Kyle & Leslie - THE BLOCK - Reality TV Contestants

It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload, the podcast past.

Deep that line.

Welcome back, guys to TV Reload. As you may know, my name is Benjamin Norris and this is your podcast to get all the inside goss on the popular Australian TV shows that you may be watching from around the world. Undeniably, our TV sets are a major part of our home entertainment, and yet very little is known about how our favorite

I'm professional.

I think I have professional help. I think we can all subscribe a group booking for us all. How has your life been, you know, for the last few weeks. How have you fitted this TV show into your life.

It's quite tricky actually, like we were talking about the other day, can be quite mentally fatiguing in discussing it with all the people because everybody's so invested, so all the people like in your bubble.

Then like working in a school, is you know everyone that you work with, and there's all the parents and there's just so many people, and if everyone's so invested in, you're having these conversations constantly as well as just enjoying it because we're watching it the same with everyone.

Else, So we don't know what's happening. We don't know what's going to happen that episode.

So I'm like, do not talk to me between the hours of five and seven watching the show.

I just need to comprehend what's happening.

I feel like you could do like a zoom chat with just all the you know, your closest, your nearest, and your dearest, and just say to everyone you get one question each, we're here for fifteen minutes after each episode, and then leave us.

Alone because the group check gets a bit crazy. I think someone with the Italian family.

Of course, to get to a point where I ever think to yourself, maybe we won't watch tonight's episode.

Oh gosh, no, I could not do that.

Are the kids able to watch the show with you? And do they understand what's going on? And do they take things too personally if things aren't going mum and Dad's way.

I don't know.

I don't think nothing.

So far, they watch it with us and they love it, and then you know, you'll come home from school and I'll stick on Dan and Danny walk around or they're fully embracing it.

But look is old enough now though that you can sort of see like someone's talking about something, he's oh really an he's sort of having a reaction to, you know.

What people might be saying about us sort of thing.

But like, for the most part, like doing the challenges and then watching that as well, is that was exciting because when we were doing the challenges, we thought, oh, they're really going to love this stuff like the sounds sculpting and things like that, and then staying there with them and they still find it as amusing when all the little banners pop up like dining disaster and they're just like, oh, look just for the novels is not more officers.

Yet it's a great show because it is something that the family can watch. Sunday Lights particularly. I think you know, half Australia seems to watch.

Yeah, yeah, And I think that was definitely, you know, a driving factor in terms of our attitude on the show and how we sort of you know, reacted to whether it was the feedback wasn't you know what we wanted, or when things were challenging that we didn't sort of, you know, let it get us down too much because of how that might reflect for the boys watching it back,

I guess, do you.

Think once you get to the end of this series, maybe watching yourselves and seeing how you interact with others, do you think reality TV can sort of change who you are as a person or do you think that this is a moment in time.

I think it's hard to say, because I think.

All along the way, we were always who we are as people in our normal life. Like we always had this perspective that there was life outside of this, you know, even though you caught up in the bubble, we always had this thing that maybe that was the kids, I don't know, but it was this perspective of like, nothing can be so terrible in this situation, Like you would feel like crap and you get terrible feedback or whatever it was.

But we always just.

Had this, well, we just keep pushing through because we're here for the opportunity, and we've always sort of had that perspective and even coming out of it, and you know, of course everyone reads the comments.

But for the most part we just laugh.

Like someone's like, oh my god, I can't believe they got given the table whatever it's a didn't feed or something like that, because you just go, that's not it's not.

Real life kind of thing.

Like the situation is that the money could be end but that particular thing that you did at.

The time sort of if that makes sense.

I think it's interesting with the two of you as well. Quite often we read on social media that you two are the fan favorites, and it's always really funny when you think about social hierarchy inside these shows when productions happening versus public perception of everyone. Were you surprised to be the couple that the fans seem to like the best.

Well, I don't know.

I think, you know, I think we are relatable, and I think we give an opinion or a perspective that people see and I don't know, they draw in too that and go that's how I would react in that situation.

Well, that's how I'm feeling now.

