A couple from Australia made global headlines after winning a luxury home worth an impressive £2.2m, but it’s not the win that has caught the attention of the media.
Andrea and Kevin Griffin from Victoria, Australia, won a stunning home via a popular television show in Oz, but have since slammed the show for removing goods from the property before the keys were handed to them.
Property investor, Adrian 'Lambo Guy' Portelli, purchased the luxury home in Gisborne in November and then decided to pass it over to auction reality TV show “The Block.” To enter the draws members are required to sign up to a membership costing between £10 and £52 per month. Husband and wife duo, Andrea and Kevin, were playing for more than a year before winning the main prize – the home valued at £2.2m, and the pair were initially over the moon, as we all would be…
…until they discovered “luxury” items had been taken from the home! Speaking to the media, the couple hit out at the businessman after CCTV showed the former owner removing items such as a robotic mower, SMEG appliances, candles, books, a wine fridge, a treadmill and more. Ms Griffin told the Herald Sun: “We were just like, what the hell? Why has he done this?”
Hacking Into CCTV!
After discovering the items missing, the pair sent Mr Portelli a bill or £53,755.46, the value for said missing items from the “fully furnished home.”
The married couple expressed they sent the bill to the businessman as they assumed everything in the promotional video was included in the prize, however, the property tycoon said those items were in fact for staging purposes and not listed under the terms and conditions of the giveaway.
Channel Nine’s production team for The Block had left cameras behind at the property and Mr Portelli claims the couple “hacked” into them to view the content. Not happy with the “winners response,” the businessman took to the internet to call them out for their actions. A video was posted of the couple complaining as the keys were handed over to them! He even revealed messaged from the winners to his personal phone calling him and his staff “thieves.”
Unbelievable Events Unfolding
As you can imagine, the videos published have sparked backlash with viewers brandishing the winners as “greedy” and “selfish.” One commentor said: “You could have given me that home stripped of all the furniture and I would have been over the moon.”
Another added: “Australia's biggestrental crisis and we have people out here that win a house more than some people would ever earn in their life and they complain.”
A third wrote: “Shame on them. Some people can't even put food on the table. They need humbling massively.”
Mr Portelli has also been served legal papers by the winning couple. He said: “Unfortunately, it's people like this that ruin it for everyone and it makes us not want to do things like this again. Whatever I do with these items is up to me. Wherever I want to use them personally or I want to use them to stage future giveaway houses, who bloody cares.”
Since the whole “win goes bad” fiasco, the businessman has been told he is being investigated in two states following claims he has broken gabling laws. A complaint has been sent to both South Australia's Consumer and Business Services and The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission, and there’s no prizes for guessing who complained!
Source: “Couple Who Won £2.2m Home In Lottery Say Entire Process Has Been A Nightmare”, Mirror. October 11, 2023.
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Comments (1)
bridgetjones
10/12/23, 06:10:06 AM
Absolute greed! Shocking the lengths they have gone to. Let’s hope they’re fond in breach of the terms and conditions and have the home taken away from them.
