The Block stars reveal hardest part of filming the gruelling reality show

With this year’s season of The Block currently underway, former contestants Omar and Oz and Rachel and Ryan have shared what they want viewers to know about the renovation reality series.

Omar and Oz, who won the show’s eighteenth season with the highest profit ever made in a Block auction, tell Yahoo Lifestyle that they hope fans understand just how difficult the experience can be.

“It is very, very tough,” Omar says. “We got pretty lucky and we walked away with a fair bit of money, but there's been people on the show that walk away with nothing.

“So I think they just need to understand that it is very hard to be on The Block. It's not easy building a home in 12 weeks, it’s not easy doing it in front of cameras where you’re watched 24/7, and it just takes a lot of mental strength.”

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Oz adds that viewers should “go easy” on the new contestants because of how much they go through during the filming process.

“Just imagine getting recorded 16 hours a day, waking up before sunrise, miked on, miked off before you go to bed,” he details.

“[Producers] are in your personal space, but you’ve got to understand, it’s reality TV before a reno show, so you’ve got to respect the boundaries and give them what they want.”

'So much is missed'

Meanwhile, Rachel tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the biggest piece of advice she would offer fans of the show is to “distinguish the difference between facts and interpretation”.

“It's really funny, the one thing that I've noticed with the hate is people comment on things that don't actually happen and it's their interpretation of things, but they say it like it's fact,” she remarks.

“So I think what I would say to anyone viewing who then decides that they're so impacted that they need to go comment, is just make sure that you are commenting on what actually happened. And if it's your interpretation, be like, ‘This is just my opinion’.

“Because then what happens is someone will be like, 'Oh my gosh, did she see Rachel just slapped Sarah-Jane?’ when really I was like, ‘Hey babe, how are you’. And then all these people write under it, ‘I hope that she was reprimanded’ and I’m like, it didn’t happen!”

Ryan also shares that it’s important for viewers to realise that they don’t see everything that happens behind the scenes.

“It’s such a big edit to put into an episode, so much is missed,” he says. “And for instance, if they see you at the shops or driving in the car and then you get a comment to say, ‘Oh, how did you get time to do that?’, it’s like, if only you were here for the 12 and a half weeks dealing with this. You don't get any time.

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“If only you could sort of just explain to the viewers that we do a lot. They don't think that the contestants do a lot, they think your builders do everything. But that's the kind of part where I was watching going, ‘Oh man, that was such a stressful day and that's what made TV?’. Which is fine, but you just kind of think I really wish the viewers got to see how that day really played out.”

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