Tim Cotton and Arthur Gillies couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces Monday morning on The AM Show after their record-breaking win on The Block NZ the night before.
Team Blue were still revelling in their historical victory, which saw them pocket a staggering $760,000 when their house sold for $2,825,000 during The Block Grand Final auctions on Sunday night.
Asked when the pair first thought they might have a shot at taking the competition out, Cotton said it wasn't really until the final Saturday when they finished off their outdoor area and put on the finishing touches.
"We took a step back and we were just like, holy hell, we actually did this, this is unreal," Cotton said.
"We got knocked back pretty hard in the first week and then we sort of just built our confidence from there on and started getting room wins, and thought more and more 'maybe we could actually win this whole thing', which happened," he added.
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed production of the show and prevented the teams from participating on The Block for nearly a year, which Gillies said was both a blessing and a curse.
"Going in between jobs and flats and stuff was quite difficult," he explained.
"I left my job to go on the show in the first place, so to have that thrown up in the air as well and having the lockdowns, our lives were sort of uprooted quite a lot.
"To be able to come back this year and smash it out, it did give us a lot more time to be able to plan a lot more for the show, so in some ways COVID might have helped us, but yeah, it was tough."
While COVID-19 outbreaks undoubtedly threw several spanners in the works, the timing of the auctions seemed to align perfectly with a sweet spot in the Auckland property cycle, with all four teams making substantial profits on their houses.
"We had no idea it was going to go that way, everyone had this sinking feeling when we went into that first lockdown that it was all going to go pear-shaped so for it to go the other way, we're just so lucky we came along on the right year," Cotton said.
All of the Point Chevalier Block NZ houses were sold at auction for more than $2 million each, obliterating previous records for the DIY show.
Team Blue said emotions were running high on auction day, with Cotton revealing they saw a "different side" of The Block NZ and AM Show host Mark Richardson, who "looked like he was about to tear up".
"You started it Tim, I looked over at you after just the first bid and your eyes were starting to well up and that nearly got me going," Richardson replied.
Cotton and Gillies said they were happy with how they had been portrayed on the show, saying they had just "been themselves".
"The support has been unreal," Cotton added.
"You've got to go in with the right attitude to have a whole lot of fun, winning money is just a bonus at the end," he said.
"But for us to have the success is amazing, and to share it with the other teams as well is something we'll cherish."
