The Block 2022 episode 1 recap: Tree change begins with tears, tantrums and a runaway team

FINALLY, we see what all the fuss has been about.

Before a single episode had even aired, The Block: Treechange had already become one of its most controversial, thanks to a well-publicised walkout and tradie shortages.

As we already know, AFL player Joel and his ‘global influencer’ partner Elle left the show early in the competition, claiming they needed to nurse Joel’s injured mother.

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The Block 2022 quitters buy in Byron Bay hinterland

In tonight’s episode we got to meet the runaway glamour couple dubbed the “Bondi babes”, who arrived on The Block looking chic and talking a good game.

While Joel said he wanted to build some genuine connections with people on the show, Elle wasn’t too fussed about winning friendships, adding: “if not we are just going to go through looking amazing and building an amazing house!”

Partly true to her word, Elle’s hair looked amazing in every scene. And she won’t have to fire-up the Dyson hairdryer at dawn for too much longer though, as we learned the couple would be gone by tomorrow night’s episode — just 48 hours after arriving at 60-acre property at the foot of Victoria’s Macedon Ranges.

This year The Block has gone bush and each of the five teams will have to renovate a house set on 10 acres of land.

All the historic houses are around 500sq m, that’s 100sqm larger than Kirsty and Jessie’s house last year (back then, the biggest ever tackled on The Block) and they have been trucked in from across the country.

As have the teams. And what a mixed bunch they are this year.

In addition to the glamorous quitters, there was Tom and Sarah-Jane from Melbourne’s Gladstone Park. He’s a plumber and she is a social worker. They are married and have a young daughter, Cleo.

The couple are huge fans of The Block and have watched every season, except last year’s series. Sarah-Jane – who we quickly discover isn’t shy in expressing her opinions and will give the censors a run for their money – boycotted the 2021 season in protest over it featuring returning couples Mitch and Mark and Ronnie and Georgia.

In Sarah-Jane’s opinion (the first of many to be expressed tonight), those two teams had stolen spots from people like herself.

Sarah-Jane is confident she and husband Tom will quickly become fan favourites because they are “super relatable”.

“I think if I saw someone like me on TV, I would be like ‘f*** yeah’!” she enthuses. She’s right. She is good TV.

MORE: Everything we know so far about The Block Tree Change

This duo isn’t afraid of hard work or roughing it, spending most of their weekends at a caravan park at Lake Eildon. And, as if to prove just how laid-back he is, Tom happily chomped down on a lamb chop just after his pooch had been gnawing on it. Um, gross.

Now that she’s landed a spot on her favourite show at long last, Sarah-Jane can’t wait to get cracking. Nor to meet the competition.

“Oh my god, this is so exciting. I hope they’re not arseholes,” she shrieked, as Gold Coast couple Jenny and Dylan rolled up to join them.

Dylan is a builder. And Jenny is “a tradie lady!” Apparently, people underestimate her carpentry skills because she likes to wear dresses and make-up.

While Jenny gets the seal of approval from Sarah-Jane, the social worker isn’t too keen on Elle.

Sarah-Jane doesn’t have time for influencers unless they are Kim Kardashian or Bec Judd. People like Elle, she said, should not be on The Block because they already had enough money and followers.

Funnily enough, Sarah-Jane didn’t seem to have any qualms about former Neighbours’ star Sharon rolling up her sleeves to do The Block.

The lawyer-turned actress and her husband Ankur have signed up for the series, despite having absolutely no renovation experience between them.

The last “couple” to arrive is professional footballer Omar and property maintenance worker Osman (aka Oz) who were best mates from Western Sydney.

They love a laugh. But the joke might soon be on Oz, who admitted he’d never seen the show and so had no idea what to expect from the experience.

The first month of The Block will be particularly arduous for the pair as it falls during Ramadan when, as practising Muslims, they cannot eat or drink even so much as a glass of water during daylight hours.

“Middle Eastern. Wogs! We are Muslims. We are definitely not (your typical Block couple),” Oz laughed.

“But that’s why we wanted to do this, to show that we are a multicultural country.”

Once all the teams had arrived at the property and been greeted by host Scott Cam, they’re set their first challenge. Scotty also reveals he’d also be renovating the house he was staying at on the property this year.

Each team is given $5000, 64 hours and the help of some Hipages tradies to renovate a bedroom.

The couple with the best room would get the pick of the five rundown farmhouses.

It’s a good thing that Keith and Dan weren’t on site yet because they would’ve had a fit at the sight of Sharon, having abandoned her stilettos, strolling around the worksite in bare feet.

But Sharon wasn’t going to let a little thing like the threat of tetanus stop her from touring the site and letting a stony-faced Ankur know exactly what she had planned for him to do in the coming weeks.

Those ideas, which basically involved cladding the room and ceiling with rustic wood, were quickly shot down by Scotty, who sagely explained that rough timber was for barbecues and man caves, not a guest bedroom.

Undeterred, Sharon hightailed it to a nearby farm where she picked up a large pile of scrap timber to create her feature wall.

“If we lose, I will say it [taste] was subjective and if we win, I will say [to Scott] ‘I told you so’,” she laughed.

“So, we win either way.”

Meanwhile, our fly-by-night Bondi babes, were planning to go with a coastal chic decor that would showcase their “coolness”.

Omar and Oz seemed to be getting nowhere fast, making endless calls to glaziers about replacing a small window with a larger one.

Tom and Sarah-Jane were also wasting oodles of time. First, they spent two hours arguing over which room to renovate before deciding the matter with a good old-fashioned game of rock, paper, scissors. FYI, Tom won.

The couple then bickered again over paint colour choices before arguing again over how to operate the spray gun.

The strain over the spray paint all proved to be too much for Sarah-Jane who (unsurprisingly, given her flair for dramatics) became the first contestant to shed tears.

Coming in close second with the waterworks was Sharon, who lost her cool when Scotty clapped eyes on her log pile room and declared it an eyesore.

Upon realising that persevering with her wooden vibe was going to likely cost them the challenge and their dream home (House Four) she burst into tears.

And with good reason. Everyone on The Block has their hearts set on House Four, which featured a wraparound veranda and the best views of the ranges. Just who will get to call it home remains to be seen.

One thing we know for certain though is it won’t be the Bondi Babes.

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