What would you do if you were gifted a $4.2 million home after winning a lottery prize? To a couple from Victoria, Australia, the answer is quite simple: complain about a list of missing items that were allegedly promised in the giveaway’s promotional video.
Kevin and Andrea Griffin’s reaction to winning the house has left many Aussies speechless.
Image credits: lmctplus
The pair were recently given a multimillion-dollar home in Grisbone—54 kilometers away from Melbourne—which was featured on the reality television series The Block. The TV show follows couples as they compete against each other to renovate homes and sell them at auction for a higher price.
Adrian “Lambo Guy” Portelli, a Melbourne-born businessman, bought the property last November to raffle it off as a star prize in his company, LMCT+.
The Griffins had been paying a $20 monthly subscription to LMCT+ for over a year before winning the big prize, which they described as “life-changing” to the Herald Sun.
However, the couple wasn’t entirely pleased with their new property.
The Aussie couple won the big prize after participating in an LMCT+ giveaway
Image credits: lmctplus
Image credits: lmctplus
After realizing that a few items were missing from the home, they discovered CCTV footage of Portelli removing $100,000 worth of items before handing the house over to them.
Among these items were luxury appliances like a robot mower, a treadmill, a BBQ smoker, and a wine fridge, as well as less pricey items like candles, books, and towels.
The Griffins have accused the businessman of “stealing” these goods and issued a bill for the list of lost items.
“We were just like, what the hell? Why has he done this?” Ms. Griffin said after seeing the video surveillance footage.
If he had known that the property wouldn’t come with the valuable items, Mr. Griffin explained, then he would’ve preferred to take the $3 million in cash that the businessman offered as an alternative prize.
The pair claims that the original owner, Mr. Portelli, "stole" several items that were featured in the giveaway's promotional video
Image credits: adrian_portelli
Mr. Portelli hit back at the complaints by releasing behind-the-scenes footage that had been cut out of the final edit of the video that showed the couple being handed the keys to the home.
The clip, which enraged Aussies, shows the Griffins’ peculiar reaction to seeing their brand-new property for the first time.
“Is that heated?” Ms. Griffin says at the beginning of the video while pointing to the outdoor pool, to which Mr. Portelli responds that he doesn’t know.
“It would want to be,” Mr. Griffin then adds.
When she enters one of the living areas, the woman says: “Where did my wine fridge go? There was a wine fridge there.”
“They forgot to give that ceiling its final coat,” Mr. Griffin complains when inspecting another room.
The woman notes: “There’s a couple of lamps in there. We can sell those on eBay.”
Adrian Portelli responded to the allegations by posting a behind-the-scenes video showing the couple complaining about their new home
Image credits: areyoukiddingme420
Image credits: areyoukiddingme420
Of course, people didn’t take long to respond to the clips, stressing that many Australians struggle to pay for rent, and the pair’s attitude was “ungrateful and embarrassing.”
In the video, posted on LMCT+’s social media, the business owner defended himself by highlighting the couple’s controversial reaction.
“I am sure you guys would all agree if you were handing someone a $4.3m prize … if they started acting like that, you would want to get the hell out of there as well,” he said.
The Griffins can be heard saying that the wine fridge was "missing" and that they "forgot to give the ceiling a final coat"
Image credits: areyoukiddingme420
According to Mr. Portelli, the removed items were only intended to be used for the promotional video of the giveaway and were part of sponsorship deals with different companies.
Additionally, he explained that the products were not included in the terms and conditions of the lottery.
“The Block contestants do receive many items from sponsors that aren’t included. So in the shed there were a lot of items like a treadmill, there was wine that the contestants won, there were toolboxes, etc.”
“Now, in our terms and conditions, we do state that the house comes fully furnished and yes, it came fully furnished with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of furniture, however, apparently there’s hundreds of items that are missing.”
You can watch the video below
Following the outraged reactions brought about by the video, the businessman has decided to raffle off the removed objects for a ticket price of $1, expressing that he wants the products to go to “someone who is going to be grateful and deserving.”
All of the proceeds of the giveaway will go to Australians affected by homelessness.
Most people slammed the couple for being ungrateful, stressing that the house is a life-changing prize
However, some said the couple is in their full right to complain about the prize
