We reveal today The Block NZ has been canned, with hundreds of people missing out on production roles, says an international TV firm.
The Block NZ has been canned, forcing an international production company into selling the four homes it has been building on Auckland’s North Shore for the popular television series.
The exteriors of the four homes, in Brown’s Bay, are almost complete and in an ideal world would have been ready for the television series to begin production in a matter of weeks.
But the series has fallen victim to the widespread production cuts and cost savings being implemented by Warner Bros Discovery. It has officially advised the production company, its sister firm Warner Bros International Television Production, that it won’t commission a new, 11th local series of the show, in which four teams compete to build the best interiors of homes, decorate and furnish them, and later auction them to the public.
Warner Bros International Television Production NZ co-managing director Mike Molloy said the decision was “devastating”.
“And devastating for a lot of local production workers. That is what we’re living with.
“I’m not going to comment around the show, or the decisions taken since we have the same ultimate parents. Suffice to say we’ve got to live by what’s happened.”
He said hundreds of people would have worked on the show. “There are some very, very disappointed people out there, particularly some young people who are struggling day to day.”
Warner Bros International went through a lengthy process to buy the property at 850 Beach Rd, including seeking and receiving Overseas Investment Office approval for the purchase.
Records show the property sold for $2.575 million in March 2022.
A single, older wooden house stood on the 1042sq m property at the time - a OneRoof listing stated the property came with resource consent for four two-storey homes with sea views.
The property was later cleared and work started on preparing it for the TV series.
In 2023, Warner Bros Discovery announced that it was postponing The Block NZ to 2024 after a lacklustre conclusion to the 2022 season - the winners’ home sold for only $4000 above reserve.
There had been indications in February this year The Block NZ would still go ahead, even with Warner Bros Discovery’s proposal to axe Newshub and implement a wide range of other production cutbacks.
Shows such as Married at First Sight NZ and The Traitors NZ are still going ahead. Contracts had been in place already and both series have now been filmed. MAFS NZ will start screening later this month while The Traitors NZ - hosted by Paul Henry - recently wrapped filming in South Canterbury and will screen later this year.
There had been hopes the property market would bounce back for a strong 2024 season of The Block NZ. It turns out, however, the show was not officially commissioned and has now fallen victim to production cost savings.
Warner Bros Discovery confirmed it had advised Warner Bros International in the “last week or two” it would not commission a new season, following the completion of its own internal consultation period.
A Warner Bros Discovery spokeswoman said: “When we announced our business restructure earlier this year, we indicated that WBD would no longer make fully funded local shows, which includes The Block NZ.
“Existing sponsors had been told that we would contact them if the show was going ahead and they would have first right of renewal.”
In Browns Bay, builders are just a few weeks away from finishing the exterior of the homes that were being constructed for the series.
The shells are almost complete, the cladding material is on site, and the building company is set to hand the properties over by the end of June.
The Block NZ has been on New Zealand screens since 2012, hosted in all that time by Mark Richardson.
Over the course of 10 seasons, teams have competed to build and decorate the best interiors of homes, for public auction later. The best year was 2021, when Tim Cotton and Arthur “Arty” Gillies made a $660,000 profit on their home. They took another $100,000 away in prize money.
The worst was 2022, when two of the four properties did not meet reserve, a third couple made just $100 profit and the winning couple made $4000 profit. The winning couple - Ben Speedy and Chloe Hes - also took away $100,000 in prize money, cushioning the blow.
If the show had gone ahead for its 11th season, it would again have focused on four sets of contestants building and decorating the interiors of the homes, ahead of a televised auction for the four properties.
Instead, Warner Bros International will have to do that work itself and sell the properties.
Molloy hoped to be able to sell the homes “as soon as bloody possible” - hopefully within the next six months.
“In this market, it’s going to take a few months, particularly as there’s a bit of work to do. My inclination is to get rid of them as soon as possible, but we’ll just see how the market goes.”
Asked if he thought The Block NZ would ever return, he referred comment to Warner Bros Discovery.
No contestants had been arranged, he said.
Molloy denied there was a host of specific building contractors waiting to work on the show.
“None of those things have ever been organised. I just have a builder on there working on the houses and that’s it.”
So what might these homes fetch? Certainly, the four properties will generate far more than the $2.57m paid for the single dwelling in 2022.
Warner Bros International will be hoping to recoup as much of the cost it’s spent on clearing the property, building the four new homes and now having to fit them out.
OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said: “The Block NZ’s producers have been buying and selling property in Auckland for years so would be well acquainted with the ups and downs of the city’s housing market. However, the challenges they are now facing will be new to them. We’ve seen other developers who bought at market peak come unstuck - several are selling off entire blocks at a discount and agents have reported some vendors are bleeding cash.
“With interest rates still punishingly high and build costs expensive, it could be difficult to recoup what would have been a big upfront investment. And they won’t have a TV show to help them find buyers either. However, market conditions are likely to improve by the end of the year, which may throw them a lifeline.”
Earlier this year, Ray White lead auctioneer Sam Steele told OneRoof that 2024 would be a great year for the show.
“I certainly haven’t been informed if it’s going ahead or not, but I’d certainly be very positive [if it did return this year],” he said in February.
“From the sales results we’ve seen in January so far, it’s all positive signs going forward.”
Steele, who has featured in previous seasons of The Block, said the show’s homes were usually beautifully renovated and attracted first buyers.
“It’s always a combination of first-home buyers, investors, downsizers and all that sort of thing but what the real bonus for the couple of years that I’ve been involved, a real added selling point, is that those houses come completely furnished.”
That, of course, won’t quite be the story now.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
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