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Lego Masters 2020: meet the contestants

Here are the 8 teams competing for a $100,000 prize.

Lego Masters Australia returns for its second season tonight with returning host, Hamish Blake, and the judge, Ryan ‘Brickman’ McNaught.

Eight teams of pairs will compete in different challenges and face elimination as they compete for the  $100,000 prize.

Season stats:

1,320,000 more bricks were added to the Brick Pit.
Plus an additional 1,000 unique new parts.
Each team in the Grand Final will have spent 147 hours building Lego throughout the series.
20 different cameras film the competition.
60 people make up the show.
The show is filmed over 107 days.

Andrew (49) and Damian (43)
Queensland

For best friends and Lego lovers Andrew and Damian, Lego Masters could not have been a more fitting competition to take part in – they’re two big kids who are absolutely in it to win it, and they plan on being extremely strategic with their builds.

Andrew and Damian are a team to watch, as they are sure to come up with an intricate and complicated game plan when it comes to their masterpieces, discussing every little detail before embarking on their creations. They love being able to put their creative minds together to design new builds.

Although he can find multi-tasking difficult, Damian is determined to be working to the best of his ability, taking advantage of his eye for detail and desire to have a job well done. A lifelong Lego builder, Damian’s earliest memories revolve around what has become a lot more than just a hobby. The bricks have been his favourite toy since he was six years old, and he remembers some of his treasured sets including a mechanic’s workshop, a snack bar and a roadworks digger.

For Andrew, Lego has always been a huge part of his life, a source of happiness he can share with his family: his wife and five children, who were all adopted from Taiwan and are now Australian citizens. Andrew, a music teacher, began building as an adult after his piano teacher encouraged him to take up a hobby which would help him to focus when composing his own music.

Annie (30) and Runa (29)
Victoria

These two Lego-loving friends could not be more different, yet they have more in common than first meets the eye.

Runa’s first interaction with Lego came in 2016 when she attended Brickvention with her younger brother, and she’s been hooked ever since. Annie, on the other hand, was struck down with a rare brain infection at 15, and during her long recovery she turned to Lego as her rehab.

No stranger to complicated health problems herself, Swedish-born Runa had to undergo brain surgery, and she says Lego building helped to retrain her brain. Runa believes that the creative challenge of Lego gave her a chance to practise her fine motor skills and recover.

Self-described “spooky” Annie is a fanatic. Lego makes her feel calm and creative in her crazy life of being a mother to two young children. After being diagnosed with her brain infection, which led to being told that she wouldn’t make it to her 18th birthday, Annie now says she is living her best life, as 10 years after the diagnosis she is married to her best friend, sharing her health story, playing with Lego, and raising two perfectly healthy humans.

Jackson (29) and Alex (29)
Western Australia

Jackson and Alex have been best friends since high school.

They both fell in love with Lego at a young age and have managed to use their favourite hobby to influence their careers. Jackson is a multi-disciplinary visual artist and Alex is an environmental engineer.

Jackson has lived, worked and travelled around the world, including the United States, South-East Asia, India and Japan. A true artist, he seeks creative inspiration everywhere he looks. Finding comfort in Lego building, Jackson often lets the Lego take control, allowing it to give him a sense of relaxation. He says: “When I have a great idea and all the pieces on hand I can get into a very relaxed, meditative state of flow when building.”

A fellow creative, Alex too allows Lego to transport him to a relaxed place, believing that the build itself is a hugely rewarding process as it plays to his strengths. A problem solver and creative thinker, Lego is his perfect pastime.

Jay (42) and Stani (41)
New South Wales

Jay and Stani have shared a passion for Lego since they were seven and now work as a team to expand their collections.

Jay digs anything that incorporates moving parts or technic. He loves to get stuck into the details of the build, while Stani is definitely the bigger picture guy, with the ability to foresee how a build will turn out.

Jay is obsessed with all things Lego, and as an illustrator by trade he relishes the ability to be able to create something purely out of his own imagination. This confident and chatty father likes to be challenged in a build and performs best when pushed out of his comfort zone to think on his feet and use his technical mind. That makes him the perfect foil for Stani.

