The Block 2024: New buyer Tom Ormerod to battle Danny Wallis and Adrian Portelli at auction

The Block 2024 finale is just days away as viewers wait eagerly to find out how each of the teams will fare at the auctions. It's been a rollercoaster of a season with teams quitting, co-stars flirting, tradies being sacked and even a Block baby being born early.

Now, it's all set to come to a head as the teams hope to make the biggest profit from their hard work and occasionally sacrificed dignity. The five houses, located on Philip Island in Victoria are a little different from previous years as they are part of a former holiday park once known as Island Cove Villas.

Who are Danny Wallis and Adrian Portelli?

As any Block fan worth their salt would know, the series attracts two serial buyers each year in the form of Danny Wallis and Adrian Portelli who have purchased a combined total of 15 Block properties in the last few years.

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Wallis is an IT entrepreneur and Melbourne businessman with a reported net worth of $120 million, who bought three out of five Block properties in 2022, 2021 and 2020, as well as several others in previous years.

Meanwhile, Portelli is a property investor and the director of LMCT+, a promotions and giveaway platform. At 35, he is one of Australia’s youngest billionaires and bought three Block homes in 2023, spending over $12 million.

Who is Tom Ormerod?

This year, however, there is a new kid on...The Block.

Entrepreneur Tom Ormerod, and his business partner Ollie Howard, will take on the two titans this year on behalf of his time-share company Paradoor, which allows Aussies to co-own holiday homes.

Paradoor's model allows up to eight parties to share the legal ownership of a holiday home, with each owner enjoying exclusive access to the home for up to 44 nights each year. The company launched in February of this year.

RMIT graduate Ormerod is no stranger to the luxury real estate market, having also co-founded Luxico - an exclusive accommodation service that allows property owners to short and medium-term lease their home and luxury investment properties across Australia.

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His mission is to make The Block houses more accessible to everyday Aussies telling Domain, “By reducing the cost to circa $350,000 for eight owners, we hope to make The Block accessible to the fans so that it’s not dominated by the super-rich.

“It’s time to bring The Block back to the people. For too long it’s been for the billionaires’ club.”

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