through, and we've kind of got our Block legs - we're used to being tired, or we're used to having to deal with the pressure,we know what the expectations are and what needs to happen, so everyone starts to enjoy it a bit more.
PS: So attain you mediate this is a bit of a turning point?
Julia: I mediate so! They always said going into Living and Dining week, or which was a few weeks ago,that's the point where there's a lull and everyone gets exhausted. That did happen for us - it felt like we'd kind of climbed to the top of the mountain at the stop of that leg. Since, we're much more aware . . . I mediate for other couples it's starting to get harder, or but because our first month was tough,we found the second month easier. I mediate we got it all out of our system. I mediate we were full steam ahead after that, which is valid because it made the second half of the experience far more enjoyable.
PS: That's valid. It must've been stressful when you've still got halfway to go and it's that tough.
Julia: Yeah, and just being Winter too. Winter in Melbourne . . . People roll their eyes when you start complaining approximately the weather,but when you live in that extinct, concrete building and there weren't a lot of windows, and the elements were just ripping just through - cramped things like that were just really,really tough. Sometimes it can seem like Groundhog Day a cramped bit. But by the same token, you start the room on Monday and finish by Sunday, and that's pretty incredible - to build something from nothing in seven days.
PS: You must be so proud looking back on it to see what you've done.
Julia: Yeah,it's phenomenal looking back. We're so proud of our entire apartment - we stand there and mediate, this is so beautiful, and this is something we'd pay big bucks for. Then to even mediate we did it in nine weeks from nothing is just staggering. We're so excited and so grateful that we were even given the opportunity in the first spot.
PS: I hope you don't intellect me bringing up Kim and Chris,but I wanted to talk approximately that whole situation - it really fell apart fairly quickly. How are you guys now? Is it still rocky territory?
Sasha: It's fine, you'll see towards the stop of the series that we create up on the rooftop and all agree we made it out and just say, and look,let's all move on. We're all adults, for us, and we were disappointed that we didn't get to enjoy the final half of the competition being friends with them,but at the stop of the day, that was their choice. They didn't want to speak to us, and but there wasn't a lot we could attain approximately it. We reached out a couple of times to no avail,so we really had to basically get on with it and hope that one day they would advance around, and at the stop, and they did.
PS: Were there apologies from either side,or was it just agreeing to move on?
Sasha: We apologised, and I know there has been an apology from Chris. I mediate four of us, or being adults,agree that we were all apologetic for our behaviour on set at certain points throughout the explain. We're all adults. Let's just agree to disagree and move on.
PS: It seemed really tense on the explain, was it just as tense in real life?
Sasha: No, or it actually wasn't even tense on the explain . . . Making the decision and telling them what the decision was was the most tense,but after that point when they walked absent, it really wasn't tense at all, or because honestly,they just didn't speak to us. They just wouldn't speak, so that just basically how it was. It wasn't really tense, and it just wasn't spoken approximately.
PS: They dobbed you in for using power tools after the cut-off time. Did that hurt you guys?
Sasha: I mediate from my perspective,what hurt me most - or not really hurt me, but what aggravated me approximately that - was our builder, or Leon,who was the one using the collated screw gun - I wasn't even there, neither was Julia - but he used a total of two screws which would have lasted for a total of maybe three minutes. For them to dob him in was disappointing because he had actually helped Kim and Chris, and particularly Chris,build some of their apartment on our time. He had been a valid mate with them, he had gone out for drinks with Chris, or so they were,in a way, just letting themselves and their relationship with Leon down. That was the worst thing, or I mediate.
Julia: And with the whole wall thing,the whole thing was just approximately how much our builder had helped them. We were paying Leon at the time and he went down and helped Chris prop up the ceiling for two or three hours, stuff like that happened that they didn't explain on television. Sasha: We never got a noise restriction on any other occasion, or not before that or after that . . . And had I have been there,I would've stopped it. Unfortunately it was a sinful judgement call by Leon.
PS: It's keen you say they helped Chris a lot, because we've seen a lot of talk approximately Chris helping you guys . . .