Watching it, so you know, I mean, they make that sort of connection straight away.

I don't know if it was the fact that.

We've probably been a bit more involved in watching the show in the past and really well, obviously we wanted to be on the show.

We've tried out the most out of all the couple, so we were.

Kind of just that was our focus for a lot of the time being there is you know, making the most of the experience, and we sort of didn't go off at any other tangent in terms of drama or no creating a stir.

So there were definitely times that you felt, mean, for lack of a better word, boring when you were there. That's before the show's even gone to end people even see it, because you could already see there were things happening that were way more interesting, if you will, and you kind of went, oh, are we here, Like we're sort of just getting on with building and renovating and all.

That sort of stuff, and you sort of went, oh.

Okay, you know, but I guess our role in that sense was that we were there to narrate what was happening, because that's not our style to get involved, you know, and have conflict with people.

So then I guess the part that we played.

Was to narrate on what was happening, because I mean, I s don't want to know about what's happening.

I want to talk about it. I don't want to miss anything, but I just don't want it to involve me.

So yeah, I think that sort of became the part that we played, just narrating what was happening around the place without actually ever having a side.

So to speak.

I think as well, they kind of know the personalities. They do a lot of psychological assessment on knowing personality types and casting you both in there where you both aren't going to see drama or bigger personalities and try and beat it, but you guys still stay on your level.

Yeah, I think it became pretty clear pretty early that there was some big personalities and they were trumped anything that we were sort of going to be able to

I think it's weird that people would say, you know, boring or anything like that. I don't see that. I mean, Kyle, you really did stand up for yourself and give a voice. In the first I went to say town meeting, it's not called a town meeting. In the first the body call all the town fucker, we got all the town folk together. Oh, first meeting. You I thought people could have been loud and obnoxious or whatever, and you two could have easily just been quiet. But you know, you

Yeah, And I think you know, I mean, that meeting had gone on for quite a while up until it when I eventually spoke up, and you know, it was, yeah, I was getting over it, and you know, there was just a part of me that didn't like about how it was all structured and how it was very much It's not to blindside anyone, but then it really was you know, I got to a stage where I was like I don't. Yeah, I didn't want to impose myself

Like I was saying, we've been there for quite some time and everyone had tried attempted to say something, and if you weren't on board with what the narrative of the meeting was, it was like, you know, you were just getting spoken over. So I think he got to the point where it was like enough.

But I guess as well, do you think that there's been enough balance in who is being shown on the show.

It's hard because I think the storyline with there and Ash and even the four of them, it's so relevant to the whole experience for all of us, So I think not showing it doesn't really do justice to everyone's experience. So even though it's very one side in terms of what we're seeing. I do believe that the potentially that will swing later on and as you know, the rest of.

Us get closer.

Yeah, it'll give a bit of balance and I guess maybe give a bit of insight and so what was happening before and what happens at the end maybe, And.

It's positives coming out of that as well.

So as much as you're sort of seeing the same people on TV all the time in a negative way, behind that, there's the positive that the relationships that we were all starting to make with each other. And so I think, like like Well said that that all has to be told as part of the story because that continued from that moment right to the end and then beyond the show. So people are going to get a chance to see how that developed.

Watching the show back. Though, who's shocked you the most? I guess you know both of you were there every day, but in terms of being the most different to how you had perceived it whilst production was on.

I don't know.

To be honest, I'm not haven't been shocked about anything that I've seen so far. Like, obviously you don't know what's being said and nothing that's been said in interviews or at anyone's house has related to you by producers.

They're not trying to say, this is what someone said. What's your response? Like that doesn't happen.

So you know you're hearing things a lot of the time for the first time with everyone else, but you know, I mean, you're around it still, so you would hear other things that haven't been shown that. So what you do see hasn't surprised me or hasn't shocked me.

I guess the only thing that shop was that's how early it started happening.

Yeah, the one gave them cap or something.

Yeah, so that did shock me a little bit. Closers like how didn't even have an opportunity to form an opinion on anyone in the first week, And yeah, others had obviously they hit.

