The Block 2025 Episode 26 recap: The girls fire their builder but it’s Han’s decision to ditch her mic that really shocks

Fresh from scoring a perfect 10 and a win for their rumpus room and Han and Can did the unthinkable.

They sacked the man who led them to victory, Ben their builder. Whoops sorry, carpenter.

When confronted about their confounding (and, it turns out, covert) decision to send Ben packing, a defiant Han reminded people “he’s actually a chippie, not a builder.”

Refusing to accept that Ben’s departure was a loss to the team, Han insisted she was the one project managing the site and Ben had only stepped in when she was on challenges.

She also denied plotting to fire Ben on the sly (though evidence suggested otherwise, with Han caught on camera planning Ben’s removal with her new builder Shan).

Han and Shan discuss making Shan the primary builder on site.

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In addition to having a more fittingly rhyming name for their team, Shan is a local tradesman and comes with more manpower than Ben.

Ben suspected he was being phased out of operations when the girls told him to leave site early on evening, but still felt “blindsided” when he got a call from Han (conveniently made while she was “sick” in her caravan and with her microphone left on the ground outside in a major Block no-no) telling him he wasn’t required.

Han’s microphone dumped outside the caravan.

It meant he had to return to site to pack up all his equipment, something that could have been avoided if Han had been upfront when telling him to head home early.

When confronted about the surreptitious sacking, Han was defensive and doubled down on her story that she had been sick (again). She also denied giving Ben the heave-ho.

“I didn’t make a tricky phone call,” she justified. “He might be coming back. We just don’t have enough work for him this week.”

Eager to move on from yet another crisis, Can urged a seething Han to pledge not to take her microphone off again so there could be no future doubt or confusion about what they were doing.

Ben the builder after he gets his marching orders.

After begrudgingly agreeing that she would stay mic’d up in the future, Han stormed off telling everyone she was “p***ed off”.

“You are trying to frame me for being dodgy when I am literally just trying to manage our budget,” she fumed.

She then added: “Other teams have fired people and are they getting bailed up?” seemingly forgetting that just moments earlier she had denied a firing had even taken place.

The rest of the contestants were mystified by the move.

“You’ve got a 10 and you sack your builder. That’s got to be a first,” Sonny pondered. “Each to their own, I guess. But if I was getting a 10, I wouldn’t be sacking my builder.”

Dan is shocked Can and Han sacked Ben.

Though annoyed the girls hadn’t been upfront with him from the get-go, Ben was philosophical.

“It’s bittersweet,” he shrugged. “I will miss being here because I like The Block but to be honest House 2 has taken its toll on me. It might have been different if I was on a different house. I might have to go and see if House 1 (Ben and Emma) need another chippie.”

Explaining his departure to Foreman Dan, Ben said: “The girls have said they will stick with Shan’s crew because they’ve got three and I have only got one. And I am too expensive and their budget has been blown out too many times.”

But Dan was incredulous, saying: “Normally you’d only get rid of a builder because they are not doing the right things.”

Han and Can are confronted about Han removing her microphone.

The fallout from Ben’s dismissal was seen straight away when Dan discovered that the kitchen wall had been built to the wrong specifications because Han and Can had failed to pass on key information to Shan.

“That’s a big mistake by the girls. It’s unfortunate because Ben would have picked this up straight away,” Dan said.

Han and Shan’s quick-fix solution was quickly rejected by Dan who decreed a new steel frame would have to be built, costing time and money. So much for Ben’s departure being a budget saver in the all-important kitchen week.

“The kitchen is the heart of the home,” Britt enthused, espousing the catch cry used every year in Block history.

Everyone is doing the best they can with the limited funds available to carry out the works and set themselves apart from the rest.

Luckily for Britt and Taz, they have the swag of fancy appliances they won in week two. And even more luckily for the sponsors, this meant a few solid minutes of product placement as Britt and Taz gazed in open-mouthed wonderment at the cooling powers of their fridge and the quietness of their rangehood.

Han storms off after being confronted about removing her microphone to sack her builder Ben.

Without a fridge that can keep a carrot chilled for months like Britt and Taz, Matt and Robby have had to look for other ways to impress.

In addition to fiddling with the floor plan, they are pinning their hopes on a secret door gimmick, hiding their main bedroom entrance behind a kitchen cupboard.

Alicia and Sonny are going bold and blue with their cabinetry.

“There’s no beige in our place. We are a moody house!” Alicia declared proudly.

Of course, while Han and Can prefer neutrals that doesn’t mean the mood at their place is light and bright. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Adding to the strain of the drama with their builder – sorry, carpenter – is the weekly challenge which sees the girls teaming up with Robby, Matt, Sonny and Alicia to renovate the foyer, lounge and cinema of Daylesford’s dilapidated The Rex theatre.

The opposing team, meanwhile, will be responsible for giving the candy bar a facelift and filled by Ben, Emma, Britt, Taz and returning Block champions Steph and Gian.

It was a seemingly unfair division of labours made even more complicated by the potentially volatile combination of contestants who would be doing the lion’s share of the task.

“That is set up for us to fail,” Alicia moaned as she compared the sizes of the two spaces. “Anyway, f. k them. Now I am really angry. Let’s win.”

Mat labelled his team “the psychopaths” while Han admitted the volatile combo could either “kill each other or have a lot of fun.”

Given the recent beef between Sonny and Alicia and the girls over their copycat spa room, time will tell which one it is.

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

Episode 7: The big problem with the Block house designs

Episode 8: Robby and Mat’s drunken blunder

Episode 9: ‘An up-market nursing home’