The Block 2025 Episode 41 recap: A pig-headed decision could cost one team big at auction

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Mat has had a series of “cute little menty Bs” this week as he and Robby face the possibility they may have to furnish and style their wine cellar via a precarious ladder.

But with the staircase finally installed with not a moment to spare, the pair are about to discover if their huge gamble has paid off.

But while the boys are putting the finishing touches to their wine cellar, gym, shed and deck area, Han and Can are still in struggle town.

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Ben and Emma’s rear deck.

Han has pressed determinedly forward to fully insulate their shed, despite all advice to the contrary, but because the pair are flat broke she’s having to do all the work herself.

Meanwhile, the girls and their new builder have failed to allow for a rangehood over their deck barbecue – a requirement for any barbecue placed until a fixed ceiling.

That means they have to move their barbecue towards the centre of their deck where it will sit under louvres, avoiding the need for a rangehood, but displaying the ugly back side of the barbecue to anyone using the area.

Britt and Taz have also been caught out without a rangehood, so Taz’s visiting mum gets the rotten task of driving from Daylesford to Melbourne and back to collect one.

“My mum was driving in the desert with no traffic lights two days ago and now she’s driving through Melbourne city looking for a rangehood,” Taz notes.

Then it’s on to the judging.

Han and Can’s rear deck with exposed barbecue butt.

Emma and Ben have made the most of having the only elevated home on The Block, with expansive views from their deck, but Shaynna isn’t a fan of their oppressive black sugi bahn cladding and all black appliances and furniture.

“It feels a little bit heavy,” she says, while Darren Palmer suggests the space needs an outdoor rug, without mentioning his outdoor rug side hustle.

In the pair’s shed Shaynna feels similarly put off. They’ve created a workspace on one side, with the other containing a golf simulator and bar fridge.

“It’s very blokey. It just feels very oriented to men, rather than men and women wanting to use this space,” she says.

Marty Fox disagrees, pointing out the golf simulator will likely make it into the marketing materials, and that’s not something many sheds can claim.

Han and Can have a Japanese-style zen garden on one side of their deck which Shaynna loves but Marty considers a strategic error.

“It’s just for looking at, you can’t sit in there so I look at this as a loss of amenity for buyers. It takes away deck and sitting opportunities to put in a garden when you’ve got all that garden right there. I think that is a big miss,” he says.

They also hate the exposed back workings of the barbecue.

Britt and Taz’s took up so much space with a kitchen there was no room for a lounge.

Their shed doesn’t get any more love from the judges, who note that with the insulation, brick panelling and skylights, they’ve spend a lot of time and money in a space that doesn’t really need time and money lavished on it.

“They’ve put a lot of effort into beautifying a shed,” Darren notes.

They all like the artist studio aspect of it, but the workshop section is completely unfinished and uses a different style of brick.

“I’m pretty keen to get out of here. It’s not a good space,” Marty says.

Britt and Taz have a U-shaped outdoor kitchen with teppanyaki grill, pizza oven and barbecue but with so much kitchen there’s no room for a lounge area.

The judges note that a lounge will be placed off the deck around the outdoor fireplace but that means it won’t be usable in the rain or heat.

Britt and Taz’s speakeasy shed bar and possible future pilates studio if Marty Fox gets his way.

As they head to the shed, Marty in particular is desperately hoping they’ll find the pilates studio relocated from the house.

Britt and Taz copped harsh criticism for sacrificing one of the home’s two living spaces for the studio earlier in the series and were told to move it to the shed.

So when they find instead a workspace on one side, and a speakeasy style bar on the other they’re equal parts impressed and disappointed.

Marty reacts to Britt and Taz’s speakeasy shed.

Shaynna wonders if it’s even compliant given it seems to be masquerading as a habitable room.

Marty keeps urging them to convert it to a pilates room.

“From a real estate perspective they have a fundamental flaw in their floorplan which could deem it unsaleable,” he says.

Sonny and Alicia’s curved brick barbecue.

Sonny and Alicia know how to lounge.

Sonny and Alicia have hit the mark with their curved brick barbecue, pizza oven, sink, two heaters, expansive lounge and dining table, along with their radical decision to use their shed as a shed.

The size of the lounge area on the deck brings into sharp contrast the lack of lounging opportunities at Britt and Taz’s.

“Lounging is a loving. That is what luxury is,” Marty points out.

Sonny and Alicia made the groundbreaking decision to present their shed as a shed.

But the real show stopper is Mat and Robby’s rooms.

The deck with barbecue, dining table and lounge overlooking their enormous outdoor fireplace gets the tick, along with their shed with workspace on one side, and excellently appointed gym on the other, but it’s their wine cellar that has everyone losing their minds.

With natural light pouring through a window that frames the view above the staircase, a narrow high table, wine fridge, expensive cabinetry and Robby’s winning wallpaper, it’s a recipe for perfect 10s.

Mat and Robby in their underground wine cellar.

“This is insane,” Shaynna remarks. “The joinery is classy, it’s elegant, it’s expensive. This is the perfect wine cellar.”

“They swung hard but this is a home run,” Darren agrees.

“They’ve put themselves in a totally new bracket,” is Marty’s assessment.

And so it’s no surprise when they win the week, with a run of three perfect 10s.

Mat and Robby’s shed gym.

With their own perfect 10 from Darren Palmer, Sonny and Alicia would have won in any other week but that wine cellar was impossible to compete with.

And Han and Can at least find a silver lining. With Han’s toiling and their almost complete absence of styling, they’ve won the budget awards, which had jackpotted to $20,000 after no teams earned it the previous week.

FINAL SCORES

Emma and Ben 26

Han and Can 21

Britt and Taz 27

Sonny and Alicia 29

Robby and Mat 30

MISSED AN EPISODE? HERE’S ALL OUR RECAPS SO FAR

Episode 1: Why no NSW applicants were good enough for The Block

Episode 2: The worst day on The Block

Episode 3/4: ‘Tear them off’: teams forced to rip tiles from walls

Episode 5: Judges feedback leaves one contestant vomiting

Episode 6: Dan and Dani’s heartbreak