The Block newcomers Maddy and Charlotte have broken their silence on the ‘bullying’ they received on the show from fellow contestants.
The Sydney sisters entered into the heated 20th season of the renovation competition earlier this month, after couple Paige Beechey and Jesse Maguire threw down their tools.
The engaged couple, who were dubbed series ‘villains’ officially called off their wedding in December, following speculation their engagement was in trouble.
Maddy, 24, and Charlotte, 22, swiftly emerged as strong contenders, but found targets on their backs even more quickly, after revelations of their professional house-flipping experience emerged.
The cast accused the fan-favourite sisters of ‘lying’ about their experience level.
This latest melodrama, eclipsing the renovation part of the renovation series, has caused some fans of The Block to threaten switching off to en mass.
Host Scott Cam declared the sisters the winner of the week during Sunday night’s episode, and things exploded when team Kylie and Brad refused to clap.
Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle on Tuesday, Maddy said she’s found watching the season quite difficult to watch because of how she and her sister were treated by the other contestants. She said reliving the experience has been ‘triggering’.
The Block fans celebrated on Tuesday night as they watched builder Zak quit the show and walk off-site after a heated row with newcomers Maddy and Charlotte (both pictured)
‘Sunday night’s episode made me really upset,’ Maddy told the publication.
‘I was like, “I can’t watch this”.
‘These people are being cruel to us and I don’t really understand why.’
In the episode, the sisters’ Guest Bathroom reveal wowed judges.
However, the pair’s competitors were less than impressed, calling the room ‘safe’ and ‘vanilla.’
Rivals Kylie and Brad Baker were fuming and went so far as to not offer any applause when the duo won the challenge.
On the latest episode of The Block, newcomers Maddy and Charlotte’s Guest Bathroom reveal wowed judges. However, the pair’s competitors were less than impressed, calling the room ‘safe’ and ‘vanilla.’ Both pictured
It was not just Kylie and Brad who were unimpressed, with Haydn saying of the bathroom, ‘The colours are… pretty vanilla’
The final edit, though, also showed Kylie and Brad telling cameras that the competition was ‘rigged’ because the sisters were ‘the most hated people on The Block.’
‘We didn’t do anything to them to deserve that behaviour,’ Maddy continued as she broke her silence this week after the events aired.
‘We strive to be kind to people in every circumstance, and then to have someone, who’s just blatantly choosing to be unsupportive and unkind, it’s just not a nice feeling at all.
‘We were nothing but supportive when [Kylie and Brad] won the week before. It was their anniversary and I said to Kylie, “I’m so excited you won, how perfect it’s your anniversary dinner!”.’
‘We weren’t bitter, we congratulated them, we were excited for them, we celebrated. And so to not get that in return is disappointing, considering they’re way older than us and have four children. You just kind of expect more from any human, really.’
Daily Mail has previously revealed that Kylie and Brad Baker, from the Green Team, will make an abrupt exit from The Block in the coming weeks. Both pictured
Maddy also noted that entering the competition late, as well as being the youngest contestants, felt like being ‘the new kid at school’.
While her sister Charlotte told Yahoo that she still didn’t understand the hostility from the couple.
‘Before we’d even met Kylie she had made up her mind that she wasn’t going to like the new contestants,’ she said.
‘She glared at us up and down as soon as she saw us.’
Sydney sisters on The Block have spoken out about the ‘bullying’ they received from other contestants: ‘We didn’t do anything to them to deserve that behaviour,’ Maddy said
Fans of the series seem to agree with the duo, with the online response this week being overwhelmingly supportive of them – while lashing their rivals’ behaviour as ‘disappointing’, ‘horrifying’, and ‘immature’.
‘It’s a little uncomfortable to watch the other team being so negative about the girls,’ one person wrote on Instagram. ‘Heartbreaking to see adults behave like this after they’d already decided not to like your bathroom. I hope you win big.’
‘Why are the girls getting bullied by the other contestants? Not cool,’ said another.
‘Gorgeous room by a gorgeous team,’ added a third. ‘The bad sport behaviour by some of the other contestants, especially those who are parents, is horrifying.’
The Block fans have lashed out at Kylie and Brad Baker for the ‘bullying’ they say Maddy and Charlotte endured after their bathroom win
Daily Mail previously revealed that the couple are set to make an abrupt exit on the Channel Nine series in the coming weeks.
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‘Kylie had an absolute meltdown at the end of week 12 and stormed off the set,’ spilled an insider from the production team.
‘She flat-out refused to continue filming, and the pair didn’t even show up to finish their communal space in week 13.
‘I’ve got no clue how the producers are going to handle this on screen or how they’ll edit around it,’ they continued.
It comes after another insider dished that some of the fights between Kylie and Brad were ‘a tad cringe’ and ‘immature’, with their attitudes towards one another raising alarms.
‘Kylie and Brad are going to find watching the show back quite uncomfortable – as they really have a unique way of speaking to each other,’ the source said.
It’s not the first time contestants have quit the ‘brutal’ reality TV show, but it is the first time they’ve thrown in the towel so late into construction.