The Block contestants Sarah-Jane Wilson and Tom Calleja claim their appearance on the show was financially a ‘bomb’ for them.
While they were one of the contestants who didn’t walk away empty-handed – albeit just barely – The Block contestants Sarah-Jane Wilson and Tom Calleja say that their time on the show lost them upwards of $100k.
During a Q&A session on Instagram, the couple revealed that the expenses of sustaining themselves on the show almost drove them ‘in the red’. While they received a $200 daily stipend from Channel Nine, it was barely enough to cover their bills and mortgage payments when accounting for their daughter’s $120-a-day daycare.
“[After childcare], we were left with $80 combined to cover all of our bills at home,” Sarah-Jane said. “Our rates, mortgages, utilities, pay for food for ourselves the whole time, feed and clothes for our daughter, just everything.”
She also revealed that the couple had to dip into their savings to stay afloat. They were, however, able to recoup some of the losses by selling the $80k Ford Ranger they won during one of the challenges in the show.
“Honestly, Ford Australia saved us financially and we are so grateful they gave such a generous prize to the show that we were then able to win!” Sarah-Jane said in her story. “Our plan was always to keep it but we needed to reimburse our lost money from going on the show and the crappy result of the auction.”
By that, Wilson meant the show’s very polarising final auction. Despite being one of the only teams who sold their properties, the couple walked away with merely $20k in profits, a far cry from this season’s winners Omar and Oz who took home a collective $1.5 million.
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Despite everything, Wilson was quick to clarify that she appreciated the experience and had no regrets, even if ‘financially it was a huge bomb for us.’ “But you take that risk, no money is ever guaranteed. We just didn’t think about the amount you spend while not working.”
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