Residents of Charming Street in Melbourne’s Hampton East have copped damage control letters and gifts from The Block creator after production continued to disrupt the neighbourhood.
ICYMI: Drama has been brewing between The Block 2023 cast and crew and the residents cohabitating in the show’s latest neighbourhood.
First, it was a pompous letter asking locals to keep their cars parked off the street. Then, the pop-up McCafé on site stopped serving free coffee. The nerve!
Now, one resident has leaked a letter they received from The Block‘s executive producer Julian Cress, in what appears to be a bid to mend fences. They even copped a bottle of wine!
A photo of the letter from May 15 was shared on the Facebook page 2023 Charming St ‘The Block’.
“A letter and a gift! …..and it will get busier!” the user penned alongside the notice.
What did The Block‘s Julian Cress’ letter say?
In the letter, Julian thanked the locals for their “understanding and patience” in recent months. Thankfully, the show is now “well past the halfway point”.
“These last few weeks of production are focussed on finishing the internal spaces of the homes and then moving to the outdoor areas and that entails some additional workforce with each of our contestants engaging landscaping teams etc,” it continued.
“I do apologise in advance that there may be some disruption as we will need to have many people on site. The busiest weeks will be from June 5—17.”
The producer asked any concerned residents to get in touch and promised the crew will “do [their] level best to minimise any disturbance”.
“We have felt very welcomed by all of you and we feel blessed to have chosen a street with such great neighbours to produce our show,” Julian concluded.
The Block fans respond to Julian Cress’ letter
One Charming Street resident has since told Yahoo! Lifestyle that the neighbours are happy they now have an open line of communication with producers.
“For 99% of the time The Block team has been great to work with,” they say. “On any other building project, such as the many other builds occurring in the area, we would not have had any communication.
“Of course it doesn’t mean they’ve been perfect but they do talk to the residents and try to work out any challenges.”
Other The Block fans agreed, with some hoping for the same communication from regular renovation projects.
“I wish all renovators would take this approach. I feel most issues can be resolved with a bit of forward notice like this,” one user admitted.
Another local wrote: “I live in King Street around the corner… At times I’ve been asked to wait by the traffic controllers and the streets have a few more cars than usual, but I understand that they have a show to produce.
“It may be a short period of inconvenience but I personally don’t feel put out or disrupted by The Block.”
A third penned: “No need for any negative comments.
“I think it was a lovely gesture and everyone working on The Block has been polite and accommodating.”
Now, how about reinstating those free coffees, hey?
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