The ground running. I want to know is the drama still going? I mean, do you know if Steph and Christy and Leah are they are they all friends now? Like, are we heading to a happier place with the three of them? Or do you think that this is the calm before the storm?

I think even from what we've seen and as it's going to develop, it's very hard to come back from something like that, and for us it happens later on in the show. You know, we become you know, someone's focused sort of thing, and so I think it's difficult

It was always going to have it. But do you think that being in House one and where you were situated was a blessing in disguise as you're kind of on the outskirts of it, like you're kind of down the end of the block, so less likely to be in the thick of it. Do you think that sort of helped or would you have preferred to have been in the middle.

No, I was pretty comfortable being House one, and yeah, you sort of did feel like you were sheltered a little bit from everything else, so we could sort of get on with what we were doing and avoid you know, some of the prying eyes. Maybe so in terms of what I wanted my experience and the show to be, I was I was happy to be sheltered a little bit from it.

I mean, the snipes from Leah, Ash and Christy were sort of coming in thick and fast this week. Do you think that they should have all started to focus more on their building of their houses or do you think it's just normal to make comment on your work colleagues or you know, your fellow contestants.

I think it's that water cooler stuff, you know, like that happens in every workplace everywhere where you like, did you see what Susan did or this one's and it's it's just that kind of thing with you in an office job, whether you're on in a hospital, in it wherever.

I think it's just something that does naturally happen.

But I think the most interesting part is that it's recorded and we get to watch it, because I think if you went to an office block and then you played it on the screen for everyone to watch what people were saying about who was at the photocopyer, people would.

Be like, oh my god, I can't believe they said that. And it's not like we didn't do that, you know, it's true.

We didn't talk about what was happening, just how we spoke about it was never yeah, malicious and in that tone you know, you comment on something, Oh, someone struggled with this, they had to restumble. There was never a malicious tone. It was never a where they're getting help from or why is that happening? Or their favorites or there was never anything like that. So I think that's where that the difference came.

Leslie. There was that thing that they said that you know tonight on the block, Leslie. I don't think it was the ad. I actually think I read this online somewhere it was like, Leslie storms off because she can't take the bitching anymore.

Did that happen?

Did you storm off because you were a jack of these girls having these problems?

I laughed at the story when I saw the story, because that for those particular pictures didn't even match the week that I actually lived. But I left for very planned outing, which I came back home for. But yeah, I mean later on it does get a bit tiring. I mean we were like, just get me out.

Of here, So you haven't stormed off yet, but it's going to happen. It's on its way. What about you know, reading about the commentating the commotation of this season, you obviously would see or be tagged in a lot of stuff. What have you read about yourselves that's been completely untrue?

We've been lucky in terms of the response to us, So I don't really think there's been anything that's been too far fetched yet.

The most savage just our dining room planning.

I mean, the word validation got thrown around a lot this week. Do you think that people these days need too much validation? Because I feel like the drama that's happening this week about validation comes down to, you know, people want to be told that they're doing a good job all the time, where I feel like we don't always need to be told we've done a good job to keep going.

Yeah, don't.

I don't think everything everyone needs validation. I feel like it's hard if if the only opinion that you give is negatives, then you know, I mean, that's difficult to take all the time true, And you know what I mean, we would always try to be very constructive in terms of what we thought of someone's room, whether we liked it or not. You know, even the things that we didn't like, we weren't ashamed to go and speak to

It wasn't sort of like that.

And I think especially the girls, like they got beat downs from the judges, so then for them, from your peers, the only thing they say to you is like, oh, Ash said, the most will look like Shrek's cube. It's just it's I guess it's a bit of pill to take. And it's not that they just want validation all the time. You know, it doesn't always have to be solely negative.

I don't think anyone wants a reference of anyone. Pubes, whether they're shreks are.

No, probably not.

It's a lovely green merk and you're wearing today, are they shreks? Pubes are great?

