Huge reason why The Block fans are loving Jess and Norm's new show

Six years after winning the hearts of viewers on The Block, Jess Eva and Norm Hogan have returned to screens with an exciting new TV show, Budget Battlers. The heartwarming series, which Jess tells Yahoo Lifestyle has been in development for over five years, sees the couple help deserving families by renovating each of their homes in just five days on a $10,000 budget.

The series was a huge hit with viewers when it premiered on Wednesday, with over 1.075 million people tuning in to watch the first of four incredible transformations. Fans have since taken to social media to praise the show and say they’re excited to continue watching.

“What a great show. Bringing it right down to earth and about the Aussie battlers. Giving to those who truly deserve it. Love it,” one person wrote.

“I absolutely loved it. I just love Jess and Norm, they are both amazing people,” another added, while a third said, “Love them both. Nothing fake about these two. Genuine hard-working Aussies”.

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“About time they made a renovation show with realistic budgets and not a $500 cushion,” someone else joked, followed by a different user who commented, “Great show! How renovating should be”.

“Just goes to show, you can actually reno without breaking the bank. Don’t have to spend thousands just to make it look nice,” another remarked.

Why fans prefer Budget Battlers over The Block

Plenty of viewers also admitted they prefer Budget Battlers to The Block because there’s no “negative drama” or “nastiness” and it’s “more realistic”.

“Much better than The Block and their entitled contestants causing drama and not wanting to work,” a fan shared, with another adding, “Better than watching The Block… no screaming at the TV tonight!”.

“Sooooo much more entertaining than The Block!” someone else agreed, followed by a different user who said, “This is what we are after. Not all the over-the-top drama!”.

“I will continue to tune in and I really hope it does well. It might give The Block production something to consider,” another suggested, while one person wrote, “Love the show, wish The Block was more like this”.

Jess and Norm reveal how filming Budget Battlers compares to The Block

Jess and Norm, who were fan favourites when they competed on The Block in 2018, told Yahoo Lifestyle ahead of the launch that Budget Battlers is “100 per cent authentic reality TV”.

“Actually, I wouldn’t even call it reality TV, it’s basically a documentary,” she remarked. “Nothing’s fabricated or played up, there are no producers saying ‘Do this’, and even the people who let us transform their homes were all people who knew people who knew people who could help. It was just this ripple effect of kindness.”

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When comparing the series to The Block, Norm admits filming Budget Battlers was “a lot harder” because of the quick turnaround, tight budget and extremely long days.

“On The Block, the first couple of days you aren’t doing 20 hours a hours a day and it’s later in the week when you're doing the all-nighters. Whereas on this show, it's every day we do it. There's one or two nights where you’re just doing all-nighters, and then come the end of it, you are absolutely exhausted,” he details.

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