Tim Cotton and Arthur Gillies - AKA Team Blue - have won The Block NZ 2021 and pocketed a staggering $760,000 in winnings as their property sold for a record-smashing sum.
All four of this season's Point Chevalier houses went under the hammer in The Block NZ grand final on Sunday night and sold for over $2 million each, landing the teams the show's biggest ever profits.
Cotton and Gillies, both 26, secured the winning sale price at $2,825,000, earning them a $660,000 profit and the coveted $100,000 in bonus prize money.
Team Blue's house was the first to go to auction and the pair were in disbelief as it slowly dawned on them they had won.
"Had you said at the start of 2020 that we'd be crowned Block NZ champions in November 2021 we'd have been pretty discombobulated!" Cotton and Gillies said in a statement.
"We can't quite believe what we've achieved at the auction and we're overjoyed we get to share the success with the other teams."
The results for the other three teams, who all also pocketed huge profits, are as follows:
- Connie and Rachel: Sale price: $2,692,000, profit: $422,000
- Meg and Dan: Sale price: $2,700,000, profit $478,000
- Dylan and Keegan: Sale price: $2,745,000, profit: $590,000
Brothers Dylan and Keegan Crawford took out the People's Choice Award, which saw Team Yellow awarded a Suzuki Jimny clad in their team colour.
Previously, the largest profit in Block NZ history was made by Sam Cable and Emmett Vallender in 2016, when they earned $480,000 for the sale of their house plus the $100,000 prize money.
The rules of the show dictate that all teams keep any profit they make over the reserve price when their renovated property is auctioned.
Sunday night's episode is a long-awaited conclusion to season nine of The Block NZ, which ended up being nearly two years in the making due to disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pre-production is already underway for The Block NZ: Redemption, where four former teams return to take on the challenge a second time in 2022.
