The Block juggernaut has descended on the picturesque Victorian country town of Daylesford and in their first challenge of the season, the Blockheads created floats for the town’s annual queer country pride festival.
The 21st season of the hit reality show will see the new cast of Blockheads overhaul five homes, which will form a new neighbourhood within Hygge Property’s Middleton Field new housing estate, located at the regional town’s eastern entry point.
The Block 2025 contestants were at Daylesford’s ChillOut Festival. Picture: Supplied
The three day ChillOut Festival – which is Australia’s largest and longest running queer country pride festival – gave spectators a sneak peek at this year’s Block teams over the weekend.
An array of social media posts have also provided glimpses at this year’s teams, which from the names adorning their bright and colourful floats include Britt and Taz, Emma and Ben, Han and Can, Robby and Mat, and Sonny and Alicia.
Belle Property Daylesford principal Will Walton – whose company are finalising details to feature in the show – said Daylesford won a national vote to host a giant ‘rainbow’ landmark celebrating LGBTQIA+ pride in the regions.
“Daylesford has been one of the most welcoming towns for the LGBTQIA+ community,” he said.
“80 per cent of our buyers basically generally come from Melbourne looking for a more relaxed and spacious environment and we expect 2025 spring to be a huge success for the Daylesford market.”
The Blockheads and other cast and crew members are set to call Daylesford home for the next 12 weeks and Mr Walton said the town was very excited to have The Block in town.
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The Block 2025 contestants were at Daylesford’s ChillOut Festival. Picture: Supplied
“The economic boost its giving our town is fantastic,” he said.
“MG is the car sponsor and we’ve now noticed a considerable number of MGs in the street.
“And between Channel Nine and the building company, there’s about 150 to 200 regular people on site within the main street when they go for coffee, or go to the bakery.”
Airbnb’s have been rented for the next few months to accommodate the crew, Mr Walton said, and local businesses were already reporting an upswing in trade.
Mitch Duncan, owner of Farmers Arm Hotel, said production was going “full steam” and after having a chat to host Scott Cam at the festival, he is hosting him for dinner at his pub this coming week.
“They (contestants) only have just got up this weekend, so we haven’t seen them come in here to the hotel yet, but I saw them on the weekend and they’re pumped, they’re really looking forward to it, but they’ve got a big job to do haven’t they?” he said.
“That corner is looking fantastic now, I mean, before The Block went there, it was just a paddock with those trees on the corner and now it’s going to have these beautiful houses … which are going to look fantastic.”
The Block 2025 contestants were at Daylesford’s ChillOut Festival. Picture: Supplied
Steve Wroe, Daylesford Macedon Tourism chief executive, said Hepburn Shire Council, which includes Daylesford, was second only to Phillip Island in terms of its reliance on tourism.
“So activities like this are really critical for visitation, which is already happening now and the second part of it is we’re working with the production team at Nine to make sure that they’re doing challenges in the key places of interest,” he said.
“While there’s a short term sugar hit where we get the tradies and then people coming down to look around, there’ll be an enduring benefit to the region and our job as the tourism board is to really present Daylesford in the best positive light and I think that will have an enduring and positive effect on visitation.”
