Sam and Emmett have been punished for sourcing outside help on The Block.
Sam and Emmett have been punished for sourcing outside help on The Block.
Viewers say two contestants on the latest season of The Block should be booted off the show after being caught "bending the rules".
Girls vs Boys contestants Sam and Emmett were punished by host Mark Richardson during last night's episode of the TV3 reality show when it was revealed they had been getting advice from an outside style consultant.
The pair had been texting and phoning a friend while planning their room redesigns.
Sam Cable and Emmett Vallender from The Block NZ: Girls vs Boys.
Emmett himself called it "cheating," but Richardson said they had simply broken the rules.
"You've been accused of using an outside agent as a style consultant to help put your rooms together," Richardson told the pair.
"I believe you have broken the rules. I wouldn't go as far as saying it's cheating, but I want to go as far as saying it goes over the line of what's acceptable in the competition."
After Richardson read out some of the text messages, Sam and Emmett were docked $7000 from their budget and the money was distributed between the show's three other teams.
But viewers said the punishment should have been harsher.
"They should have got booted off! That's cheating hands down," wrote one on Facebook.
"Should have been kicked out!" said another.
A third said she was no longer backing the duo to win the show.
"They didn't come clean ... They were caught. I backed them until it was revealed that everything down to the fairy lights on that bed had been thought of by someone else ... Thought they got off pretty lightly," she said.
"Grey area" & "crossed a line" . Are these the new politically correct terms for "cheating"??? #TheBlockNZ
