The Block runner-up couple Sonny and Alicia break down over online bullies

The Block 2025 contestants Alicia and Sonny were overwhelmed with emotion after their successful auction, which saw them take home $120,000 in profit, breaking down as they opened up about the backlash from online trolls during the season.

When reporters raised how much criticism the couple had copped from online commenters during the season, Alicia started crying immediately and couldn’t speak.

Sonny spoke up to defend his wife.

“They are way harder on strong women,” he said. “And you saw it with the girls at first. They don’t like a woman who has an opinion.

“Do you know what? I love a woman with an opinion.”

Alicia sobbed as she described the experience of watching the show over the past 12 weeks.

“Honestly, I didn’t get out of bed for two days. I think I said to Sonny at 11 o’clock one night, ‘I need to go to hospital,’ ” she said.

“I’m not a nasty person. I’m just not. I had a five-minute fight with Britt that plays out [on the show] for weeks.

“Obviously they’re the fan favourites and no matter what anyone said to defend me, it didn’t matter. But I know who I am.”

The couple were slammed by critics online, who described Alicia as a “Block Karen”. Some random trolls even made a beeline for Sonny’s plumbing business – which he has run successfully for 25 years – and left one-star reviews as revenge.

Sonny said they were shocked by the intensity of the criticism levelled against them.

“What happens on those pages – we don’t really care about because we just stopped reading them,” Sonny said. “But, a couple of times, they went after our business.

“The noise gets pretty loud sometimes.”

The couple were devastated by the impact the backlash had on their children.

“I have a 13-year-old daughter, you know, and I couldn’t even take them [all three kids] out in the school holidays because I was petrified of someone just saying something mean,” she said.

“It never actually happened – everyone was so nice to me – but I was so scared it was going to happen.”

Despite their arduous journey with online trolls, the couple said they would return to The Block in a heartbeat.

“Even if we had walked out with no money, we would  have come back,” Sonny said. “It helped us make mates. Despite what you all may read or write, we’ve got some great mates.”

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