When House Rules couple Ben and Jemma Van Ryt received a call from Channel Nine about a new renovation series, they "thought someone was pulling [their] leg".
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And understandably so. The mere mention of a rival network is enough to make most TV executives bare their teeth.
So why has Nine embraced House Rules in its new reality series?
"I really respect Channel Seven's decision to create House Rules. I think the idea behind that show was to give viewers a choice between The Block and House Rules," Reno Rumble co-creator Julian Cress said.
"Recently Channel Seven decided to run two series of House Rules a year because we're making two series of The Block. So we decided to make Reno Rumble because we also like to give viewers a choice.
"From Tuesday, viewers will have the choice of watching one house get renovated every week, or watching two houses get renovated every week."
Reno Rumble will pit former contestants from The Block against their counterparts from House Rules for a $100,000 prize. Half of that money will go to a charity nominated by the winning team.
Recruiting the "amazing talent" from the Seven stable required a certain amount of tact. Jemma Van Ryt said executives "kept a lot secret" during their first meeting in a Perth cafe.
"At that point, they didn't reveal much at all, just the time frame, how long it would run for, how things could work given that we were about to have a baby – how all of that would be taken into consideration," she said.
"I had a call from someone at Channel Seven at the very beginning asking if we had been contacted by Channel Nine and I said I couldn't say whether I had or hadn't."
Soon after baby Thomas was brought into the world, the new parents were locked in for Reno Rumble, with Jemma's mum in tow.
"They flew my mum over to help look after Thomas while we were renovating. We would pop in to see Thomas as often as we could, I probably got to see him a little bit more than Ben," Jemma said.
"There was definitely a bit of tension in the first week because we're all used to the concept of working against each other, which was part of House Rules, and come Reno Rumble we had to work as a team.
"Everyone had concerns in the back of their mind about whether we'd work as a team, whether anyone would try and stitch us over, it's quite funny."
The show itself draws heavily on American styling – varsity fonts, red versus blue and heavy on the graphics.
Show creators said they had deliberately tried to replicate the "look and feel" of the Superbowl.
"David Barbour and I spent a few years in the United States working between The Block, we were really influenced by that American culture," Mr Cress said.
"If we're going to go out there with something this big, bold and interesting, we're going to have to deliver when people tune in to the television.
"We're feeling a certain sense of confidence because we've been filming for six weeks with all of these guys. It's been a profoundly entertaining experience."
Reno Rumble will debut on the Nine Network at 7.30pm Tuesday night - the same time as Channel Seven's new series of House Rules.
