A year on from buying the entire Block resort, Australian billionaire Adrian Portelli has found five new owners for each of his five Phillip Island houses. The well-known entrepreneur and car enthusiast gave away each of the homes via a livestreamed giveaway through his company LCMT+, with the giveaway reportedly attracting more than 20,000 online viewers and a number of people on site.
Adrian, who placed the shocking $3.5 million bid on Maddy and Charlotte’s House 1 in 2024 to make them the youngest-ever winners of The Block, held a competition back in December to offload the Phillip Island properties he bought for over $15 million. However, with a prize option of The Block resort or $8 million in tax-free cash, the lucky winner walked away with the cash, leaving Adrian with the resort.
While the Melbourne-based businessman initially expressed plans to keep the residences and potentially host events there, it became clear he wanted to offload all five properties. After a seemingly unsuccessful search for a buyer, Adrian created a second Block giveaway and announced the five winners over the weekend.
According to realestate.com.au, the winners were 43-year-old teacher Parvin, 22-year-old West Australian Josh, a woman named Martha, a mother named Donna, and 50-year-old Sydney-based father, Jason.
In the lead-up to the giveaway, Adrian shared a video showing the changes he has made to the Phillip Island compound, including adding security cameras, increasing the fence height and installing heat pumps for the swimming pool.
Who won The Block 2024 giveaway?
The winner of Adrian Portelli’s original The Block giveaway in 2024 was 34-year-old Holly from Ballarat, who decided to take the $8 million cash over the Phillip Island resort.
Adrian’s company, LCMT+, originally decided against another giveaway of the resort due to the cost of promoting and running one. “I think everyone forgets that the resort is one half of the cost. So to run a promotion like that costs double the amount we have paid for it in marketing expenses and running it and permits,” Adrian said.
However, the billionaire changed his mind after being unsuccessful in his search for a buyer for all five properties, leading to another giveaway of each of the properties in November 2025.
When was The Block 2024 giveaway?
After buying up all five houses at The Block auction in November, Adrian announced his first mega giveaway a few days later via Instagram.
“Under New Management! And as mayor of Portelli town, I would like to announce a world first. LET’S GIVE AWAY A FKN RESORT!!!” he wrote on Instagram. “1 Giveaway – 1 Prize – Winner takes the whole resort OR take $8,000,000 Instant Tax-Free Cash! Let the games begin.”
While the huge prize was set to be announced via live stream – and even in-person attendance at 119 Justice Road, Cowes – on 26th December 2024, Adrian made a last-minute change due to “technical difficulties”. It was then scheduled for 27th December 2024, at 8:30 pm AEDT, and live-streamed via the LCMT+ Facebook page.
We didn’t see that coming…or did we?
Why did Adrian Portelli give away The Block?
This is not the first time Adrian Portelli has given away his purchases on The Block. In 2023, he was the buyer of Steph and Gian‘s record-breaking Japandi home, which he then gave away in a similar competition via his promotions and giveaway company, LMCT+. In 2023, he also purchased Eliza and Liberty’s house for $4.3 million and Kyle and Leslie‘s house for $3.1 million.
Eliza and Liberty‘s house was also raffled off, but the winner chose instead to take the $2 million cash on offer, leaving Adrian to sell the home via more traditional methods. The house sold at auction in April 2024 for $3.245 million, considerably less than what Adrian paid.
In 2024, Adrian announced that the 20th Block season would be his last appearance on the show, and that he wanted to “go out with a bang.” Now, the billionaire is set to appear in the new Channel 7 series, My Renovation Rules.
