Hamish Blake: “We do get to take the piss a little”

In the opening episode of Lego Masters host Hamish Blake pranked one of the contestants, 71 year old grandmother Lyn who had come to the series with her 17 year old grandson Matt, having reservations about Reality TV.

“She was worried about coming on a show like this. ‘What if they make me do something?'” Blake explains.

“And so I went up and I was like ‘Hey, the producers want you to go and push one of the other contestants to start a fight.’

“And she said, ‘That’s what I was worried about!’

“Then I said, ‘It’s the Lego show. We’re not going to make you push each other around!'”

Hamish Blake is that kind of mocking host in the new Nine reality series. While Lego Masters is a competition for a $100,000 prize and a championship title, there’s room for levity and humour, which was a big factor in him signing on.

“I think we’ve always said it, ‘If it seems fun. We’ll give it a go,” he said of his partnership with Andy Lee.

“It’s kind of funny because we do get to take the piss out of it a little bit, but we still have to do things like eliminate people and and make sure there’s still a winner at the end of the competition. So the tone of the show is quite different to other reality shows.

“You never want to make fun of Lego because everybody here loves Lego. But there’s some areas of the reality world that you can take the piss out of a little bit. This feel like the show to do that on.”

“I love what Lego represents.”

While he steers the 8 teams through episode challenges, Blake finds his moments to mock the conventions of the genre.

“I like to jump around. I like to get into the interview booth where everyone does those talking heads do a few of those myself,” he continues.

“It’s not because I’m desperate to be a Reality show host, it is because I kinda love what this world stands for. And this is a fun thing to do. I love what Lego represents.”

“At its guts this show is about creativity”

Based on a UK format, Lego Masters is a bold gamble as primetime entertainment, but one that is drawing attention for offering a change from the traditional cooking, dating, renovating and talent quests. Judging the teams is the sole Lego Certified Professional in the Southern Hemisphere, Ryan “Brickman” McNaught.

“At its guts this show is about creativity,” Blake suggests.

“It’s building and imagination. The Lego world is so interesting because you really can make anything.

“The challenges are at the heart of it but it’s watching people solve problems in real time.

“I think the joy of Lego is there’s lots of stuff you would think you can’t do with Lego. I know because I was in that category too.

“So I think the fun of watching the show is watching people figure out. They have a creative idea in their heads but how they can build it physically in front of?”

But TV drama also requires conflict. While there are no bitchy judges and brawling contestants, Blake says building under pressure ramps up the jeopardy.

“The weird thing that it does to creativity is, I can see it making people’s ideas better. Which I find fascinating.

“I don’t think there’s a family in Australia that hasn’t had some experience with Lego and I guess that’s the thought process behind it. It’s a thing that everyone will recognise. We all know how Lego works. There’ll be lots of stuff that’s done with Lego people aren’t expecting to see.

“But I find myself saying, ‘They should have built this, they should have built that. That’s a great idea, I wouldn’t have thought of that.’

“I don’t feel like this show is looking for the disasters.”

“I don’t feel like this show is looking for the disasters. I suppose you’ve got to have them because that’s what happens with pressure. It’s more like, ‘Wow. Every challenge there’s a few teams that didn’t put a foot wrong for 10 hours.'”

“We’ve got two blokes from an oil rig who are passionate about their Lego”

Teams include partners, relatives, neighbours, friends and workmates including a range of ethnic representation. If some are geeks, they are unashamedly geeky, united by their love for the colourful fantastic plastic.

“The contestants are funny and from massively different walks of life. We’ve got two blokes from an oil rig who are passionate about their Lego and I reckon that will make for good viewing,” Blake suggests.

“I think people will be genuinely amazed at the creativity and the speed of being able to build something out of nothing.”

Lego Masters screens 7pm Sunday, 7:30pm Monday & Tuesday on Nine.