3 weeks ago
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Construction on The Block's 2026 season is nearing its end - and local residents couldn't be happier to wave goodbye to the chaos.
The mammoth renovation project has sparked anger among locals and truck drivers in Mount Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria.
With work wrapping up next Friday, neighbours spoke to the Daily Mail about the relentless noise and traffic the Channel Nine series has brought to their street.
Locals living near the sprawling site on Old Mornington Road say traffic has descended into a daily gridlock.
Heavy vehicles have been backed up for hundreds of metres while tradies scramble to finish the five luxury homes before auction day.
Truck drivers servicing the build claim that they are being forced to wait hours just to gain access to the site.
Construction on The Block's 2026 season is nearing its end - and local residents couldn't be happier to wave goodbye to the chaos
Gold Coast couple Chantel Green and Wyatt Randall of The Block's blue team are seen during a promo shoot. According to reports, they are shaping up to be this season's wildcard team
Glamorous Chantel is expected to be a breakout star when The Block airs later this year
Some of them have described the congestion as 'absolute chaos' on the already-busy thoroughfare.
Residents say the constant stream of concrete trucks, delivery vehicles and construction machinery has turned the normally quiet area into a noisy, congested nightmare.
They have complained of 'relentless' noise from early morning until late into the evening.
'It's relentless,' one frustrated local, who asked not to be named, told the Daily Mail.
'The traffic is bad enough normally, but now you've got trucks lined up everywhere, engines idling, tradies coming and going all day. People are over it.'
'It's been full-on. The noise, the traffic, it never stops,' another local said.
The production headache comes at a critical time for Nine amid mounting fears the five multimillion-dollar homes may fail to meet their reserves at auction.
It's a scenario that contestants face every year.
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Should residents have to put up with months of chaos for the sake of reality TV and property profits?
The mammoth renovation project has sparked anger among locals and truck drivers in Mount Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria
With work wrapping up next Friday, some neighbours have told the Daily Mail of the relentless noise and traffic the Nine series has brought to their street
For years, appearing on The Block was seen as a pathway to instant wealth, with cashed-up buyers battling it out to secure the finished homes. But the market has shifted dramatically
Among insiders, fears are rife that stars who have spent three gruelling months transforming the properties will walk away with nothing to show for their efforts.
For years, appearing on The Block was seen as a guaranteed pathway to instant wealth, with deep-pocketed buyers battling it out to secure the finished homes.
But the property market has shifted dramatically.
In previous seasons, billionaire entrepreneur Adrian Portelli emerged as the show's unlikely saviour.
For three years, the LMCT+ founder stunned viewers by paying eye-watering sums for multiple homes and ensuring teams walked away with massive winnings.
However, without Portelli's extravagant bidding - he is now involved in a rival reno show on Channel Seven - insiders worry this year's properties could struggle in a luxury market that is wary of over-capitalised reality TV homes.
Rising interest rates, cost-of-living pressures and uncertainty in the high-end property market have created the perfect storm heading into auction season.
Nevertheless, crews remain in a frantic race against the clock to finish the builds before next Friday's deadline.
Heavy vehicles are said to have been backed up for hundreds of metres while tradies scramble to finish the five luxury homes before auction day
Locals near the sprawling site on Old Mornington Road say traffic has become a daily gridlock
Truckies servicing the build are being forced to wait hours just to gain access to the site
Trucks will continue to pour into the congested site as tensions among neighbours and motorists boil over.
The Daily Mail has contacted Channel Nine for comment.
It's a familiar sight on The Block, with the series often rubbing locals up the wrong way every time construction and filming crews begin their televised builds each year.
The 2025 Daylesford season was initially meant to take place in 2024 until vocal locals opposing the show blocked the plan.
Residents fiercely voiced their concerns about over-development, environmental impact, the felling of mature trees, and disruptions in the historic country town.
They successfully blocked the renovation show from filming there in 2024, though Nine managed to secure plans to build there the following year.
The 2025 auction faced disruptions in the form of loud protests during filming.
While each season has been plagued with resident complaints, some of the more notable ones include the Charming Street season in 2023.
Locals were frustrated by the scale of the production and parking headaches, especially after being asked to move cars from their own driveways to avoid disrupting a 1950s-themed promo shoot.
Wealthy St Kilda locals and nearby business owners complained in 2018 about the Gatwick Hotel being transformed into multimillion-dollar apartments.
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