Scott Cam reveals what he really thinks of cheating penalty
The latest cheating scandal has rocked The Block, and for the first time ever - Scott Cam has handed down a major punishment for the cheating contestants.
Scott Cam punished Tanya and Vito and Josh and Luke who had a photo of the production schedule in their possession, by deducting two points from last week’s scores from judges.
"We deducted those points, I mean I thought that punishment wasn't harsh enough," Cam told 9Entertainment.
"But we couldn't make it so those people had no chance of winning The Block, because that would make the whole thing void, if it was just between three teams."
The TV host said he wanted to make the game even again.
"If we gave them a too-harsh punishment, that would hamstring them too much, so we needed to start again and make the game fair, so we could actually have a series and have a show," he explained.
While talking to contestants, he told them he was asked if he would give a penalty to the two teams for cheating.
"I thought long and hard about this and I've come to a decision. I will be deducting two points from each of your scores tonight, effectively ruling you out of this week's room," he said.
"This will also give the others a head start on the Domain leader board to choose the auction order at the end of the series."
Josh and Luke were prepared for whatever punishment was handed to them, but neither the brothers, nor Tanya and Vito were on track to win half basement week.
"I think that the auction order is really important, so deducting those points, it made it almost impossible for them to win the Domain Super Power," Scott explained.
"I think that was pretty fair, that's going to hamstring them at the end of the series."
Not everyone agreed that the points were fair.
"Yeah look, I think the penalty for stealing the photo and cheating is appropriate," Mitch said.
However, Ronnie said: "I think it's flat-out bulls---, two points is not enough. All their points should have been stripped and all money should have been given back."
Kirsty and Jesse were the only team looking at the end game with the penalty.
"Two points doesn't sound like a lot," Kirsty said.
"But when it comes to the end of this competition and you've got the Domain Leaderboard, you know, when you look at last year's results and how close most couples come within each other.
“I think those two points, they're gonna be all the difference."
Kirsty and Jesse ended up taking the win.