Stani takes Lego to the limit, and as a builder and collector has an entire Lego world (complete with airport and bridge) taking up his two-car garage. A perfectionist, he never considers a build complete until every minute detail has been perfected. Stani and Jay complement each other’s skills perfectly, as Stani says that “Jay helps to balance my perfectionist side while we’re building”.

Jennifer (31) and Jodie (38)
Queensland/South Australia

Jennifer and Jodie plan on combining their skills to make Lego sculptures unlike anything ever seen. They will be creating builds that showcase their love of playing with textures and using different bricks in weird and wonderful ways.

Jennifer is a researcher and program coordinator whose love of Lego is supplemented by creative activities such as knitting and other crafts. She appreciates the way Lego sparks a childlike enthusiasm in people, creates wonder and encourages creativity. She describes her strengths as being intuitive, playful, and awesome at problem solving.

Stay-at-home mum by day and Lego “Batman” by night, Jodie is a member of Southern Bricks in South Australia. She is such an expert that she was recently on the committee for – and displayed one of her builds at – Brixpo, her Lego User Group sold-out event, where she dressed up as Lego Batman to excite all the children in attendance.

Summer (19) and Iona (18)
South Australia

Despite their different dispositions, the aptly named Summer a sunny extrovert and Iona a deep-thinking introvert, these two have been best friends their whole lives.

They have extensive experience in building Lego as both competed in the First Lego League, making robots. Summer competed nationally, while Iona reached an international level.

Although super-extroverted, Summer is the logical and level-headed one. She’s studying engineering at university and says that being in a male-dominated field empowers her. Her favourite build is the Mindstorm robots she created and went on to use in robotics competitions.

Iona is the one more likely to be indulging in creative activities. She loves Lego because it makes her feel calm in an otherwise hectic life, and says she knew Lego Masters was the perfect competition because of all the time she spent at school letting her imagination run free.

Tim (25) and Dannii (26)
Victoria

High school sweethearts Tim and Dannii met when they were 12 and have been by each other’s side ever since. Though polar opposites they are a perfect team, regardless of the fact that they often question why that really is so.

For furniture salesman Tim, Lego was a crucial aspect in his recovery after being diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2014. It motivated and inspired him to get better, set goals and undertake tasks he wouldn’t usually commit to.

This young couple are now parents of two, which is perfect for Tim, who Dannii describes as “Peter-Man like Peter-Pan, but he’s had to grow up”. Tim is a big kid with an overactive imagination. When he’s not playing with Lego, he’s into role playing games (RPGs) on various video consoles.

Straight-shooter Dannii is taking part in the experience of a lifetime with Lego Masters to support her husband. She’s bringing her superb problem-solving skills to the contest to give them a competitive edge. When she isn’t busy building unusual creations like a life-sized axolotl or a handheld music box complete with spinning dancer, Dannii does pole fitness and realism art to pass the time.

Trent (38) and Josh (27)
South Australia

Big kid Trent and primary school chaplain Josh are an unlikely duo sure to build some out-of-this-world creations.

These fanatics were lovers of Lego before it was cool, and with Trent’s feel for the 80s and Josh’s love of fantasy, their talent will certainly make for some intricate and complex builds.

Though he is an accountant by trade, Trent loves to create builds that are big and bright with fun characters. He says of his sets, “the more hilarious the better!” If he could have any job in the world, Trent would be a professional Lego designer, the curator of a toy museum, or a TV host discussing the latest in the toy and pop culture worlds. In fact, he has a whole room at home dedicated to housing his vast toy collection.

Josh, from Adelaide, is a school chaplain and children’s ministry worker who spends a lot of time with kids. He gets a kick out of seeing his hard work coming to fruition, especially when it involves problem-solving skills to build something special. (He also has the secret skill of representing South Australia in netball, competing in tournaments all around Australia.)

Sunday – Tuesday on Nine.

9 Responses

      1. @aesthetic : Even as a white dude, I’m pretty offended by your ‘yawn’ as a response to a totally caucasian cast (which yes, was part of my observation). And even reading about these people (none of whom I have any ill feeling or dislike towards I hasten to add), I’m not seeing much true diversity at all. They’re all fine contestants and I’m sure it’ll be a great season but purely on casting, I feel Nine have done better than this elsewhere.

  1. Don’t they have any kids on the Aussie version then. That was part of the magic of the UK one – it was a real cross generational affair with a range of teams.

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