Lego Masters is the wholesome reality TV hit Aussies can’t get enough of when it feels like the rest of the world is going crazy.
It’s all about having fun, the contestants are nice to each other (shocking!) and everyone seems to be genuinely having a great time.
But even though it’s nothing like Married At First Sight or The Bachelor, viewers still have a long list of questions about this show.
Like, do they really build Lego for 15 hours straight? Can they take breaks? Do they get to eat?
Is host Hamish Blake really that funny and charismatic in person?
And do the contestants really get along like a house on fire in real life, or is it all for the cameras?
We spoke to Annie, who was on the show’s first season with Runa, as well as best friend duo Jay and Stani, to get all the gossip on what Lego Masters is really like behind the scenes.
Contestants Annie and Runa were eliminated during the show’s first season and spoke about what it’s really like being on the show.
(Image: Instagram)
What’s the audition process like?
“The audition process was fun. It took me a few goes to even convince Runa to come on with me. I remember her saying she was not even interested, but I managed to convince her,” Anna explained.
“There were so many stages. We had to send in an application, we had to do a Skype interview and a build challenge, then lots of waiting.”
Did it prepare them for being on camera for hours and hours end? Sort of.
“It was definitely fun and kind of daunting with all of these camera people around you,” Anna said.
“You can’t scratch yourself without a camera looking at you! But once you get into the groove, you don’t notice that they’re there.”
Jay and Stani were the third team eliminated from the first season of the competition.
(Image: Channel Nine)
Do the challenges really last THAT long?
Yes!
“The time you hear them give us is the time we get,” Anna explained.
“The first one was 15 hours plus two hours – we did have a little break in between that to recoup and get into the groove – and the one after that was 10 hours and an additional 12. You really do have to build quite fast and intensely for quite a long time.”
But Jay revealed there is a bit of “movie magic” created behind the scenes.
“People keep asking does each episode get filmed for 15 hours straight? And no, not really. It’s done over a whole week,” he said.
“How it works is say it’s a 15-hour build, we’ll do the build over two days. You might do nine hours the first day and six hours on the second day. And then we do all of our interview inserts, where they take you back through the process and they do the pickups for the interview, because they can’t break you out of the build.”
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Do they get breaks?
They sure do. But there are strict rules about what contestants can and can’t do during their breaks.
“For example, the make and shake build, that was an eight hour build, but it was a 10-hour day of filming with breaks for lunch in the middle and during those breaks you have no access to anything,” Jay said.
“As you arrive on set, you put your phone in your little locker and you don’t get it back until afterwards. You can’t look at any reference material. You can’t even talk about it to your partner, you can’t come up with any ideas, you can’t look up anything.
“They’re very strict about that. [The producers] are there the entire time [during the break] and if you start to mention anything about the build, they say ‘Don’t talk about it’.”
Are they allowed to eat during the challenges?
“We are allowed to eat,” Anna explained.
“We were provided with delicious lolly snakes to fuel ourselves.”
Summer (left) and Dannii (right) during some tense moments on set.
(Image: Channel Nine)
What about toilet breaks?
“If you need to go to the bathroom, you call a 10:1 [the official code on set for a bathroom break] and you disappear and come back really quickly,” Anna said.
Jay added that the toilet breaks are only taken during builds if absolutely necessary.
“That’s your time. You run there and back, because the clock is ticking.”
Is the Brick Pit really that amazing?
Yup!
“It is definitely Lego heaven. I spaced out entirely,” Anna revealed.
“I’m so used to being a Mum all day and dealing with little kids and having them break Lego all the time, having this room of Lego that’s amazing was such a thrill.”
Are all of the contestants friends in real life?
Yes! And after the crazy drama on MAFS, it’s nice to hear about a group of reality stars actually getting along!
These guys are all mates in real life and speak regularly in their group chat.
“Everyone talks everyday on the group chat. We’re all good friends,” Stani said.
The contestants even spent a Christmas dinner together at the end of 2019.
“We were really lucky. I got to host Christmas with everybody and they all came over to my house and ate fried cheese for dinner. We were catering to our vegetarians, there were lots of vegetarians on set this year,” Anna said.
And they all regularly stay in touch, despite filming wrapping months ago.
“We’ve got our group chat and our ability to stay in touch with everybody, but the best thing to come out of this was the friends we made,” she revealed.
“We’re all friends. Everyone is friends with everyone. There are no feuds at all. Even in our group when we got eliminated, the sentiments and love from everyone was amazing.”
