They’re the two teams who’ve miraculously managed to keep things civil as they battle it out on The Block.
But on Thursday night’s episode, the limits of Josh and Elyse’s friendship with Sticks and Wombat were tested after a stressful incident involving a pool.
Despite initially telling Josh and Elyse their pool would be installed by 9am, Sticks and Wombat inadvertently blocked the couple from working on their backyard for eight hours.
Strained relationships! On Thursday’s episode of The Block, Wombat (left) and Sticks (right) pushed their friendship with Josh and Elyse to the limit after pool drama pushes the couple a day behind schedule
Echoing Ronnie and Georgia’s problems involving crane access earlier in the week, Sticks and Wombat bit off more than they could chew as they tried to get their shipping container pool in their backyard.
The problems started early on with the narrow driveway and obstacles such as neighbouring houses, brick walls and a tight turning circle all playing their part in preventing the truck carrying the crane to get where it needed to be.
When it became clear the squeeze was too tight for the semi, the truck was returned and replaced for a smaller vehicle, adding another three hour delay into the already running late installation.
Concerned about the impact this would have on his Block competitors, Sticks vented: ‘It was such a stressful episode. The more time we were taking, the more time Josh and Elyse couldn’t do what they needed to do. That ate me up inside.’
Too close! It was too tight of a fit for the first semi which had to be returned and replaced
‘The more time we were taking, the more time Josh and Elyse couldn’t do what they needed to do’: Sticks (right, with Wombat) said it ‘ate him up’ at how much their pool installation was affecting Josh and Elyse
Despite being friends with the country boys, Josh and Elyse were becoming increasingly frustrated about being forced to sit on their hands and wait.
‘I just want to start and finish our backyard,’ Elyse complained.
Meanwhile, Josh was seriously considering trying to make the boys pull the plug on the whole operation.
‘You’ve got to draw the line somewhere. Although it’s a friendship, it is a comp and we need to get our yard done,’ he said.
‘I just want to start and finish our backyard’: Elyse (pictured) complained about the time the boys’ pool installation was taking
Eventually, after a lengthy – and costly – delay and debacles such as getting bogged, there was success as the pool was finally installed.
But far from being relieved, Sticks just felt terrible for the effect it had on the young couple’s workload.
‘Once the pool was in there I wasn’t proud, I was just ashamed I took a day off Josh and Knowles,’ he said.
So in a bid to make it up to them, Sticks and his teammate Wombat pitched in and helped with Josh and Elyse’s manual labour until it was tools down for the night.
‘You’ve got to draw the line somewhere’ : Josh (left) considered trying to stop the operation