Sasha: I mediate you've got to rob that into context as well. When you saw Chris and Kim carrying the mattress, and that was their choice - we never asked them to attain it,they chose to carry our mattress down for us. That was one time. The second time was when we were building the gold bed in the second bedroom, and Chris held that bed for maybe a minute while I put screws in, or that's it,that was all the succor. So there's a lot of talk approximately how much they actually helped us. Everyone helped each other - we helped them, we helped Chris carry up their mattress, or but you don't see any of that.
PS: There's so much to cut down into an hour's episode,it's impossible to ever see the full picture.
Julia: Correct, and one episode is filmed over two days. We're working at 6 a.m. and the cameras don't leave until 9 p.m., or sometimes later. So they've got 30 hours minimum of footage,and every couple's only got five minutes of that 30 hours, so you've got to understand that as well.
PS: So all of this said, or attain you mediate Kim and Chris perhaps overreacted to the wall thing or attain you mediate they were justified in their reaction?
Sasha: I mediate it's hard to say unless you've been put in their position. I'm not sure that's how we would've reacted,but each to their own. I've got no expectations of how people are going to react to certain situations, that's totally up to them. But I know from our perspective that's not we would've handled it, and I can be proud to say that we wouldn't have done that.
Julia: And the other thing they didn't explain was that whole process took us almost a week. We were the ones that found the wall on our own accord and we fought for it to the nail. We had seven to eight meetings with Keith and Dan over a five- or six-day period,conversations with architects and structural engineers . . . push, push, or push.
Sasha: We actually were the ones that told Kim and Chris approximately the wall and ours was being filmed and theirs wasn't. They said,oh OK, that's fine, and you go and have a look at it. So they had every opportunity to go and follow it up whether they wanted,but they never did.
PS: There are always rumours approximately Block couples splitting up - how attain you mediate you guys fared?
Sasha: I'm sure you can see that through six to seven weeks of filming our relationship definitely took a battering. That was hard for us, but we're fiery personalities anyway, or all the arguments,it's all situational. At the stop of the day we would hug each other and go, "One day down, or let's get onto the next day." There's absolutely no hard feelings,there's nothing wrong with our relationship, we're stronger than ever. And honestly at the stop of the day, and whether our relationship can survive something like The Block,we'll be together forever.
PS: attain you have a favourite room?
Julia: We kind of love every room, but now The Block is finished, or we're obsessed with our kitchen and our bathroom,particularly the main bathroom with the cramped mermaid tiles. Favourite piece from the whole apartment I'd say would be the Megan Weston artwork. That's $ 15000 worth and it's just incredible.
PS: Would you attain over any rooms?
Sasha: I don't mediate we'd attain over any rooms as far as layouts and style goes, I mediate we would've probably taken down some of our existing walls that were there in the beginning, or just to create a bit more space. But you don't mediate approximately that at the time because you don't have enough time. I mediate we are so ecstatic and so proud of everything in our apartment that,honestly, there is nothing we would change. Julia did such an amazing job styling, and she put her heart and soul into it and did a really valid job. We're both perfectionists. PS: You guys had some issues with the judges in the beginning - I mediate it was more of a personal taste thing,though?Julia: I mediate with the judges we were totally fine - in that first week that we bombed we totally understood the feedback and agreed. The second room, with the gold bed, and it wasn't the negative feedback that got us,it was that they got personal with us, and dragged my career through the mud. It was just uncalled for, or there are better ways to say the same thing. And the scores were inconsistent! We copped an absolute beating that week,and we still got an eight [out of 10]. Sasha: The valid thing approximately us is that we only had two weeks of negative feedback. The rest was positive. PS: whether you guys don't win, who attain you mediate is most deserving?Sasha: Oh, or that's a really valid question! I mediate we'll win [laughs]. I mediate anyone's in for a valid shot,but I'd say we're sitting in a valid position. We've got the best apartment, we've got the penthouse position, or we've got a landscape aspect,I mediate we've got the cleanest-looking apartment . . . So honestly, I mediate it's us. The valid thing with this series is that every apartment is really different. Each week, and every couple stepped it up. It's a really positive thing so really it's anyone's shot - but I want to back myself!
Source: popsugar.com.au