And like, we didn't agree on the wall, but we didn't just walk in there. And Cole didn't just go hate it. He was like, it's not for me because x y Z and I was like, yeah, that's a fair point, but it's in your guest suite, so it's not where someone's going to be for you know, three months at a time. It's just in they're out the visiting and it's a bit of a feature sort of thing, and so you give that sort of feedback as in, yeah, you don't like it.

But I do, or you have these things. I don't know. But it's hard, isn't it.

The whole premise of the whole week is to get validation from three people so you can have money.

Yeah, true, I think as well. You know, I actually was there when people were doing tours of the houses and they saw that feature wall, and I didn't see anyone say anything nice about it either. But I guess to make success on this show, you really need to make some really bold choices outside of just you know, what people would do in their homes every day. I mean, you do want to have those moments where you feel

Yeah, I think it's a tricky position to be in because it is you're being judged week by week. So essentially, you could make a room every week that has nothing to do with the room before and nothing to do with the room that you're planning in the future. But in the whole grand scheme of things, you're trying to sell a house or a home, so it has to feel like a home. So as much as yeah, the focus is.

In just what you've delivered that week, yeah, I don't know.

You kind of don't a play safe, but you've got to think of the end sort of project or home that you're creating.

If you were just going to create a house that was personally tailored to yourself, you might not do all of the decisions that you've made. You're trying to win the block, do you know what I mean.

I took my head off to Ash and Leah sorry, even from their very first bathroom because it was something that you wear.

Oh, I haven't seen that and it's not for me. So the living room no for me.

Great if I was in Palm Springs somewhere on a holiday again for a short period of time, awesome if that's where you arrived at your airbnb, not the home I'm going to buy, but I could appreciate that they were taking this whole different path that everyone else was, you know.

I think also a source of the driver at the most moment comes down to Eliza Liberty being accused of being Channel Line's favorites. And I guess that was a real problem as the show was going on, because they got spoken about quite a bit. Did you think they were being helped by Channel nine at all?

I didn't, and I didn't think they were a Channel Line plant or whatever the.

You know, the narrow secret savage. Yeah.

I think what possibly one part of the show that people don't understand is that it's the benefit of House one is that a lot of the work that Channel Lines builders do in conjunction with us starts at House one and finishes at House five sort of thing, because they have to have some sort of structure and schedule.

So the negative of being.

House five is that you often thinks start happening in your house later than everyone else. So for me, what happened this week with the girls and they're living and dining, it needed to happen otherwise they weren't gonna have a room to present.

So nine s builders needed.

To get in there and finish framing that exterior wall and stuff like that. So I didn't see it as a favor or anything that you know, someone else wasn't getting. The rest of us were still having the same amount of work done on our houses, just it had happened earlier. And even I don't know even the whole you know, Dan being a show for for the I just I saw the humor in it.

I don't know why some people just went straight to the you know, it's a favoritism thing.

It's a shame.

But from a viewers perspective, I don't necessarily think we're seeing them being favored that much.

Absolutely not.

And like you, I used to give them shit, so can I say shit? I you know that these little men would come in the nighttime and be like, oh okay, like because the girls were up, they were doing just like we all were, but you know they really did. They'd have more consistent over like long nights than everyone else. We might go to bed on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

And if you went for a wonder at twelve o'clock at night, two o'clock, they were up, and so I think for them that's.

Where that they really take it to heart, because they were slogging it out and you know, and again as was I'm not saying other people weren't doing that, but no one else is being accused of getting help from Channel nine.

So yeah, that one sort of like is taken. You know, that story is grotten legs and arms and walked off like you know, I think there's nothing you can do about it. I did get told that you get involved in the drama at some point, and we're not there of the show yet, but can you kind of tease me on what does it take for you both to get involved in drama? Because I've met you both a couple of times before doing this podcast. Your most placid loveliness people.

But us it was because it was a question about actual character. So you're taking your coming from what is in the bubble that you can accept.

Okay, we're in a bubble.

Everyone's going to get a bit heated and bit offended about every little thing to questioning us as actual people. And I think for us it was I was like, absolutely not, that's not what we're about sort of thing, and just this feeling at that point like just stay in your lane, just worry about yourself, like you.

