The Block contestants Omar and Oz walked away with the biggest win in the show’s history last night, pocketing well over $1.7 million. However, their 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.
Omar and Oz’s property sold for $5.666,666 million, and the next house closest in price to their huge sale was Rachel and Ryan who’s house was bought for $4.2 million dollars – more than a $1.6 million gap.
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 auction, which are similar houses albeit with very different interiors.
Josh Packham, who appeared on last year’s season of The Block, questioned why Portelli left so suddenly.
“He bid 5.5m for that house and then walked away. He could’ve bought any of the other houses for 4.2. Massive question mark: Why?” he said on Instagram.
Omar and Oz have defended their relationship with Portelli, saying that they only met the millionaire when he came to look at the houses on offer, prior to auction day.
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“We actually reached out to a mutual friend (who) suggested that he might be interested, and he wanted to come have a look at the house. And when he did come, he absolutely loved it,” Omar told Fitzy and Wippa this morning.
While conducting their press rounds this morning, the men further defended any accusations that they knew Portelli personally.
“We only knew him from when he first visited our house … We met another beautiful family that we got very close to. They came to the house a few times; we took them to the basketball as well. Everyone who was a potential buyer, we really gave up our time for them,” Omar said in n interview with 2DayFM’s Hughesy, Ed and Erin
During a chat with Kyle and Jackie O, Oz said that Portelli was only interested in their house because of the specific style of the interior, and said the investor had inspected fellow contestants Tom and Sarah-Jane’s house.
“It’s all about networking. As soon as we finished the build. we got out there, trying to market our property the best we can… He was only interested in our house. It was perfect for him – it was all he wanted.”
Gossip publication So Dramatic uncovered two photos of Adrian hanging out at Omar and Oz’s property. The photos were originally posted to Adrian’s Instagram account, and in one photo he can be seen posing on a car with Oz, and in the other, he is posing with a shisha on the porch of the house.
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