The Block’s Emma and Ben take a dig at Adrian Portelli’s wealth after the billionaire investor didn’t make a bid on the couple’s house despite being their ‘ace up the sleeve’

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Emma and Ben Cox, a couple from the TV show The Block, have publicly criticized Adrian Portelli, a wealthy businessman, after their house didn’t sell at the recent auctions in Daylesford on Sunday. They are upset with how things went during the auction.

The first house didn’t sell at auction because the bidding stopped at $2.99 million, its minimum acceptable price. The sellers then tried to boost the price with a bid of $3.1 million, but buyers weren’t interested.

After the surprising outcome, the contestants publicly criticized Adrian, 36, a frequent buyer on the show, for not making an offer even though he had someone present to bid on his behalf.

It was clear to everyone that something was going to happen, especially after Robby and Mat received those results. It was a real shock,” said Ben, 32, in an interview with the Daily Mail.

Robby Lippett and Mat Johnson only won a total of $109,999.10, which they had to share. Mat reacted angrily, publicly criticizing the show’s producers over the small prize amount.

Ben explained that he and his wife, Emma, 33, were hoping Adrian – worth around $1.2 billion – would make an offer on their house through someone acting on his behalf.

I was absolutely fuming when the engineer had the nerve to imply Adrian was too broke to bid at the Block auction! Like, seriously? It was a totally unnecessary and rude comment about his money, and I couldn’t believe someone would say that. It just felt so… dismissive and unfair, and I was instantly on Adrian’s side.

We went up there hoping Adrian might still be able to help, but I’m not sure if that’s still the case,” he said.

‘He’s not got the deep pockets that he used to have. I don’t know.’    

Emma pointed out that Adrian’s absence this year clearly had an impact, noting he’d been present for the past three years.

Honestly, I think Ben hit the nail on the head. He pointed out that prices have been artificially boosted, and now everyone expects them to stay that high – but that’s just not realistic, especially in real estate. He’s right to remind us what’s actually happening in the market.

Scott Cam, the show’s host, didn’t think Adrian’s departure negatively affected any of the contestants’ ability to make a profit.

‘We went nearly half a million bucks over reserve without Adrian Portelli,’ he said. 

‘And in actual fact, Adrian Portelli was in the room today, but he didn’t make any bids.’ 

Adrian became known as ‘Mr Lambo’ after making a grand entrance on The Block in 2022, arriving at the auction in a striking yellow Lamborghini.

He immediately became the focus of everyone’s attention, engaging in a competitive bidding battle with another frequent Block purchaser, Danny Wallis.

Adrian surprisingly offered a very high price for the house – constructed by Omar Slaimankhel and Ozman Abu Malik – which pressured Danny to also significantly exceed the minimum asking price.

The friends won an incredible $1,686,666 in prize money, but Adrian was accused of intentionally inflating bids – essentially being a ‘dummy bidder’.

He refuted the allegations and ultimately proved everyone incorrect by buying Sharon Johal and Ankur Dogra’s house for $4.25 million after it didn’t sell at auction during that same season of the show.

In 2023, he returned to The Block and snapped up three homes for a total of $12.4 million.

This featured the house that won the competition, built by Steph and Gian Ottavio. They achieved a record-breaking profit of $1.75 million on The Block.

In a surprising turn of events on The Block in 2024, Adrian bought all five renovated houses on Phillip Island for a total of $15 million, effectively deciding who won the season.

He’s now joined the cast of Channel Seven’s competing renovation show, My Reno Rules, with Neale Whitaker, who is also well-known from The Block.

The final auction on The Block was disappointing for many of the couples, as they had trouble finding buyers willing to pay more than the very high reserve price of $2.99 million.

Hannah Thetford and Candice Wood didn’t receive any offers on their house after starting the auction with a high vendor bid of $3.1 million, ultimately forcing them to withdraw it from the market.

After selling their house for $3.099 million, Robby and Mat walked home with a total of $109,999.10 to share.

After winning $50,000 in a challenge, Sonny and Alicia’s remaining funds were reduced to $2.94 million.

The couple walked away with $120,000 after selling for $3.06 million.   

Britt and Taran Etto, a couple from Western Australia, achieved the highest sale of the day, selling their modern home, known as House Three, for $3.41 million.

The winning team received a total of $520,000, including a $420,000 prize and a $100,000 bonus.

Earlier this year, the teams responsible for the five properties aimed to sell them for between $3 million and $3.3 million.

The asking price was surprisingly high for this town in Victoria, where houses typically cost four times less than the guide price.

Recent data from PropTrack shows the average home price in Daylesford is about $820,000, down 7.1 percent from last year.

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2025-10-28 03:36