Viewers Hit Back at “Racist” Accusations Claiming The Block’s Omar and Oz Rigged the Finale

Last night, Omar and Oz’s home sold for a record-breaking price of $5,666,666.66, making them the most successful team in the history of The Block, but not everyone is happy about the win.

A bidding war took place between two buyers — businessman and serial Block buyer Danny Wallis and multi-millionaire Adrian Portelli.

In the end, it was Danny who won the auction after his enormous bid forced Adrian to back out.

However, viewers of the renovation show have raised questions over why Adrian was only interested in purchasing Omar and Oz’s house, claiming that he was there to put up “dummy bids” in order to increase the price.

In case you don’t know, making fake bids on a property is illegal.

The Blockheads called Adrian “our boy”, which made people wonder if they had already known each other before the big day.

Former Block contestant Josh Packham was one of the sceptics, saying: “He bid 5.5m for that house and then walked away. He could’ve bought any of the other houses for 4.2. Massive question mark: Why?”

Speaking to Fitzy and Wippa this morning, Omar and Oz cleared the air and said Adrian was a serious buyer and not a fake bidder.

“We actually reached out to a mutual friend (who) suggested that he might be interested, and he wanted to come have a look at the house. And when he did come, he absolutely loved it.”

In another interview with 2DayFM’s Hughesy, Ed and Erin, the pair admitted to having a good relationship with Adrian before the auction, but only because they were working hard to attract potential buyers.

“We only knew him from when he first visited our house … We met another beautiful family that we got very close to. They came to the house a few times; we took them to the basketball as well. Everyone who was a potential buyer, we really gave up our time for them,” said Omar.

Oz doubled down on this in their interview with Kyle and Jackie O, telling them: “It’s all about networking. As soon as we finished the build, we got out there, trying to market our property the best we can.”

They also explained why Adrian wasn’t at the other auctions, saying that while he did inspect Tom and Sarah-Jane’s house before the grand finale, “he was only interested in our house. It was perfect for him — it was all he wanted.”

Now, fans of Omar and Oz are coming to their defence, saying the accusations are steeped in “racism” and play into the stereotype that they’re “dodgy”.

Throughout the competition, the boys’ intentions were repeatedly questioned, which is why their win came as a refreshing surprise.

Exactly – and has everyone also forgotten Oz and Omar's house had $250k worth of luxury kitchen kit in it? It was worth more than the others from the start. Good on them I say. #theblock https://t.co/UtDZzch4Dv

— Petra Starke 🌟🗝 (@petstarr) November 6, 2022

Genuinely so so happy for Omar and Oz. They deserved it after a season of subtle racism and their house is excellent on top of that #theblock

— tacos (@thiscassgirl) November 6, 2022

All these people thinking Lambo guy was a fake bidder, maybe he was only interested in bidding on house 5. Not everything is a conspiracy #theblock

— Donna (@blacklizzard66) November 6, 2022

“It’s wild how people can’t just be happy for the boys for their well-deserved win,” a fan wrote on Facebook.

They continued: “It makes total sense when you think about the market, the location and the niche of the properties.

“It sucks that everyone else did badly, but that’s on Channel 9 for thinking they’d find five home buyers in that price range in that area. Bad sportsmanship putting the boys down.”

After everything blew up, Adrian himself responded to the allegations, taking to Instagram to hit back at the haters.

“For everybody questioning the legitimacy of the auction, I was a genuine buyer with every intention to purchase that property. Nobody is the blame for what happened,” Adrian wrote on his Instagram Story.

He added: “Believe it or not, if you’ve got two people that genuinely want the property, a bidding war will commence. I’m happy to show my bank account for anyone that suggests these were dummy bids.”

POPSUGAR Australia reached out for comment but hadn’t heard back at the time of publication.