Adrian Portelli – otherwise known as the controversial bidder on The Block who’s been accused of intentionally raising a property’s price – has posted a photo with the show’s winners, Omar and Oz.
Omar and Oz walked away with the biggest win in the show’s history this week, they pocketed $1,686,666.66, including their $100,000 in prize money for winning. The Block houses have a reserve, and contestants take home the gap between the reserve price and selling price.
Omar and Oz’s house was the first at auction, and it sold for $5.666,666 million, the next closest house in price was Rachel and Ryans, which sold for $4.2 million – over $1.4 million less.
Omar and Oz’s triumph has been overshadowed by speculation that they have a personal relationship with one of the men 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.
Portelli arrived at the auction and bid for Omar and Oz’s property, which was first off the block, and greeted the men personally with a hug. After he didn’t win the house, he left the auction, without sticking around for any of the other contestant’s auctions, which are similar houses albeit with very different interiors.
Yesterday, Portelli defended himself against criticisms that he knew the men personally, and bid to purposely push up the house.
“For everyone questioning the legitimacy of the auction, I was a genuine buyer with every intention to purchase that property. Nobody is to blame for what happened. It’s an auction. Believe it or not but if you’ve got two people that genuinely want the property, a bidding war will commence,” he wrote on his Instagram story.
He added, “Im happy to show my bank account for anyone that suggests these were dummy bids.”
Now, the multi-millionaire has further stirred the pot by posting a photo of himself celebrating in a hot tub with Omar and Oz, while The Block plays on the TV in the background.
“Too soon?” He cheekily captioned the pic.
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Fans are having a field day in the comments, and have been referencing how soon Adrian posted the photo after being accused of helping rig the competition.
“That background was some unintentional foreshadowing,” one wrote.
Another commented, “Hey’re only mad cos you’re boys from the area, doin the rest of us proud, more of us to join you soon. enjoy the champagne boys”.
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