They may have had a strong start to this year’s season of after winning the first room reveal, but Kristian and Mimi were called out during Monday night’s episode for breaking the rules in a never-before-seen scandal. In an effort to speed up their build and cut corners, Kristian forged both Foreman Dan and Project Manager Kylie's signatures on the necessary permit allowing their builders to start demolishing a space for this week’s bedroom. Foreman Dan was fuming when he discovered what Team Purple had done, especially because it’s never happened before in the 11 seasons he’s appeared on the reality show.
“The purpose of the demolition permit is just so everyone on site knows what these guys are doing,” Dan explained in his piece-to-camera interview. “Do we need to get barricades? Do we need to have extra OH&S in there? They’re a must on our site because we have five houses going at once.” Kristian, a 31-year-old electrician, instantly knew he was in trouble when he and his wife Mimi returned to the Phillip Island construction site after spending the day in Melbourne choosing appliances.
“I know it was wrong,” he said after offering an excuse for his bad behaviour. “It was just literally the heat of the moment, we were literally about to drive to our appointment, there was so much going on.” Meanwhile, Mimi was unaware of her husband’s actions and told Dan she was shocked by what he had done.
“If I knew, I would’ve shut that down straight away. That doesn’t sit right with me at all,” she said, before labelling Kristian’s behaviour as “childish”. “I’m not gonna defend Kristian no matter what he does.
If it’s wrong it’s wrong, and that just did not sit right with me at all.” Foreman Dan told Kristian that he would suffer a time penalty for forging his signature and would be forced to have a “one-hour coffee break at McCafé” the following morning. “By trying to save time, you actually added more time!” Mimi remarked.
While fans agreed there should be consequences to Kristian’s actions, they thought Dan’s punishment wasn’t harsh enough. “Considering House 5 forged signatures, they should have 10 points taken from their Sunday score and House 2 be awarded the win. Isn’t forgery illegal period! needs to send the message to everyone cheating will not be tolerated,” one person wrote in a popular Facebook group for the series.
“Exactly, he will do it again because he got away with it. Dan needs to grow some,” another added, while a third shared, “They only got a slap on the wrist, disgusting.” “The forgery applied to the current room so the penalty should apply to the current room.
Loss of points at a minimum,” a fan suggested. “They should have been sent packing,” someone else remarked, followed by a different user who agreed, “[They] should be kicked off the show”. “This is more than cheating, they forged signatures.
Should be removed from and police notified,” another replied. “Forging signatures just shows that they don’t understand or appreciate the WHS requirements,” someone else commented. “In my opinion, a reasonable ‘punishment’ would have been for a) all trades immediately stop work on the house, b) Kristina and Mimi attend the full-day induction (that they would have done before filming commenced), and c) trades can resume when Kristina and Mimi are back.
It would put them a day behind, but more importantly it ensures that when they come back they can follow the processes/rules.”.
