Flatmates Emma Diamond (27) and Courtney Mackay (25), of Roslyn, are backing themselves to be the first female team to win The Block New Zealand, a renovation-reality show in which four teams of two people transform a house in the Auckland suburb of Meadowbank with the goal of selling them at auction for the highest price.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom house goes under the hammer from 7pm.
"Hopefully, we come out with the win ... We want to be the first girls to ever win," Miss Mackay said.
The friends of four years travelled to Auckland yesterday to prepare for the live auction, to air on TV3.
When filming of the renovations finished a few weeks ago, the friends returned to Dunedin and nerves began to jangle.
Anticipation of the auction has caused sleepless nights.
"I’ve been trying not to think about it and keep busy," Miss Diamond said.
Miss Mackay said the thought of their house not selling made her anxious.
The auction order, which would be revealed tomorrow, was a cause for concern, she said.
"We would love to go first or second," Miss Diamond said.
In three of the four past New Zealand competitions, the contestants whose houses were auctioned first had gone on to win the competition, Miss Mackay said.
Last year, the winning team took home $290,000.
If the pair won, they intended to start a business in Dunedin, probably selling fashion and homeware, Miss Mackay said.
The competition had revealed their strengths and weaknesses and how their skills were complementary.
Miss Diamond works at Otago Rugby as a memberships, ticketing and office administrator.
Before the competition, Miss Mackay worked at Dunedin homeware store MintSix, but the job ended when the owner closed the Roslyn shop.
The shop closure was "good timing" because it freed her up to visit her fiance, Highlander loose forward Joe Wheeler, who was moving to Japan tomorrow to play rugby.
"I want to go to Japan and experience that lifestyle ... [but] if we win The Block, it will make our lives quite busy ... and I’d have to stay here for that."
Any team could win the competition, Miss Diamond said.
The public open homes in Auckland last weekend were held on "atrociously" wet days and attracted more than 5000 people, twice as many as last year.
The feedback from the public revealed a clear winner was not evident.
"We’ve definitely got a shot," Miss Diamond said.
"We are really happy how the house has come out. We love it," Miss Mackay said.
The duo had been campaigning to get people to support their bid for people’s choice award to win a Honda HR-V Sport X.
During the competition, the pair worked 20-hour days for 11 weeks with no days off, Miss Diamond said.
"No rest for the wicked. You got into the routine pretty quick, though, and got used to being tired."
Miss Mackay, a black belt in taekwondo, said the biggest learning experience in the competition was the importance of "speaking your mind" to builders and sticking to your own design ideas.
"Don’t hold back, because even though you think they are the builders and they know everything, they don’t know everything design wise."
