Via NZ:
It was a rough night for most teams on The Block NZ – but contestants Ling and Zing possibly received the worst deal of all.
The live auction finale of the reality show’s sixth season turned in awkward television at its finest as Stace and Yanita were thought to be the winners until a u-turn by producers saw Nate and Andy’s unsold home return for a second auction.
Stace and Yanita scored $20,000 in profit, but Nate and Andy secured $31,000 and were declared winners of the show’s $100,000 prize.
While the focus was on Stace and Yanita’s misery, and Nate and Andy’s “bittersweet” victory, another Block team stood back in the shadows and counted what the show probably cost them.
The show sees four teams of two spend three months renovating neighbouring Auckland properties, with each team pocketing the profits they make over their home’s reserve price during a live auction finale.
For Christchurch brothers Ling and Zing, their $1000 profit makes them the second lowest winners in Block history – just over Rachel and Tyson in season one, who sold their house bang on reserve and failed to make any profit.
Zing and Ling’s profits were so low that one “disgruntled viewer” set up a Givealittle pagefor the pair to “help them raise funds for the reward they deserve”.
So far, 204 donors have pledged $5041, four times what the pair earned at last night’s finale.
But there’s more bad news in store for Ling and Zing.
One twitter user added up the time it took them to appear on The Block NZ and calculated their hourly rate.
What has the world come to.
