Block contestants Luke and Jasmin were thrilled after scoring a perfect 30 for their jungle-themed children’s bedroom on Sunday’s episode of The Block, but it soon became apparent they’d leaned a little too heavily on a popular Byron Bay AirBnB for inspiration.
After scoring $10,000 for their creation, Luke and Jasmin were publicly called out by two of the show’s judges, as well as Byron Bay design group The Designory, for the blatant copy.
Jasmin was shown using a photo of the Barefoot Bay Villa bedroom as inspiration, but it went much further than that, according to irate viewers, who flooded social media after the program aired.
Judge Shaynna Blaze was not happy by the revelations.
โThere are one or two teeny-tiny tweaks, but itโs literally a carbon copy,โ she told TV Week.
โWhen you present it in a competition and say, โI put this together,โ itโs like, โWell, no you havenโt! You just copied somebody elseโs hard work and claimed it as your own.โโ
Fellow judge Darren Palmer at first praised the bedroom on Instagram.
“Asย @nealewhitakerย mentioned during the show, and I have to agree with him, the lockdown period gave the couples time to work on their creativity (as demonstrated),” he wrote.
Shortly after the episode aired, and the public backlash hit, Palmer posted another message, that begun: “Please don’t think this is an excuse, it’s an explanation”.
“We don’t get shown what the viewer sees on air. Short of searching Pinterest for each house each week when we are filming back to back on long days, we can’t know what the viewer knows.
“I wish we could and I acknowledge The Designory for their original, creative and professional work.”
The Designory also chimed in, writing: “They say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, if you watch The Block you’ll see the greatest form of public flattery that ever lived.”
Check out the Barefoot Bay Villa, as listed on AirBnB