Almost 2.2 million Australians in the five major capitals watched novice renovators Chantelle Ford and Steve O'Donnell win the eighth season of The Block last night.
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The ratings soar to almost 3.1 million when the regional figures are included.
The reality juggernaut helped Channel Nine claim the top three spots last night.
The networks now routinely split their reality finales into different segments to elbow their rivals out of the top spots – and last night was no exception.
The "winner announced" portion of the The Block netted 2.18 million viewers; the auctions grabbed 2.16 million; and the rest of the episode was watched by 1.89 million.
The result is disappointing when compared to the previous Sky High season, which finished in July of last year. Back then, the winner announcement was watched by 2.81 million in the five major capitals and the auctions had 2.61 million viewers.
But Nine argues it's more accurate to compare the results to the All Stars season that aired at the same time last year – a fair point – which reveals a modest jump in this season's numbers. Last night's episode was up by 238,000 – and it even claimed the top spot in Channel Seven-obsessed Perth. (Last year, the All Stars finale was beaten in Perth by Seven's My Kitchen Rules, Seven News and Today Tonight.)
Filming has already begun on the ninth season of The Block, which is a cash cow for Nine.
Ford and O'Donnell – a milliner and a chimneysweep – told Fairfax Media they had never designed a room before appearing on the popular renovation program.
"We didn't know – with no background – if anything we did was of value, and now we know [it was]," O'Donnell said.
"I'm still in shock, I don't get what's happened," Ford told Domain.com.au, shortly after her win on Tuesday night.
"We just wanted to sell it, and it just has not sunk in at all."
The couple's apartment sold for $636,000 above the $1,834,000 reserve, and they pocketed an extra $100,000 in prize money.
Their rivals – past contestants twins Lysandra and Alisa Fraser and Brad Cranfield and Dale Vine, and fellow novices Kyal and Kara Demmrich – also sold their apartments for at least several hundred thousand dollars above their reserves.
Ford and O'Donnell were the underdogs of this season, with O'Donnell complaining at one point he had been portrayed as "mentally deficient". Some social media users suggested the couple benefited from their auction being last, with "desperate" buyers possibly upping their bids after missing out on the first three apartments.
Nine had three other programs in the top 10 last night, with A Current Affair soaring to 1.44 million. The program, focusing on child sex offender and Hey, Dad! star Robert Hughes, featured an interview with the cast of the former sitcom.
The 6.30pm portion of Nine's one-hour bulletin took sixth place with 1.26 million followed by the 6pm segment with 1.23 million.
Seven's strongest program was My Kitchen Rules in fourth place with 1.65 million viewers, followed by the first half of its 6pm bulletin with 1.12 million.
News also provided the top slots for ABC and Ten: 895,000 viewers and 13th place for ABC1 and 647,000 in 17th place for Channel Ten.
Not surprisingly, the Nine network won the night with a 36.1 per cent slice of the audience. Yet arch-rival Seven was not far behind on 33 per cent. The ABC channels took third place with 14 per cent, the Ten network had a 13 per cent share and SBS had 3.8 per cent.