Know, you've got some people feel better about themselves by like talking about someone else. You know, it happened to me for a long period of my life, and that I was like it came down to sort of a lott of work that I did on myself where the more insecure I was, the more I was sort of commentating on other people. And then when I realized that at those times that I would say something negative about others, it was usually at my most insecure, and so I

You know, Yeah, yeah, absolutely it is. I just think it needs to needs to happen a different way, and it needs to be if you know, if that's your.

Goal and that's your intention on coming on the show, then then share that with everyone. Let us all be a part of the game sort of thing. Don't just fire bullets and you know, and the rest of us can't fire back because we don't know that we're involved in conflict sort of.

Thing, you know what I mean? Yeah, just taking the hits and then expect it to laugh about it later on. And I don't feel like that's a fair fight.

Yeah. Absolutely. And you know, we've also seen a lot of the work now from Neil and Marty, So we've had Neil and Marty look at some of these rooms. I just wanted your perspective, like, which judge do you prefer? Do you prefer your rooms being judged by Neil or Marty?

I don't know.

I don't know if I prefer either one.

Obviously, Marty gives a great new perspectives that you know, potentially that haven't had before from a judge in terms of.

From a real estate point of view.

And obviously Marty doesn't bet around abortion in terms of what his opinion is. And I don't know as much as sometimes you know, we didn't score great with Marty or his feedback wasn't necessarily positive.

I don't know. We didn't have an issue with no.

I was never offended.

I mean I always I was always going to write on the cotails of his comment that any real estate agent would be lucky to sell our house. I was just like, you can say anything right now, and he's already said, that's put back.

What you going to put on that? You know, it's what you put on the throw pillow. When did you realize that you should have a full open living space and one wall needed to come down? When did you get to that realization?

I mean early on, but the options explored weren't plausible at the time.

And when you know, Dan came in and is like, well, you need this roll out.

And I was just like, aha, are you taking the piece because it's Tuesday Wednesday?

With it the date, it was like, that's not happening.

But in reality, we had so many more questions than I had answers to, and we were both like, I just how does that look if we don't present a room, like how's that playing out here? And I was like, I just there wasn't any answers or a path that we knew like this is where it was going to go. So it was like, can we just let's just get to judging, Let's just keep going, finish up where we are,

It was.

It was small, But there was just no answer at that moment of like, look, just don't present and let's explore all these options and we you know then that came later on obviously, So for me, I was just like I just would have Yeah, we decided we'll get to judging. Take the hit on the chin if it was going to go super badly, and then decide from there, you know what it is.

That we were going to do.

I think it is really hard. I guess if you get the bottom score, I guess, or whatever, it's going to change the way that your next week goes. It's not always a bad thing either, do you know what I mean? Like I think sometimes if you do rank at the bottom, you go, Okay, well I'm going to try and do things differently the next week, and then you level up. I feel like kind of doesn't always have to be that bad, you know what I mean? You can try and look for the positive and that.

Yeah, absolutely, And even you know, even based on living and dining week, it was still the fact that the room was beautiful. You know, the styling was beautiful, so you know, you really sort of focused on those positive and go, well, it's just the fact that it's too small and we can fix that. You know now that we can plan to fix it. So you know, the bones and the structure were there, and that's really what we focused on.

I think after that.

Judging, Yeah, do you have a favorite room at this point? What's the room that you feel the most proud of.

Well, in terms of what's being done, I really love our whole space, But in.

Terms of what's to come, my favorite is the master.

On Suite, and you're going to recreate that in your own home. I mean the show is very good when it's being aspirational. You kind of want to watch the show and you know, have that level of integrity of building to be just that level above what you probably could really afford. I think that's kind of like you know, home pawn or whatever.

It's definitely attraction of being on the show, the fact that you can create, you know, a multimillion dollar home that you know that's very much not in the opportunity for you know, the average Joe.

So yeah, that's an amazing opportunity to have.

