Ben & Chloe's BITTERSWEET VICTORY

The winners of The Block's nail bitting finale have big plans for their prize money

- Florence Hartigan

Auction night on The Block NZ: Redemption was an emotional rollercoaster for this season's winners, Auckland based pals Chloe Hes and Ben Speedy.

The teammates and former series six contestants - who bravely took on the challenge of returning to the reality reno show in a tricky housing market - battled both feelings of elation at their win and sadness for their fellow contestants.

"We were well and truly prepared that our house may not sell - we were just lucky we had a buyer," says 29-year-old Chloe, whose property sold for just $4000 above the reserve price set by the show, earning her and Ben $104,000 thanks to the main prize of $100,000.

Only one other house sold on the night of the auction leaving People's Choice Award winners Maree and James with only $100 profit, plus a car.

The other two teams would have left the show with nothing, but one of the show's partners, TSB, announced it would give the three losing couples $10,000 each because the bank "didn't want to see any teams go home home empty-handed"