THERE was a flood of tears when House Rules' villains Fiona Taylor and Nicole Prince were kicked out of the competition ... but the only person crying was Fiona.

The Victorian best friends had their fate decided by the judges after the 24-hour fix-up challenge which gives each team the chance to makeover the zone in their house they are least happy with.

Naturally, Fiona and Nicole showed their maturity and graciousness by selecting the zone previously renovated by their arch-enemies Troy and Bec.

"I think you did the wrong zone for the wrong reason and I think with all your history with Troy and Bec you went out of your way to remove them from your house," said judge Laurence Lleweyn-Bowen, chastising the 44-year-old's like schoolchildren.

"Oh, we did do that," Fiona responded, smugly.

Wrong move, Fiona.

"It sounds like a good thing to do," continued Lleweyn-Bowen, "but actually in the context of this challenge a really rubbish thing to do."

But perhaps the eccentric Brit was too presumptive in assuming Team VIC had been motivated by "spite"?

After all, their transformation of the hallway was astounding.

So astounding, in fact, it made Lleweyn-Bowen query whether the new "oppressive" paint-job had been "done in the dark".

"You've got 24 hours," he said.

"Why do you spend your time changing your paint colour from a blue to another blue that's actually not as nice - and then you do it really badly. There was nothing wrong with the colour."

Thankfully though, the flamboyant judge known for his acerbic wit had kinder words for Fiona and Nicole's classic statement piece: le ladder de fleur.

"It looks like a bridal chapel in vegas," said an aghast Lleweyn-Bowen.

"The statement piece is supposed to be the shop window for this team's talent. If this is their talent, it should be burned," he added.

"At least what was there before was real stuff as opposed to a lot of very nasty artificial blossom hanging from some white plastic chains with some really cheap birdcages with some dodgy candles," he said.

But just when it looked like things couldn't get worse, the judges walked into Fiona's son Keanan's bedroom to be confronted with a dramatic transformation.

"We changed the doona cover, we moved the desk and we exposed that amazing graffiti covered wall. We've absolutely nailed everything in that room," said Fiona.

But judge Wendy Moore was understandably quizzical.

"They actually haven't improved it. I think, did you not listen to anything we said?" she said.

After applauding Team VIC's furniture rearranging skills, the judges moved on to the laundry.

And, in a rare stroke of unity, they all agreed Fiona and Nicole had improved the room dramatically with the addition of sleek red panelling.

But alas, no one lives in their laundry.

And vengeance does not pay ... not even for House Rules villains.

"It was like walking into a family argument," reflected Lleweyn-Bowen "There was a spite to what you were doing … to everything."

After receiving their marching orders, Fiona channelled Gwenyth Paltrow at the 1999 Oscars, to make an unnervingly teary speech.

The other contestants looked at the floor and avoided eye contact.

"I'm really thankful. I am the luckiest woman in Australia and Nic walks out of this competition with nothing - I walk out of it with a brand new home. So probably for me the disappointment is I wanted to repay Nic," said Fiona.

In a final touching farewell scene, Fiona and Nicole embrace their fellow contestants in a show of heartfelt sorrow and everyone sobs with despair.

Joking.

The villains barely glanced at their fellow contestants and Fiona mumbled a touching farewell speech.

"See ya, bye," said Fiona.

Bye Felicia.

House Rules airs on Channel 7, Sunday, 7pm and Monday, 7.30pm.

Follow Amelia Saw on Twitter @AmeliaAliceSaw