But then having said that too, we also do things where you hope someone at home who is on a budget can go, oh, they're just they put sand in their paint and they got this textured finish that looks stunny, like we could do that.

Where are you going to take this? I mean, after you've been on the show, you might win millions of dollars, we don't know, But where where do you want to take this experience. I mean, are you wanting to move more into this sort of work full time?

I don't know.

It's really hard. Like I probably need to hone in on it in the next seven weeks and the show in I don't know yet.

I definitely, I guess I want to be in the space in some way now that I've sort of done that, Like I love being in a Kidney classroom.

But I'm like more like, you know, obviously, because we'll.

Put the show so I'm like, yeah, I just don't know where it's going to go, but I hope it's somewhere.

Yeah. Who do you think at this stage, like even watching the show back, who do you think is going to get the most amount of money out of all the houses? Out of one to five? Do you have a house that do you think is going to going to win? Or too busy vision boarding your own house at that spot.

I'm very confident in terms of what we finished with and how it makes people feel and that emotional connection that Scottie really drives home. I feel like you do get that with our home. I think, you know, Stephan John's plays ticks a lot of the right boxes, you know, just in terms of even just orientation, you know what I mean. And they've got that massive living dining era in the kitchen to come. Yeah, I think it's it might be hard to trump them, but you know, so let's do this.

We're going to go with Stephan Giarn than yourself. Then who is third, fourth, and fifth?

Would I would put the girl's third again because of the.

Norse aspects well, and then just pro purely from an investment point of view, probably lear in Ashle than Christian Bratt.

All right, there we go. There's our five, which is good. It's always hard to be put on the spot with those ones, but it's what people want to know. They want, they want the juicy. I guess I think I asked you a little bit about this earlier. But do you know if the drama is still going? Do you know that Steph and Christian and Lea are they still going out and have their friends? Now?

Do we know the answer that post post show?

Yeah, post show? What do we know? Are they okay? Now we need to.

Call them friends?

I think I think personally, I think that the six of us will remain very close and potentially not feel the need to have to be close with the other four.

Okay, there we go. That's that's what's happening for Christmas. Some people are on the Christmas put some people aren't.

And I only have six chairs around my dining.

Table that's there, then it's fair you can't bring another chair in.

Carl's got broad shoulders. It starts kidding.

In the media this week, we've heard a lot about Dalsford was supposed to be the next block, and they're saying that it's not going to happen. Do you guys have any ideas as to where you think the block should be for the twentieth anniversary.

I don't. I don't know. I think I think the Suburbs worked.

I liked I liked how the show ran, and obviously it was much easier for the crew not having to sort.

Of be in the mud and the cold.

Yeah, exactly. So I'm not sure. I hope they come up with a space.

That gives justice to the twentieth season. I would I mean me personally, I would love to see like a gap week series again, where you're all in the same building, you know, trying to get out the same flight of stairs and just you.

Know, it'd be good to see teams not just like couples, but like teams.

Teams sounds like too many people. It's bad enough with two people per house.

So yeah, I mentioned that, no, no, no.

And before you guys going to ask you what is something from behind the scenes, something we won't see, kind of like a behind the scenes secret to what it's like to film the block.

For me, I think one of the most memorable things is the crew and the people that no one else gets to see. That was really especially in the beginning when you haven't really gotten to know contestants. You're getting miked up by the saying people you're all up at that time of the morning, you're all going.

To bed late.

You form these relationships with people and you get to know people and they're on the other side, which I think is what translates to what people can see, because once you have those relationships, you feel comfortable to.

Talk and to say things, and so there's something to yet.

I think that's one of my favorite things about behind the scenes.

And they come.

Back again and again like they have been there for years and years and years, and there's people who go from being just runners and then you know they said, oh, that's how I started out and now I'm doing this and so it is somewhay that people want to be working. And yeah, it does translate when you.

When you're to skip kinder kids. For being a television producer.

I'd be really good at that. Actually, people trust me, they tell me.

People they tell you all of their pulling secrets. So I think it's a skill set. Yeah, thank you so much for being so generous with your time and chatting with me today.

Speak to you again.

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