In February, my husband Philip (a BrickNerd alum!) and I headed to Atlanta, Georgia for a once in a lifetime opportunity: we had been named as one of 12 teams on FOX’s hit show, LEGO Masters! We had such an amazing time filming the show for the second season in the US, getting to know the cast, working with the crew, and playing with the bricks. I’m excited to share a little about our experience inside LEGO Masters with you each week here on BrickNerd.

This is your spoiler warning for Episode 1 of LEGO Masters US Season 2!

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First Impressions

The time had come. All of the teams were huddled together, waiting nervously behind the iconic white doors made from giant LEGO bricks. Fog came bursting out between the doors and we heard the call, “Rolling, rolling!” As the doors slowly opened, we exchanged excited looks and high fives. The time had finally arrived—we were walking out onto the set of LEGO Masters where Will Arnett was waiting to greet us.

As we rounded the corner, we saw the tables and the lights, Will Arnett, the minifig wall, the brick pit, and a huge bank of cameras. It was such an epic experience that we will never forget—but we didn’t have long to soak it in! The stage manager carefully arranged us into our riser positions and we launched right into the show. “Here we go!” I thought excitedly as I took a deep breath.

Will introduced us to our judges Brick Masters Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard. As a family, we own many of the sets Amy and Jamie have designed and we loved watching them on Season 1. We are also huge Will Arnett fans—Arrested Development is one of our favorite shows and Will’s Batman voice is so iconic. We were definitely starstruck!

Familiar Faces and New Friends

The celebrities on the show weren’t the only people leaving us with stars in our eyes. Even though this was the first time most of us had met, there were some familiar faces and LEGO legends in the crowd of contestants. We felt very honored (and slightly intimidated) to be among such talented builders. That said, despite being competitors, we all bonded quickly over our love for LEGO and desire to create. We all wanted to do our best and wanted the best builds to win.

The challenge was issued: it was the LEGO Day Parade! Even though the experience of filming Episode 1 was exciting and fun, it presented some challenges specifically for us as a team. First, even though the brick pit was logically laid out, we all had to learn how the elements were organized. Imagine being invited into someone else’s collection and then being told to build something amazing with a ticking clock!

The second struggle was the required element of motion in the floats. We knew Power Functions would come into play, but it was something we had never used. Our final requirement was scale-something that is harder than it seems. In our style of building, we are accustomed to focusing on details and technique, building things that capture your attention when given the time to inspect the little things.

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We loved the elements we put into our float—the numbered sheep, the brick-built mom, the bedroom decorations, and the bunting on the side. We loved our story about the mom reading to her kiddo who couldn’t get to sleep. We poured ourselves into that build, but when we saw it next to the other builds that were much larger, we knew we would have to step up our game on future challenges if we got to them.

Facing Fears

As you might expect, Having your names called to the front for being in the bottom two was a harrowing experience. (I think you can tell by the looks on our faces) But we learned some important lessons that day. One thing we did really well was time management: we developed our idea then made a schedule for when certain elements should be complete. Our goal was to be done with at least 30 minutes left so we could polish the build and add in extra details—and leave time for any unexpected twists or fixing things that might break. We also made sure to check the boxes on each of the judges’ requirements—we didn’t want to get disqualified on a technicality!

After that uneasy experience, we developed a plan for what would keep us out of the bottom two and in the competition. Our next build had to be huge—we wanted something that would look amazing to the viewers at home. It had to be colorful, eye-catching, and over the top.

We knew what was coming when Episode 1 aired, but that didn’t dampen our excitement. As the premiere for Season 2 drew near, we were excited and nervous to see how the show would be edited together and how each of the teams would be portrayed. 12 teams, two judges, one host, and 14 hours of building is a lot to cram into 45 minutes! I can’t speak for the other teams, but I know that Philip and I grinned like idiots through most of the show.

We had so much fun seeing our LEGO Masters family and their builds on network television. I look forward to being able to share with you even more how we have come together as a group, some of the things we learned, and offer a glimpse of what it is like to be on the show.

If you haven’t watched Episode 1 of LEGO Masters yet, I highly encourage you to check it out before the next episode airs on Tuesday. But be warned! Episode 2 is going to be explosive!

What do you want to know about being a contestant on LEGO Masters? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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