The Block season 1

The first season of Australian reality television series The Block, retroactively re-titled The Block 2003, aired on the Nine Network. Jamie Durie was announced as host and John McGrath was announced as Judge. The season premiered on 1 June 2003.^[1]

The Block
Season 1
No. of episodes	13
Release
Original network	Nine Network
Original release	1 June (2003-06-01) – 17 August 2003 (2003-08-17)
Season chronology

Jamie Durie host

The first season of The Block began airing on 1 June 2003 on the Nine Network, replacing Backyard Blitz and Location Location in the network's flagship timeslot^[2] of Sunday at 6:30 to 7:30 pm (AEST).^[3] The series was presented by Backyard Blitz host Jamie Durie and filmed in Bondi, with the majority of filming being completed prior to the series airing for editing purposes.^[3]

Contestants

Selected from approximately 2,000 applicants,^[3] the four couples in the series were:

• Adam Thorn (aged 30) and Fiona Mills (27), a married couple from Banksia. A data analyst and former sales representative, the couple had renovated three properties prior to competing on The Block.^[4][5] They renovated the first ground-floor apartment (flat number one) and were widely considered the "show favourites" throughout the course of the series.^[4] Their apartment—which was the last to be auctioned—sold for $751,000 earning them the highest profit of $156,000 as well as the winning prize of $100,000.^[4] Mills appeared on the cover of Ralph while the series was airing in July 2003.^[6]
• Warren Sonin (37) and Gavin Atkins (35), a sales manager and public relations manager from Elizabeth Bay.^[4][7][8]
• Paul (30) and Kylie Ingram (31), a plumber and travel agent married for two years
• Phil Rankine (33) and Amity Dry (24), marketing executive and singer married for a year from Kirribilli

The combined auction profits were $443,000.

Room Wins

Couple[9]	Room Wins
Adam & Fiona	2 / 5
Kylie & Paul	1.5 / 5
Gav & Waz	0.5 / 5
Phil & Amity	1 / 5

Auction

Auction results^[10][11]

Rank	Couple	Apartment	Reserve	Auction Result	Profit	Total Winnings	Auction order	Buyer
1	Adam and Fiona	Flat 1 (Ground floor)	$595,000	$751,000	$156,000	$256,000	4th	Unidentified Sydney woman
2	Paul and Kylie	Flat 4 (Upstairs)		$747,000	$152,000	$152,000	3rd	Sydney businessman, Wayne
3	Warren and Gavin	Flat 2 (Ground floor)		$670,000	$75,000	$75,000	2nd	Crazy John's
4	Phil and Amity	Flat 3 (Upstairs)		$655,000	$60,000	$60,000	1st	The Sun-Herald

Reception

The first season was a ratings success with an average nightly reviewership of 2.239 million.^[12] The Grand Finale of the season had a viewership of 3.115 million viewers.^[13]