I still clearly remember saying to my wife when we stumbled on Lego Masters, “This is the most pointless show ever! There is absolutely no purpose in this!” – as I was annoyed that TV was truly running out of new concepts, that they were resorting to throwing money into a competition which was purposeless – adults playing with toys? Like what the! But not having anything else to watch that night, we just found ourselves sitting in front of the TV and watching the first episode. And after the first ep, we were utterly sucked in! Hook, line, and sinker!
For the few people who haven’t watch Channel 9’s Lego Masters (Australian- there has already been 2 seasons of the original British series), essentially it’s a competition made up of pairs of adults, creating things with Lego. Yes, the little bricks and inch-tall yellow figures! With the winning pair taking home their share of $100,000! Not a bad pay-day from doing something that you love? And calling the creations as ‘things’ is an under-statement, as the end creations have been EPIC! You have to see it for yourself to believe it! And if watching people build miniature cities/scenes isn’t compelling viewing enough, the show is hosted by comedian Hamish Blake! Which increases the entertainment value by at least three fold! 1:3 scale anyone?
The competition consisted of 8 teams of 2, from pairs of friends, husband & wife partnerships, to even a Grandson-Grandma duo! The challenges were out-of-this-world! – ranging from 6 hour builds for each team to create a level of a skyscraper, to a 28 hour build for the grand finale, which saw a team build an entire amusement park with moving mechanized parts! And with a web-site with extra footage and information to support the show, you can totally geek right out on Lego Masters!
Lego Masters has actually been quite refreshing actually, instead of another Reality TV show with ridiculously good looking people; or with contestants being too conscious/aware of the cameras at all times; or with overly b*tchy/back-stabbing grating contestants – the Lego Masters contestants were just guys and gals who clearly lived further to the left (or should that be right?) on the nerd/geek scale! Which is absolutely cool! The show was also different because the host of the show actually added to the entertainment value of the program – not just a talking head to keep the show moving, but Hamish has emphasized to many why he is one of the funniest Australian comedians at the moment (he’s no ‘stand-up comic’, but what he is, is quick witted and adorably child-like). Which fits in perfectly with a show about adults and toys! And the last thing which stood Lego Masters out from the rest of the Reality TV shows, was the Judge; initially I was annoyed with the judge ‘Brickman’ (Ryan McNaught) because he was this middle aged man who was known by a childish title of ‘Brickman’. However in the end I found him to be an extremely fair judge, he was never cutting with his criticisms, and always tried to highlight what was good about each team’s creations! And in the end as much as the Internet has blown-up about the outcome, I personally thought the judging was fair and the best team won? And not to mention, the show employed a clever use of sound-effects which added to the whole audio-visual experience!
From all reports, Lego sales has sky-rocketed, even I who haven’t thought about Lego in over 25 years has had bricks and little yellow men on the mind. And where adult colouring books was the fad in 2014-15, I’m sure building Lego creations to de-stress after work will be the latest fad for 2019-20!
I think it’s near impossible to watch the show now, without already knowing who won the series (as it’s all over the internet and Ch 9); but if you’re still interested to watch the epic constructions emerge from nothing (mere bricks), and if you’re like me and you like watching Reality TV to psycho-analyse people, please by all means click HERE! It’s a fun 12 episodes, guaranteed to bring-out your inner child!
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