New Zealand warehouse chain Bunnings has emerged victorious from TV3’s The Block NZ, after defeating their competition by making substantially more in profit than runners-up Alice & Caleb, who themselves vastly out-earned the remainder of the show’s contestants.

Alice & Caleb, both 26, spent 10 weeks renovating a property in Belmont, Auckland, while Bunnings constructed an elaborate renovation reality show that cleverly acted as an extended advertisement for their business.

The season finale of the popular infomercial was broadcast on TV3 last night, featuring an auction where the house built by Alice & Caleb sold for an impressive $1.1 million, netting them a total profit of $181,000. But that figure was no match for the profit made by Bunnings, which, while not yet tallied, is likely to be in excess of $1,000,000.

One contestant, 23-year-old Andy Walker, who competed with his brother Pete, was disappointed “for everyone, really,” but said he knew that the competition would be tough.

“It’s difficult to go up against Bunnings,” he said. “But in the end, I think the better renovators did win. We renovated – what? – one house. Bunnings have renovated hundreds, potentially thousands. So it’s hard for us to make the case that we’re the more deserving party.”

As part of a contract signed before filming, the show’s losing contestants will now have to turn over 80% of their profits to the winning contestant; a measure designed to “incentivise winning.

MediaWorks, the parent company of TV3, today claimed that “several million” viewers tuned in to watch the show’s finale, a figure that some believe they may have confused with the money they’ve made.

Having finished, The Block is set to be replaced with an hour of straight advertising, which TV3 expects will draw in “similar numbers.”