This year’s season of The Block took a shocking turn when it was revealed that ‘dummy bidder’ Adrian Portelli purchased Sharon and Ankur’s house for an undisclosed price.
It’s been revealed that Adrian paid $4.25m for the property – which was $170,000 over the $4.08 million reserve, which pushes the couple into second place.
If you’re unfamiliar with how the contestant’s prize money on The Block works, all of the contestant’s house has a reserve price, and whatever amount the house sells for over the reserve, they get to keep.
This year, all the houses had a reserve of $4.08 million set. Omar and Oz’s house sold for the highest amount at $5,666,666.66, which means they got an additional $100,00 prize money for winning, resulting in them taking home $1,686,666.66. Rachel and Ryan’s house was bought for $4.2 million dollars, resulting in them walking away with $169,000. Tom and Sarah Jane sold their house for $4,100,000 – meaning they made just $20,000. Ankur and Sharon’s and Dylan and Jenny’s houses didn’t mean the reserve and will still on the market until today.
News.com.au has revealed that Nine told them Adrian purchased Sharon and Ankur’s house for $4.25 million, meaning they pocketed $170,000 – the second highest amount after Omar and Oz.
However, Omar and Oz’s triumph was been overshadowed by speculation that they have a personal relationship with one of the men, Adrian Porter, who was locked in a bidding war for their property.
Although Omar and Oz’s house sold to Danny Wallis, he battled two other fellow bidders who drew up the price. One of those bidders was multi-millionaire Adrian Portelli, who left the auction immediately after he failed to win Omar and Oz’s house and didn’t stick around for the auctions on fellow contestant’s houses, which are very similar.
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Adrian has since defended himself against “dummy-bidder” claims, and today, he put his money where his mouth is.
“Well this is going to rustle some feathers… Someone’s winning one of The Block houses! A lot of Australia doubted the man however Adrian has gone and bought Ankur and Sharon’s house 3 and one of you lucky buggers is going to win it! 
,” he caption a photo of the house on Instagram.
He added, “If you want to lock your name into the draw before it goes public, sign up today https://lmctgiveaway.com/loyalty-membership.”
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