Adrian Portelli spent more than $12m at The Block auctions, and now admits he might’ve overpaid.
Billionaire businessman Adrian Portelli, aka The Lambo Guy, has a stunning wakeup call for anyone thinking of bidding on homes in The Block.
He admits he paid too much for the three homes he splashed $12.4 million on during The Block 2023 finale due to “aggressive bidding”.
The controversial car-lover told News Corp he probably paid $1 million more than he should have for at least one of the properties he won.
That prediction has come true, with the 22 Charming Street, Hampton East, property he bought for $4.3m last year on The Block selling for $3.245m at auction this year – a $1.055m loss for the richlister.
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Adrian Portelli has been making waves since his LMCT Plus business took off, with some estimates valuing the business as $800m. Picture: Supplied/Channel 9
Adrian Portelli (Lambo Guy) on his recent European holiday which included a stop in Malta and time with family and friends. Picture: instagram/ @adrian_portelli.
In bizarre scenes Portelli had bid against himself several times during one of the auctions – repeatedly raising the price by $100,000 despite already having the highest bid.
“I’m just a very aggressive bidder, so when I saw Danny was thinking about bidding and Frank was on phone to a bidder, I wasn’t having any of it, so I smacked another nail in the coffin and thought, I’ll bid against myself,” he said.
But, he said, it was worth it for the “exposure and marketing”.
“I’ve bought a ute for $1 million before. Was I overpaying? Probably, but I wouldn’t have gotten the exposure,” Portelli said.
“I fired the first warning shot at the first auction and then followed through. I don’t think there’s any doubts about me now. After all the hate, the criticism, and my name being dragged through the mud … it’s nice to get out there and shut the gates on that.”
Adrian Portelli (centre) with The Block contestants Steph and Gian after auctions at Hampton East. Picture: Supplied/Channel 9
It comes after a News Corp analysis of the winning homes of the series over the past 20 years revealed a high number were now valued at less or the same as what they were when they sold.
As for the criticism he received for taking around $100,000 worth of items from the fully furnished Gisborne property he gave away after the last series of the show, Portelli says it has only helped his reputation and cemented the legitimacy of his business.
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By purchasing Steph and Gian’s house, Portelli has shattered the suburb record for Hampton East. Pictures: Jellis Craig/Belle Property
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“99.9 per cent of people were for us, and we won a lot of fans out of it,” he said. “We ended up having our biggest month ever. Sales went through the roof.
“People question the legitimacy of the prizes, but they couldn’t after that happened. It shows we don’t give all the prizes to our friends like some people thought.”
Portelli said he did “a few polls” of his LMCT Plus members to see which houses they liked the most, and used that as a guideline for the auctions.
Adrian Portelli with his McLaren Senna GTR that was craned into his Melbourne penthouse in May last year. Picture: Supplied/Instagram
“I knew which ones my favourites were,” he said. “Three was the favourite, followed by five, and house number one,” he said.
He had planned to give at least one away through his promotions business.
“I’ll test one out first and see how it goes,” he said.
“I personally wouldn’t live in any of these houses. They’re not on my side of the city.”
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