Like a scene out of a movie, The Block has been rocked by a scandal that is indeed stranger than fiction involving an “international con woman”.
During a segment on A Current Affair on Tuesday, Channel 9 made the claim that the winning buyer of Jimmy and Tam’s home in November has failed to come through with the $4.256 million.
The woman, Emese Fajk — who was known as a cyber-security expert — bought the 1950s Palm Springs-style home after only seeing it once.
Now, she has refuted the claims in an interview with The Daily Mail.
According to the outlet, she “insists she paid a $425,600 deposit to the Nine Network’s trust account on December 17, and a final settlement payment of $4,072,951 the next day”.
“Settlement and payments were delayed and I acknowledged this,” Fajk told the outlet. “It was my mistake to trust other people without doing my own homework. I learned my lesson and I’m trying to rectify the situation.”
She then said that “given the time of year”, things happened at “the very last minute” and was taking longer than she’d like.
“But I’d like this resolved ASAP, within a few days,” she said.
The Block’s executive producer, Julian Cress told the same outlet that the network was “concerned” a few days after the finale and the contract was signed.
“But I guess we started to get a bit concerned a few days’ later when the transfer didn’t complete and the money didn’t arrive.”
As for Jimmy and Tam, they are “disappointed”, however, they “have a lot to be proud of”, he added.
‘The Block’ Rocked By Controversy After “International Con Woman” Fails to Pay $4.2 Million
According to the story, Fajk, 28, had presented receipts of bank transfers clearly indicating that the money for the property had gone through.
“Settlement was yesterday and there’s been no positive outcome from it… it’s something no one ever saw coming,” Jimmy told A Current Affair. “We’ve pretty much been conned.”
During a nail-biting grand finale auction, Jimmy and Tam took home $1,066,000 — the biggest cash prize in Block and Australian TV history, however, the house has now gone back on the market.
Fajk had even watched the final episode of the 11th season with the pair and their daughter, to which Tam said: “She actually cried with us. It was like we knew her as a friend … it’s almost like she’s tarnished our experience.”
Host Scott Cam confirmed that the pair from Queensland were still the winners “as per the rules of The Block.
“They won on the day,” he told ACA. “Obviously it’s disappointing. We trusted her to have that sort of coin.”
Channel 9 reportedly reached out to a former partner of Fajk, who claimed that she had “stolen money” from him and many others.
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