Adrian Portelli is giving away $15 million worth of blockhouses on Phillip Island – realestate.com.au

Adrian Portelli has given away five houses he bought on The Block.

A year after spending more than $15 million on The Block properties on Phillip Island, Adrian Portelli has finally handed the homes to five delighted winners in a chaotic live lottery.

More than 20,000 people from all over Australia watched the live stream, while a large group also gathered to watch everything happen on site. One in the crowd had driven two and a half hours to attend.

After giving away water bottles and caps to the audience and discussing his new show, My Renovation Rules, Portelli finally got to work giving away houses with some help from Big Brother’s 2013 housemate Tahan Lew-Fatt and his business partner Troy Williams.

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Flanked by trees draped in Christmas lights, flame throwers, smoke machines and spotlights, the homes were auctioned off in order of sale prices on auction day, with Brad and Kylie’s losing home transferring first.

Adrian Portelli contacted the house winners via Facetime during a livestream of the giveaways.

The giveaway started 45 minutes late, when a 43-year-old teacher named Parvin won the house that Portelli bought for $2.6 million.

In something of an anticlimax, after so much hype, Parvin didn’t answer at the first bell. When Portelli finally caught her and – after a bit of playful teasing that it was just a practice run – told the delighted new owner the happy news.

“It’s my first win ever,” she said, explaining how she would tell her husband about their windfall when he got home from walking the dog.

Ricky and Haydn’s house was the next taxi from the stand, gifted to a speechless Josh, 22, who was in the middle of drinks with his friends in Western Australia when he got the call.

“You’re a multi-millionaire partner now. You’re rich. Drinks are on you!” Portelli told a delighted Josh before transferring to FaceTime to prove he was legit.

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Kristian and Mimi’s house was won by a disbelieving Martha (who refused to say how old she is or what she does for a living because she “likes to be private”).

Adrian Portelli was joined by Big Brother’s 2013 housemate Tahan Lew-Fatt and his business partner Troy Williams.

The first words out of Martha’s mouth when she heard Portelli on the phone were “F*** off!”

“I won a damn house? Where is it?”

After some initial disappointment that the house was in Victoria, Martha said she was still excited to be a winner.

Jason was about to turn 50 and was watching the livestream from his massage chair when he heard he had secured Courtney and Grant’s house.

“I’m just shocked. I didn’t think I would win anything,” said the Sydney-based father of three who works in maintenance.

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The fifth and final winner of the evening was Donna. Stunned, she was given the news that she was the new owner of Maddy and Charlotte’s home while attending a Christmas parade at Murray Bridge with her young daughter.

Portelli claimed he loves the Phillip Island resort and even celebrated his son’s first birthday on site. Portelli likened the multimillion-dollar giveaway to a clean-up exercise.

Adrian Portelli was on site at Phillip Island for the giveaway.

Although Portelli initially said he considered keeping the homes, he soon decided to offer them as prizes through his company LMCT+.

The first attempt to give away the resort failed when Portelli gave the winner of his Boxing Day raffle a choice of $8 million cash or the five renovated properties. The winner, Holly from Ballarat, took the money.

The controversial billionaire spent more than $15.03 million to land all five homes in the 2024 block auctions. The combined total of $5.43 million in winnings also made it the most lucrative auction day for contestants in the show’s history.

He spent most of his money on Maddy and Charlotte’s house. His winning bid of $3.5 million – a knockout raise of $1 million – made the sisters the youngest ever winners of The Block.

In three years, Portelli has spent a whopping $31.68 million on log homes. He was nicknamed ‘Lambo Man’ when he drove a yellow Lamborghini to the 2022 final in Gisborne, before later dropping $4.25 million on Sharon and Ankur’s house after it was sold at auction.

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In 2023, he purchased three properties in Hampton East for a total of $12.4 million, including Steph and Gian’s winning property, which holds the record for the most profitable win in the show’s 22-year history.

After making his big purchases, Portelli announced he would retire his Block paddle at Phillip Island and instead sponsor Seven’s rival My Renovation Rules.

Portelli initially pitched the series to Nine before transferring the concept to Seven, where it will be presented by Dr. Chris Brown and will feature former Block judge Neale Whitaker as one of a trio of local experts.

Adrian Portelli announced the winners via a livestream.

Instead of the renovated properties being auctioned off, the two completed homes will be offered as giveaways by Portelli.

Whether My Renovation Rules can improve The Block’s enduring popularity remains to be seen, but the departure of the show’s most deserving buyer has certainly already been felt by the Nine giant.

Without Portelli throwing money at the Daylesford auctions last month, the results were far less stellar than previous years. Two properties have come in that are yet to be sold. And winners Britt and Taz earned $130,000 less for their win than 2024 losers Brad and Kylie.

After the disappointing auctions, host Scott Cam downplayed Portelli’s departure.

“You shouldn’t forget last year [with] Adrian was a very unusual situation,” he said.

“That’s not going to happen. He’s exceeded the two million reserve. He just wanted to get promoted. It was absolutely unrealistic, and today it was more realistic for what moms and dads go through on the weekend when they sell their house.”

“Some are successful and some not so much.”

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