Long-time host of The Block, Scott Cam, is a bloody trouper.
On Friday when we talk, it's two days before the 22nd season of The Block airs on Channel Nine and he's laid up in hospital, recovering from knee-replacement surgery.
"I've done about 10 [media] interviews," he said, from his hospital bed.
"I've been here for two weeks and I'm out on Sunday. [The surgery] sounds easy but it's not, let me tell you. The first week is tough."
Ever the professional, Cam will be discharged from hospital just in time for The Block to return on Sunday, hoping to be bigger and better than ever, as it becomes the first series to build homes with ocean views.
This year's series is set on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula in the beachside suburb of Mount Eliza, south-east of Melbourne.
Series creator and executive producer Julian Cress said it was a significant milestone for The Block.
"We have made this show in Bondi, Manly, Vaucluse and Phillip Island, and never had water views," he said.
Sydneysider Scott Cam says he wasn't overly familiar with Mount Eliza but now believes The Block houses will probably appeal to a lot of different buyers. According to Domain, the median price for a four-bedroom house in Mount Eliza is $1.7 million.
"You can downsize there, you have a holiday house there, you can live there and you raise kids there," he said.
The contestants who will build the homes in Mount Eliza are:
They got the tick of approval from Scotty.
"I've said it before, in years gone by, a couple of years ago, we had a few missteps with our contestants, a little bit of a lack of resilience, a little bit of a lack of work ethic but last year and this year, we've really corrected that," Cam said.
"They're great couples, really hard workers. There's always a bit of controversy, a few ups and downs. That's organic, that just happens. You put 10 people together and you have a few blues. And now we've got them living together in a share house.
"We haven't really done that for a Big Brother feel. We've done some limited filming with few dinners there, not much. It's more about they're living there and got to go to work. And if someone leaves the dishes in the sink, it's going to blow up towards the end."
(And fun fact, the share house at Mount Eliza was provided by former contestants Emma and Ben from Season 21 in Daylesford.)
We spent in cash, in Daylesford, $9 million in town in three months.
Speaking of last year's series, based in the Victorian resort town of Daylesford, the results were pretty lack-lustre compared to the astronomical profits of past years. One house sold for a profit of $420,000, another sold for a profit of $120,000 and a third for a profit of nearly $110,000. The other two houses were passed in at auction.
Cam says them the breaks.
"The Block is reality TV at its finest because it literally is what mums and dads are doing every weekend, they're renovating and getting ready to sell or they're upgrading or downsizing, and they sell at the mercy of the buyers," Cam said.
"The houses were fantastic. The land was there. They were across the road from the Farmer's Arms, you could walk there for a beautiful meal. And you've got to remember one of them sold for [almost] 500 grand more than reserve.
"The market was there it's just really hard to attract five buyers side by side."
So, when is The Block coming to Canberra?
"Canberra's not out of the question," Cam said. "I think the people who want us to come to Adelaide or Perth or a regional town in South Australia or somewhere like that, that's a little bit far for us to get all our people and gear there and accommodated.
"Canberra might be a stretch but it's not out of the realms of possibility. It's half-way between Sydney and Melbourne, we've done both, so that's definitely a possibility."
And there can be big benefits in having The Block come to town.
"We spent in cash, in Daylesford, $9 million in town in three months. Just on food shopping, cleaners, accommodation, things like that," Cam said.
Two decades into hosting The Block, Cam is still excited by it.
"The new contestants as they arrive on day one are excited and green and nervous. I enjoy that process. I love building and I love TV, so it's the perfect combination. I also enjoy creating family viewing," he said.
"I am a family man at heart, and I like to make something that mum, dad and the three kids can watch together. That's exactly what The Block does."
