The Block: Brad & Lara's happy ending....

Wowsers! I trust we were all glued to the tele tonight to watch the finale? And what a finale! I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams that there'd be a combined over-reserve amount of $1.7M!!!

New South Wales' own lovely Novacastrians, Brad and Lara took out not only viewers choice for Best and Fairest, taking away a car for their niceness, but they won the series as well! In similar fashion to the Block 2011, the first house to go under the hammer took the highest amount over reserve, and lucky for these guys, that was them. With a whopping $506K over their reserve, plus the $100K winners purse, these guys are all set up now for Brad to whip out a ring and start a life with Lara in a shiny new house with a shiny new car... fairytale ending much?

Dani bowled me over when she announced she "hopes everyone does that well" after the first auction. I'd have expected "hope we do that well", but to be so gracious and wish for everyone to have a happy ending was astounding.... Maybe she's not as bad as she was portrayed?

And well done to Ch9 for being so much less greedy than last year and setting the reserves so low that everyone had to come out a winner. Much more positive to have 4 winners than 2011's massive fail of 3 out of 4 properties not reaching reserve. But seriously, has anyone ever seen a 3 storey, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom property with 180 degree city views in St Kilda under a mill? Me either. They really made sure everyone would reach reserve didn't they?

My faves Sophie & Dale may have come last but it's a last you'd be happy with! They walked away with $350K which is amazing. I'd be more than happy to leave my kids for 10 weeks, not sleep and get stressed and dirty for that kind of cash. And what's more, I think we'll be seeing more of them. Talent like that can't just disappear. Perhaps in the all-stars series Scotty casually plugged? Too many good options to even contemplate there.

And finally, did anyone notice house2.com.au? The brothers were plugging that all over their I'm-going-to-stop-traffic-in-these-bright-yellow-tshirts! I did have a look like a gazillion other probably did... not much to see let me just say, though there's potential for something good to develop. And granted, they haven't had much time to really get it going just yet have they? Maybe one to watch...

So sad it's over. This one has been my favourite series so far. Mainly due to Team S&D. Can't wait to hear what you all thought...